Securing free space?

[CustomHVAC]

I use window washer to clean things up & secure free space.
I have the Bleach set to 7 (NSA) & 12 hours later it barely made it to 40% complete (300 gig HD)

Would it do just as good job at 3 bleach passes, 3 days in a row ?

(I'm trying to accomplish this overnight/s, rather than 30+ hrs without a computer)

Any ideas??
Thanks

[CustomHVAC]

Thanks for all the help & support !

[Menorcaman]

Thread moved here from the Privacy General forum in the hope that it will receive a response.

Regards

[Longboard]

Hello

Which "window washer" are you using

What OS?

How big is the disc, how much free space have you got?
Do you need it all?
Why not make a new partition to cut down the freespace till you need it?
How secure do you really need it.
There will always be some way to get some data back unless you physically destroy the drive...even then...

There are some issues with NTFS file systems and wiping filenames.
See here:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/sysinternals/Security/SDelete.mspx

Unless you have extreme privacy needs 3 wipes with any reasonable tool should be enough

See this thread:
http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=147602

If you are paranoid, dont forget index.dat files and all the other little hidey holes

:)

[Genady Prishnikov]

Sounds like you're using Webroot's "Window Washer" Free-Space Wash option. It's rather slow. I would suggest downloading 'Eraser' at http://www.heidi.ie/eraser

If your drive is formatted using NTFS, just make sure all boxes are checked when you right click on the drive to be wiped (free space).

So much depends on what we don't know, the speed of your computer, how large your drive is, etc.

Longboard's suggestion on partitioning for much faster wiping is excellent advice.