How to delete a file from a computer. If the Mac says the file is in use. What are junk files

  1. Tell, how to remove everything from computer without a trace? I decided to sell my system unit along with hard drive and buy a new one based on a quad-core processor. Before the sale, everything from the hard drive was deleted by simple formatting, then he advertised in the newspaper. While I was waiting for the buyer, I came across your section about and imagine, I restored most of the files with the programs described there, among the recovered all personal photos and home videos! I formatted the hard drive several times in a row, but still some of the files are not completely deleted. I came to the conclusion that it is better to leave the hard drive to yourself, but on the other hand, why do I need an old 250 GB SATA 2 screw? Tell me, there are free programs that can delete files from a computer without the possibility of recovering them.
  2. Hello, please help to completely delete all data on the laptop before selling it? The laptop contained a lot of confidential data, which I deleted and then reinstalled the operating system, but the familiar wizard says that this is clearly not enough and all files can be restored with special utilities.
  3. Hi admin, I read your articles about a program that removes soft-bads on a screw, but I want to say that there is still a program Acronis Drive Cleanser created to remove user information from non-recoverable hard drives, it also forcibly writes random numbers to the hard drive sectors in several passes and it has a double effect. Firstly, the complete deletion of information on the computer, and secondly, the treatment of the hard disk from bad blocks, personally, after using this program, there were fewer sectors with a large read delay.

Hello friends! Of course, there is more than one such program. In today's article, I suggest using the utilities:

1. Acronis Drive Cleanser- specially designed by a well-known developer to permanently delete files from your computer. Acronis Drive Cleanser is installed with the program Acronis True Image Home 2015 and works in trial mode for 15 days. Importantly, the program Acronis True Image Home 2015 can create a bootable flash drive and boot a laptop from it, then also delete all data using the utility Acronis Drive Cleaner. Boot disk Acronis does not have any time limits.

2 . The second program we are considering, also includes a special tool for the complete removal of data and is completely free.

Most of the deleted information can always be recovered

All experienced users know that regular formatting does not completely delete your files, information about them remains in the HDD sectors for a long time. Files are simply marked as deleted, and most data recovery programs will easily restore information that you think is completely erased.

What Acronis Drive Cleanser does

The program repeatedly overwrites all sectors on the hard disk with random numbers in 35 passes using special algorithms, which completely erases previously existing information and makes it impossible to restore files on such a media by 100%.

In addition to the official U.S. data deletion standard, U.S. Standard, DoD 5220.22-M Acronis Drive Cleanser uses its own efficient data destruction algorithms.

  • Note: As the author of the third letter correctly noted, numerous overwriting of information on the hard disk, in some cases, can reduce the number of problem sectors (with a large read delay), including bad blocks.

Go to the official website of the program

http://www.acronis.com/en-us/

We press Try for free.

Download the installer and run it

Start Trial

Tools. More Tools.

Choosing a tool Drive Cleanser

You cannot make mistakes in this window, otherwise delete the data from the wrong drive.

In my case, three hard drives are connected to the computer, you need to delete all information without the possibility of recovery on the first hard drive with a capacity of 250 GB.

Acronis Drive Cleanser can destroy data separately on any partition you mark. I want to delete everything, so oh I mark all available partitions on the HDD

The program offers several ways to completely destroy information, for simple user the first domestic method will be enough - the Russian standard, GOST R50739-95.

The most reliable, but rather long way to delete files using the Peter Gutmann algorithm in 35 passes.

Check the box Delete selected partitions permanently and click Start.

Hover the mouse over the program icon in the tray and find out how much time is left before the operation is completed. But looking ahead, I’ll say that it took 20 minutes to get a 250 GB hard drive.

Acronis True Image Home 2015 bootable flash drive

If you need to delete all data from a laptop, then we create and boot a laptop from it, select:

Tools and Utilities->Acronis Drive Cleanser, then everything happens the same way as in the previous case.

AOMEI Partition Assistant Standard Edition

A completely free program with a similar tool.

Friends, I will not repeat myself, read our other detailed article on how to download and install.

After installing the program, in its main window, select the hard disk we need with the left mouse, then click on the button Erasing a hard drive.

Select the desired number of passes and click OK.

For those who are interested, read on.

Everyone once faced such a problem when the computer starts to freeze, and files are downloaded very slowly. And in most cases, people simply forget to clean their computer of junk. The size of hard drives on modern PCs can reach several terabytes, but someday the free space still runs out.

What are junk files?

Unnecessary files on your computer are movies, videos or games that you have not been interested in for a long time, but you just forgot to delete them. Some files, after using the uninstall utility built into them, leave memory about themselves and, as a result, turn into a pile of rubbish. It also includes your uncleaned browser history and any files created by operating system.

Cleaning a laptop from unnecessary files without installation extra programs and without registration

What junk files on your laptop and why you need to get rid of them, we have already figured out. Now we will tell you how to clean your computer of garbage and speed up its work without installing unnecessary programs.

How to clean up your computer: uninstall programs

Cleaning the laptop unnecessary garbage done by uninstalling programs. To do this, run the "Control Panel" - "Add or Remove Programs" - "Add / Remove Programs" (Windows XP) or "Programs and Features" (Windows 7, 8). You will see a list of programs that are installed on your personal computer. After that, you can remove all garbage from hard drive.

Disk Cleanup

Every operating system has a utility called Disk Cleanup. With its help, you can destroy any file without compromising the performance of the OS.

The program is launched as follows:

  1. Open "Start" - "All Programs" - "Accessories" - "System Tools" - "Disk Cleanup". Select the disk on which you want to clean up.
  2. Open "My Computer" and with one click select the desired section and its properties. Click "Properties" - "General" and "Disk Cleanup".
  3. Open the search for programs "cleanmgr" and select the partition to clean the computer.
  4. By pressing the Ctrl, Alt and Delete keys at the same time, you automatically launch the "Windows Task Manager", where you can select the "File" tab, and in the "New Command (Run)" field, write "cleanmgr" and select the desired section.

Additional programs for deleting unnecessary files on the computer

how to clean the computer from unnecessary files? In addition to standard system tools, we can use programs to clean our PC. Consider two options that are the most popular and reliable.

CCleaner

This program cleans system folders and operating system registry. CCleaner can be downloaded for free, just by going to the official website. She is considered the best program for cleaning unnecessary files, because it is quite understandable even for beginners. It is also often installed on a mobile phone.

This cleaning program consists of several sections, and this will allow you to quickly find the desired option. For example, in the "Cleanup" section, you can manually mark the list of files to be removed from the computer. With the help of analysis, you can understand how much the hard drive will be freed.

This program can be used to clean files of various types. You can manually restrict uninstall access cookies or the program will not pay attention to them at all. The versatility of CCleaner lies in the fact that it can be used to fix errors in the registry. Mostly such errors appear due to incorrect removal of programs from the computer.

Programs in the "Service" section

  • "Uninstall programs". This function is designed to display absolutely all programs on the computer.
  • allows you to see a number of programs that run with the operating system. You should not experiment with this function - it is better to entrust it to professionals.
  • "System Restore" restores the system from a point that the operating system automatically creates.
  • "Erase Disc" suitable for those users who do not want their deleted files to be restored.

Uninstall Expert

The Uninstall Expert program is necessary not only to speed up your computer, but also to remove unnecessary programs. Even after uninstallation, many small files remain on your computer that need to be deleted. The Uninstall Expert program completely removes all unnecessary files from your PC and improves computer performance. This is a completely free program that is easy to install on your computer and starts quickly.

The Program list shows the list before installed programs, which can be easily removed and, in addition, clean up all the garbage behind them. Using Startup Items, you can remove those programs that are activated with the operating system. If you don't want your disk to be full of junk files, you'd better download Uninstall program expert.

Regular cleaning of unnecessary files is the key to the speed of your computer!

Now you know what you need to work for a long and fast operation of your PC. Sometimes it is necessary to carry out the function to remove several programs, and all your problems will be solved instantly. Also, do not forget about clearing your browser history, because even there a large amount of garbage can accumulate. We strongly recommend that you clean your computer in a timely manner, and then you will not constantly receive unpleasant reminders about the lack of hard disk space.

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Hi all! Today I will tell you how to permanently delete files from your computer, I also often see requests like: “how to delete deleted files” , but it also happens and what a surprisingly large number of people want to know!

Perhaps you have some information on your computer that you don't want anyone to see. You took it and deleted it, but not everyone knows that it can be restored! Therefore, the question arises, how to delete deleted files?

And everything is simple, you can restore files until you overwrite the area in which the files were. Those. do not write other files to the same area several times, the more, the less chances to recover these files.

Maybe you thought, here's a fool, he doesn't know anything about formatting, but no! Even after formatting the disk, it is possible to recover files.

In this case, the simplest thing you can try is defragmentation. It optimizes the clusters and you may completely delete deleted files. But most likely you have to go further!

There is a reliable program that completely removes both free space and disks, download.

How to delete deleted files?

So. We launch. Select on the left the drive with which you want to perform the action. And press the button on the left Wipe Unused Space, i.e. we want to save all files and wipe all free space. Presumably the place where your files were deleted.

There will be progress. Waiting…..

After the end or if you interrupt the program, you will receive a report.

This is how you can delete deleted files. But maybe you moved something after deletion and in those clusters in which there were files, there are now other files, so just in case, if it is very important for you, I would recommend copying all the files from the disk so that nothing remains on it necessary and erase this entire disk with a program, then no one will be able to restore anything for sure! To do this, you need to press the killdisk key on the right and select the method and start in the same way. But remember, in this case, nothing will remain on the disk! For this copy in advance and feel free to erase. After this restore deleted files certainly will not work (the main thing is to choose a good erasing method).

/ 04.08.2018

Deleting files permanently

The topic of today's article is somewhat unusual. Today we will talk about how to permanently destroy data. Destroy them so that they cannot be restored even with the help of special programs or research hardware complexes.

  1. Deleting the file is not enough.
  2. Disk formatting.
  3. Programs for data destruction.
  4. Destruction of data on CD and DVD.

Regular readers of our site already know that simply deleting a file is not enough in terms of information security. Deleted files (with rare exceptions in the form of SSD drives) can be recovered within just a few minutes. This is due to the fact that when removing Windows file does not destroy its contents, but simply makes a mark in the file system that the file is deleted and the disk space it occupies is free. Accordingly, a deleted file can be restored using easy-to-use tools - for example, Hetman Uneraser.

Disk formatting

The very existence of tools like Hetman Partition Recovery, is a good indicator that formatted partitions are far from a guarantee of data security. Indeed, with the exception of all the same SSD drives, formatting a partition in "quick" mode (and in older versions of Windows, formatting in "full" mode) does not erase data, but only resets the file system. Accordingly, data after such formatting can be restored.

True, it should be noted that the full formatting of the disk using Windows Vista and Windows 7 will still overwrite the contents of the disk with zeros, and formatting an SSD drive in any way with a high (but not one hundred percent) probability will also lead to data destruction.

Data destruction programs

There is a whole class of programs designed for reliable and safe destruction of information. Such programs use arrays of random numbers to physically overwrite the disk space occupied by the file being destroyed. Some security standards (such as the one used by the US Army) require multiple rewrite cycles and insist on the use of cryptographically strong random number generators. In practice, it is more like firing a cannon at sparrows. For private users and most commercial organizations, a single overwrite cycle is enough.

Finding such a program is easy - just run a search for the keywords "secure file deletion". Similarly, free disk space is overwritten - even the programs are often used the same.

It should be noted that these methods work only with traditional magnetic drives, in which a unique addressing of a physical location on a disk is possible. In the case of SSD drives, this is not the case, and the destruction of information on them is a separate and rather little-studied topic.

Destruction of data on CDs and DVDs

Getting rid of the old backups, do not forget to destroy the data. by the most in a simple way to destroy information on a CD or DVD is the physical destruction of the media. Resist the temptation to break the "blank" with your hands - you will most likely cut yourself with fragments, and small fragments of plastic and aluminum substrate will be found in the most unexpected places for a long time to come.

The easiest way to destroy discs is to use an office shredder equipped with a CD and DVD receiver. In addition to them, there are specialized devices - by the way, not at all as expensive as one might think. For most purposes, cutting the disc into four strips is considered normal.

There are also devices that render discs unusable by drilling several holes in them (by the way, you can make holes in the disc yourself using a conventional drill). Experts consider this method less reliable compared to using a shredder.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the manufacturers of secure information storage devices. DataTraveler and Silicon Power offer USB or hard drives that store information in encrypted form. To destroy access to the data of such devices, it is enough to remove the decryption key. A hard drive data recovery program will not be able to decrypt the contents and will be completely useless.

We can also mention the heating of disks, which leads to the destruction of the translucent information layer. Like other methods, this method should be used only in specialized devices - overheated "blanks" can quickly melt.

Tagged: SSD DriveLogical PartitionDataTraveler BrandSilicon Power Brand

How to completely erase a hard drive

How to completely delete data from a hard drive?

Many people believe that if it is impossible to use the hard disk due to its inoperability, then it means that the data from it cannot be read. But this is not the case, and even a broken hard drive is still a loophole for information security breaches.

A hard drive consists of a set of magnetic platters that contain sectors that are not directly readable by the operating system. When a file is deleted, only the pointer to it in memory is actually deleted by the operating system. The area containing the deleted data is marked as free space, and therefore, until a new file is written to this place, the data can be read. Special software is used to recover and read deleted data. It searches for sectors containing any data of deleted files, and then they are restored. This is not too difficult to do, and moreover, free data recovery software can be found on the Internet. It should be noted here that the software for recovering data on physically damaged sectors of disks does not work and that we cannot use this software without an operating system.

When we consider that the disk is broken, we must remember that in fact only one of the microcircuits or mechanical parts inside the disk becomes faulty. And the platters, where all the files are stored, are still functional, because the disk is in a hard case and the platters do not have any mechanical or electrical parts. Forensic experts only use platters to recover deleted files on broken drives. But if desired, even a not very experienced specialist in this case will be able to recover files, because descriptions of procedures for manually recovering deleted files are common on the Internet.

What to do?

Users and companies wishing to sell or donate a used hard drive separately or together with a computer, or discard damaged drives, should first clean the drive completely. Deleting data from disks is the process of permanently deleting the data on them. There are two types of hard drive cleaning - physical data erasure and data destruction.

Physical cleaning

The fastest option is to demagnetize the disk. To do this, you can use special devices designed to guarantee the destruction of data on magnetic media at the end of their service life in order to ensure the security of storage and prevent information leakage. As an example, I can mention the Avalanche device manufactured by the Ukrainian company Epos.

This device uses a physical method of data destruction, based on the impact on the drive of a powerful electromagnetic pulse. As a result, all magnetic domains of the carrier are uniformly magnetized to saturation. This leads to the disappearance of magnetic transitions, in which the information recorded on the carrier is encoded. Thus, the complete destruction of the original magnetic structure of the carrier leads to the guaranteed destruction of all data ever stored on it.

Stand-alone multifunctional device EPOS DiskMaster Portable allows you to work with all hard drives with PATA, SATA, eSATA interfaces, regardless of manufacturer, model and capacity. All operations are performed at the highest possible speed that the drive supports (data transfer rate up to 8 GB / min). Unlike software tools with similar functionality, the device provides copying and destruction of data in the hidden area of ​​HPA (Host Protected Area) hard drives, as well as on hard drives with defects on the surfaces.

Information destroyers of this kind are also produced by Detector systems, Infosecure and others.

Physical destruction of a disk is a method of securely erasing data. This is the preferred method of data destruction when other methods fail or if the hard drive is severely damaged. Physically destroying hard drives is the fastest and most effective method of securely deleting data, but the hard drive itself will naturally no longer be used.

Programmatic data cleaning

Programmatic data wiping is the process of permanently deleting data stored in an area that is logically considered free space, using specific data deletion techniques. The process occurs while the computer is booting, but after the operating system is loaded. This is the recommended method if you intend to sell, donate or reuse the disc.

Here are the top three hard drive cleaning software:

  • DBAN - cleaning program at system boot, multi-platform, free;
  • DiskWipe - does not require installation, supports Windows (XP, Vista, 7), free;
  • CCleaner, supports Windows (XP, Vista, 7), free.

Data cleaning software works great on drives that don't have bad sectors. It cannot erase information on damaged disks. To effectively destroy data, it is necessary to repeat the process of erasing data at least three times. A complete erase cycle may take several hours or days depending on the capacity of the drive.

Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN)

Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) software can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/files/dban/dban-2.2.6/dban-2.2.6_i586.iso/download. Here you will receive a downloadable ISO image, which you can later burn to a CD and boot from it, select a hard drive to delete data. Next, turn on the computer whose hard drives you want to clean, making sure it will boot from the CD drive, and then insert the DBAN CD.

1. If you boot correctly, you will see a welcome screen and a boot: _ prompt (screen 1).

Screenshot 1. Darik's Boot and Nuke window

2. Press Enter and go to DBAN Interactive mode, see Figure 2. If your drive contains confidential information or business sensitive data, skip to step 3, otherwise skip it and go to step 4.

Screen 2. Disks and Partition

3. Press the M key to manually select the wipe method and select Gutmann Wipe, then press Enter. This method is recommended for deleting sensitive data. The Gutmann Wipe method performs 35 passes over the hard drive (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Choosing a Gutmann Wipe Removal Method

4. Make sure that the image on the screen matches that shown on screen 4.

Screen 4. Selecting a drive to delete data using Gutmann Wipe

5. Press the Space key to move to the screen to start the data deletion process (Screen 5).

Screenshot 5: Starting the data deletion process screen

6. Make sure you choose desired disk(section) to delete data. If everything is OK, press the F10 key to start the uninstall process (Screen 6).

Data deletion process

The entire data deletion process can take up to 12 hours.

DiskWipe

Disk Wipe is free app for Windows, designed for guaranteed data destruction that does not require installation. The Disk Wipe utility can be downloaded from http://www.diskwipe.org/. With Disk Wipe, you can erase the entire contents of a disk and make data recovery impossible. Disk Wipe allows you to delete data both from a partition and from the entire hard disk using Dod 5220-22.M, US Army, Peter Guttman algorithms. S-ATA (SATA), IDE (E-IDE), SCSI, USB, FIREWIRE interfaces are supported (screen 7).

Figure 7: Disk Wipe window

CCleaner

CCleaner is a free computer optimization program that combines a system cleaner that removes all unnecessary and temporary files, and a full-featured registry cleaner. CCleaner cleans the following system components:

  1. Internet Explorer - temporary cache files, browsing history, cookies, hidden Index.dat files, download history.
  2. Recycle Bin.
  3. Clipboard.
  4. Windows temporary files.
  5. Windows logs.
  6. List of recent documents (in the Start menu).
  7. The history of executed commands (in the Start menu).
  8. History of the Search Assistant in Windows XP.
  9. Deprecated Prefetch data in Windows XP.
  10. Memory dumps after Windows crashes.
  11. File fragments left after running the Chkdsk command.

Additional features allow you to clean:

  • menu order cache;
  • systray message cache;
  • Windows size and address cache;
  • user assistance history;
  • IIS log files;
  • additional folders.

CCleaner not only removes old files and other data from standard Windows components, but also allows you to clean up temporary files and recent document lists in many other programs: Firefox, Opera, Safari, Media Player, eMule, Kazaa, Google Toolbar, Netscape, Microsoft Office, Nero, Adobe Acrobat Reader, WinRAR, WinAce, WinZip and others.

CCleaner uses the registry cleaner module to detect various problems and inconsistencies in the system. It checks for file extensions, ActiveX controls, ClassIDs, ProgIDs, uninstaller, common DLLs, fonts, help file links, application paths, icons, bad shortcuts.

In addition, the function of permanently deleting files with multiple overwrites is provided, which does not allow them to be restored in any way (Figure 8).

As Figure 8 shows, the following algorithms can be used to securely wipe free disk space:

  • simple erase (1 pass);
  • DOD 5220.22-M (3 cycles);
  • NSA (7 cycles);
  • Gutmann (35 cycles).

Figure 8: Unrecoverable Erase with CCleaner

You can choose for yourself the optimal algorithm for overwriting free space, based on speed / security requirements.

We should not forget about the built-in means of unrecoverable erasure from the operating system. Team

Cipher/W: directory

provides a non-recoverable erasure of free space in the selected directory; it has existed in the Windows family since Windows versions 2000. However, it should be noted that in this case, fast erasure is performed.

In fact, deleting data without the possibility of recovery is not difficult at all. It is important to understand the advantages and disadvantages of the chosen uninstallation approach (software or hardware). Software Erase allows you to reuse discs, but is time consuming and can only be used on working hard drives. Hardware is much faster, allows you to process non-working (unreadable) disks. However, when used on working disks, there is always a chance, due to too strong a magnetic impulse, to cause the disks to fail forever.

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How to completely erase a hard drive with DBAN

Wiping a hard drive means completely erasing the hard drive and all information. Simple deletion does not erase the file from the hard drive, and formatting does not [always] wipe the hard drive. You will have to take an extra step to completely erase your hard drive. When you format a hard drive or delete a partition, you generally only delete the file system, which simply makes the data invisible. File recovery programs can easily recover information from such a hard drive.

If you want to make sure that your personal information is permanently deleted, you need to wipe your hard drive using dedicated software. In this article, I am going to show you how to completely wipe a hard drive with DBAN. Follow these steps to wipe your hard drive:

Do backup whatever you want to keep. Once the process is complete and the hard drive is cleared, there will be no way to get anything on the drive back.

Download free program destruction of DBAN data (http://www.dban.org/download).

There are actually several ways to destroy information from a hard drive (hammer, sledgehammer 🙂), but using software, data destruction is the easiest and allows you to still use the hard drive.

Burn the downloaded ISO image file to a DVD/CD to get the program on a boot disk. Restart your computer, enter the BIOS and set it to boot from CD/DVD first and insert the boot CD so your computer can boot from it. Once you are done, start your computer, enter DBAN, you will see a menu. You can pretty much ignore everything here and just type ... autonuke then press ENTER. This will erase any built-in hard drives using the default options.

The progress of each hard drive will be displayed at the bottom of the screen. The screenshot below shows how DBAN erases two hard drives:

Data destruction programs use several different methods to wipe a hard drive. And, if you're paranoid and want to run a different method, you'll have to fiddle around with the options. You can select F3 and press Enter at the prompt to be directed to the selection screen. Here you can select the method to wipe, or press the M key to change the method.

You will be able to choose between a bunch of different erasing options. Each option has explanatory text when it is selected. When you are satisfied with the options you have chosen, press - F10 to start. Darik's Boot and Nuke: Shortcuts. You can enter these commands at the download prompt. In each case, everything on the computer disk will be destroyed automatically without confirmation. Quick Erase: Wipe all discs with the Quick Erase method. RCMP TSSIT OPS-II: Wipe all discs with the RCMP TSSIT OPS-II method. Dod Short: Wipe all discs with the Short DoD method. (Default.) DoD 5220. 22-M: Wipe all discs with the DoD method. Gutmann Wipe: Wipe all discs with the Gutmann method.

PRNG Stream: Wipe all drives with the PRNG Stream method.

F2 to learn more about DBAN. F3 for a list of shortcuts. F4 to exclude liability. Press ENTER to start DBAN interactively. Type autonuke to start DBAN in automatic mode. The process may take several hours depending on the size of your drive.

Deleting files permanently

Once it is completed, you will see the following message: DBAN succeeded. All selected disks have been destroyed. take out bootable media DBAN from a computer.

After properly erasing the hard drive, you can be sure that all the information that was on the drive is now a thing of the past.

Now you can install Windows on a disk, create a new partition, sell (give away) a hard drive or a computer, or whatever you need.

How to delete all data from a hard drive

The problem, for discussion, is the process of complete destruction of data files on hard drives. It is a mistake to believe that deleting files to the trash and emptying it will help you get rid of files that have become unnecessary forever. In a real situation, the recycle bin warns us that emptying it will delete the files and folders in it without the possibility of recovery. But such a statement is, to put it mildly, false. It is necessary to understand that, even after emptying the trash from its contents, all deleted objects can be easily restored by special programs. The "Delete" button only removes links to such files, and they become invisible to users. But the data files “deleted” in this way physically remain on the hard disk, and therefore their recovery is possible.

In addition to the above simple operation of deleting data files from the HDD, many users consider formatting it the fastest way to do this. Of course, formatting a disk is more reliable than simple deletion, but still there is no physical deletion of data - formatting a disk only deletes the data addressing tables. Of course, after such a process, recovering data is much more difficult. However, in this case, computer specialists will be able to recover at least 90 percent of the data stored on the hard drive before formatting.

Let's consider some ways of reliable and complete destruction of data from the HDD. The most cardinal of them is the physical disassembly and destruction of media disks. However, there is a more acceptable way - erasing the disk.

Full disk erasure is a relatively new method of cleaning a disk of unnecessary information that has gained popularity at the present time. The secure HDD partition processing technology used at the same time ensures that all volumes of stored data will be irreversibly deleted by a special formatting algorithm. This method is much more efficient than simply deleting or simply formatting hard disk partitions. Formatting a disk in this way completely overwrites a set of new, abstract data for all sectors of the hard disk, more than once, in several passes. After the formatting process is completed, data recovery on the HDD will become impossible.

Very important! Before completely erasing all data from the HDD without the possibility of recovery, make sure that the necessary information is completely saved from the hard drive to be erased. The best method of preservation is considered to be: duplicating the entry on optical discs and at the same time on flash drives, while the quality of the recording on the media must be checked.

Although the algorithms for erasing disks vary in programs from many developers, the main similarity is that all programs usually clog the entire volume of the hard disk with numbers (0 or 1), and then format it. To date, many different programs have been developed for securely erasing discs, which are available to purchase or download for free on the Internet.

There are some problems in secure and complete deletion of files caused by the variety of hard drive designs and the use of data encryption. These features were taken into account when developing the Eraser program, which is the most popular among users, and in addition it is free. With an intuitive and simple user interface, the data destruction software - Eraser, allows you to safely and completely delete personal data from your hard drive without the possibility of recovery. Eraser is a very sophisticated tool that cleans the hard drive by removing all magnetized memory areas by repeatedly overwriting information on them. The program allows you to completely delete personal data on hard drives and is currently supported by all versions of Windows.

In the category of paid programs for data removal, the most acceptable is Paragon Disk Wiper, which has a convenient, simple user interface. At the same time, it has extended functionality. Its use will allow you to:

Guaranteed to delete data - information on the hard drive will be completely deleted without the possibility of recovery; Delete data from the entire hard disk or individual partitions, as well as overwrite free space after the process of deleting files in the usual way.

And finally, if you still have not gained confidence or want to make sure that the files you deleted are lost forever, use the remote file management systems. Currently, there are programs specifically designed to detect and immediately clean up your computer from previously deleted files. Such programs first examine the data on the computer, find traces of deleted data, and finally erase all such data, even e-mail messages.

How to delete all information on the computer

Deleting every information on computer may be required in exceptional cases.

How to permanently delete files in Windows

Note that after the destruction of all files, you will not be able to turn on the PC, because the operating system itself will be deleted. With this in mind, system files should not be deleted.

You will need

Instruction

1. Deleting individual files. Let's start small. When planning to delete any information from the computer, you need to find its location. Later, after you find the folder with the necessary data, you need to delete it by right-clicking on it and clicking on the "Delete" option. Later confirmation of the operation, the information will be destroyed. You just have to empty the basket in order to hide the traces of her presence. If you need to delete all files and documents on computer, you can do it in a slightly different way.

2. Delete all files except for system documents. Open the "My Computer" folder and go to the "C" drive partition (usually the system is installed on it and various data is saved). Delete all folders in this section, except for the "Windows" folder. To do this, you need to select the desired directories and delete them by clicking on the "Delete" button. After deletion, do not forget to empty the contents of the trash. To delete documents on other drives, perform a full format in leisurely mode.

3. If you want to remove all information, which is stored on the hard drive, you need to format all partitions. Note that by executing this operation, you will destroy system files. If this doesn't scare you, follow these steps. First, start formatting those drives that do not have an operating system installed. This is done quite primitively: the right mouse button is pressed on the disk icon, after which the “Format” parameter is selected. Only later, after you have formatted all disks, except for the system one, can you start formatting the OS partition.

Permanent deletion of files

In this article, we will talk about programs designed to securely delete data. Information erased with the help of such programs is absolutely unrecoverable.

In modern digital world there are a thousand ways to accidentally "leak" personal information. One of the most likely sources of your information being leaked is deleted data. Erasing files from a flash drive or hard drive, as a rule, the user considers them irretrievably destroyed.

In fact, after the usual deletion, the information remains on the media, safe and sound, and if desired, anyone can restore it. The fact is that deleting files using the operating system or using any other program that is not designed to safely delete files does not destroy information from the media. Simple deletion is the destruction of information about a file with file system information carrier, while the place occupied by this information is marked as free for rewriting. So, if no new information was recorded after deletion, the probability of successful data recovery is close to 100%. Therefore, before transferring the storage medium to another user, it is necessary to take care of the reliable destruction of personal data.

For more secure data erasing and are being developed special programs destroying information by repeatedly overwriting it. Below is a brief overview of the advantages and disadvantages of some specialized data deletion programs.

Safe Erase 4.0

  • A large number of algorithms for multiple rewriting;
  • Possibility to use a paranoid algorithm with 35 times overwriting;
  • Ability to destroy data on media of various types;
  • Russian-language interface;
  • Payment;
  • Slow operating speed;

HD Shredder 3.6 Basic

  • Support for deleting data from any type of media;
  • The program uses its own, unique overwriting algorithm;
  • There is no way to delete files individually, only the entire media;
  • Paid;

Disk Wiper 10 Professional

  • The program uses its own, unique algorithm for four times rewriting of information;
  • Simple and user-friendly interface;
  • A large number of functions for setting up the overwriting process;
  • Slow operating speed;
  • Paid;

DBAN 1.0.7

  • Simple, minimalistic interface;
  • Using an algorithm with sevenfold overwriting;
  • Free;
  • Slow operating speed;
  • Unstable work;

True Image Home

The main function of the program is to create backups, however, the program can not only store data, but also destroy them using the built-in DriveCleaner utility.

  • High speed of the application;
  • Convenient interface;
  • Reliable overwriting;
  • Does not work with flash media;
  • Paid;

Data Destroyer

  • Simple and clear interface;
  • Ability to work with individual files and folders;
  • Average operating speed;
  • Shareware;
  • Using a seven-fold overwrite;

File Shredder

  • Ability to customize the rewriting process;
  • Launch from the context menu;
  • Free for non-commercial use;
  • Unstable work with flash drives is possible;

Clean Unused Disk Space

  • High speed of the application;
  • Support for any type of media;
  • Completely free;
  • Lack of settings;

There are a huge number of ways to delete a file without the possibility of recovery.

Tip 1: How to permanently delete files

Some of them are convenient, some not so much, but the easiest option is to use the well-known CCleaner program.

The main plus in the CCleaner program is that this product has long been able to establish itself among users only on the positive side. Also, a file deletion tool is present in free version programs.

How to fill the drive with zeros or destroy files.

CCleaner - Able to fill free space with zeros or completely delete all data from a disk or flash drive. If you need to delete a specific file, then "CCleaner" is not quite suitable, since the program does not have the ability to delete certain files without the possibility of recovery.

Go to the "Tools" section and select "Erase Disks" then, depending on the situation, select the desired options.

If the HDD or USB is for sale: In this case, it makes sense to completely format the drive. All files on the entire HDD or USB are completely destroyed.
Select - Entire disk (all data will be lost)

If you are selling a computer or laptop: In this case, you need to fill the free disk space with zeros to avoid the possibility of recovering files that were deleted in the usual way.
Choose - Only free space.

The optimal cleaning method, you can choose "7", if you want to play it safe, then choose 35.

In this case, the free space on the USB stick, files that were previously deleted will not be recoverable. Current files will not be deleted. If you select the "Entire disk" option, you can delete all files from the USB flash drive without the possibility of recovery!

Disk cleaning takes quite a long time, it all depends on the read speed of the drive, free space, and the selected number of passes. As soon as the program is finished, you can safely sell the drive, without fear that someone can restore the files and use them for personal gain.

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Ghost files: how do forensic scientists recover securely deleted data?

Gutmann method- secure deletion of data (for example) from the computer. The method was developed by Peter Gutman and Collin Plumb. The method consists of 35 records-deletion-oriented passes coded by RLL methods and various modifications.

Pass selection assumes that the user does not know the encoding mechanism used by the disc and therefore includes passes designed specifically for the three various types drives. If the user knows what type of encoding the drive is using, he can only select the passes that are intended for his drive. A disc with different encoding mechanisms requires different passes.

Most of the passes were designed for MFM and RLL encoded discs. Relatively modern discs do not use these old encoding methods, making many passes of Gutman's method redundant. In addition, since around 2001, hard drive designs have included support for the "Secure Erase" standard, which eliminates the need to use the Gutmann method when erasing the entire drive.

The method was first presented in the work "Secure deletion of data from magnetic and solid state drives in July 1996.


Many users quite often face a situation where they need to remove everything from their computer. This can happen for various reasons. Home, protecting your sensitive data. For example, many people often need to sell a computer. For the most part, in order to obtain a new more powerful model. You can, of course, sell a PC by nodes, but we will consider the option when a person wants to sell the entire system unit.

We think it is clear to you that before selling a computer, you need to remove all confidential information from it. It is desirable to do this, because valuable confidential information can be stored on the hard drive. For example, video materials, photos and other data that you do not want to leave to strangers.


Recall that before you start using the hard drive, it is desirable to format it. During formatting, the entire disk is structured into clusters.


This process can be compared to splitting into cells. Each of the resulting clusters has its own individual address. It is stored at the beginning of the partition (Table FAT). This table can be compared with the table of contents. During data entry, the clusters to which information is entered are marked by the operating system as busy.


When a person deletes information, these clusters are recorded by the system as free. At the same time, the recorded data remains in them. Information in clusters will be stored until a person enters a new one there. Therefore, recovering deleted information is not particularly difficult. You don't even need to be a programmer to do this. This is done with the help of special programs, for example, Recuva.


In order to remove information from the clusters, a new one needs to be added in their place. But this is optional. You can simply do a full format of this disk. With a quick format, you will simply reset the FAT table.


But, it should be noted that even full formatting does not mean that the information is completely cleared. Special programs will help the Kulibins to return some of this information.


What remains to be done if you need to delete the data more carefully? There are special programs for this, like HDD Low Level Format Tool. Also, you can format several times. Better yet, invite a specialist (if the information is very valuable). But this is not our case, so we will do the formatting ourselves, moreover, using the system method.

How to remove everything from the computer? Let's do a full format.

To do this, left-click on the shortcut "Computer". In the window that opens, select the desired drive, for example D. Right-click on it and click "Format".





And this is tantamount to erasing the title of the book. In this case, the chapters themselves will remain intact. Therefore, remove the checkbox and carry out a full formatting by clicking "Start". During formatting, it is better not to overload the PC with any work, especially the disk being formatted. Formatting is complete. The system not only formatted the disk, but also checked it for bad sectors and restored them.

How to delete everything from a computer The second way to format

To do this, we need the Start menu command line. Enter "Create and Format" there. We will have a file with the same name, click on it.



Select the desired disk, in our case D. Right-click on it and continue, as in the first method.


How to remove everything from the computer Formatting during system installation

During the system reinstallation, when you are in the disk selection window, click on the line at the bottom of the "Disk Setup" window.



Then, select the disk to format and click "Format". In our case, since we want to delete all information from the computer, let's select each of the disks in turn.




We formatted all drives except the system one (if we used methods 1 and 2). To complete the deletion of all information, let's go to the system drive (usually, this is drive C), and delete all folders, except for the Windows folder (it cannot be deleted, our system is located in it). After that, do not forget to empty our basket.


Now you know how to remove everything from your computer. It remains to choose the method you like and carry out a complete formatting of the computer. Many people prefer formatting during system reinstallation. Good luck!