Making sure that files cannot be recovered after they have been deleted is an essential task in several situations. It is for instance important to prevent data restoration before giving the storage device away or selling it to third parties. It is a privacy issue and some computer users do schedule these disk wiping tasks regularly to ensure that no one is able to recover files that they have deleted on their PCs.
Prevent Restore is an easy to use software that can be used to wipe the free space of a hard drive. It is in this regard an alternative to the popular free program Eraser which can be configured to do the same.
Prevent Restore displays a list of hard drives on startup which can be selected for the disk wipe process.
Only the drive letters are shown in that menu which might make the identification more complicated than necessary. Users should also make sure that they do not (accidentally) select a SSD for the process.
A total of five different algorithms are available of which only one is provided to users who have not registered the software. The replace with spaces option is available to those users. Registered users who have to pay $9.95 to do so can also select random characters or digits, Peter Gutmann algorithm or the Department of Defense algorithm.
The program has not changed a lot since our first review of it in 2008. Most features that have been added have only been added to the commercial version of the program. (see Erase Files for our first review)
Prevent Restore is an alternative to Eraser, especially for users who have troubles with the program. Eraser is on the other hand the disk wipe program with a better functionality and choices. There is no need to use Prevent Restore if Eraser is working properly.
Enjoyed the article?: Then sign-up for our free newsletter or RSS feed to kick off your day with the latest technology news and tips, or share the article with your friends and contacts on Facebook or Twitter.Related Articles:
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Erase Files
East-Tec Eraser is another good alternative!
But do remember to have backup before wiping disks!