Find already deleted files and secure delete them?

Discussion in 'privacy technology' started by Cutting_Edgetech, Nov 20, 2010.

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  1. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    I've been looking for software that finds already deleted files on a HD, and secure deletes them. The only one i have found is Recuva. Are there anymore? I already have software that wipes free disk space so that is not what i'm looking for.
     
  2. CloneRanger

    CloneRanger Registered Member

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    Hi,

    Yes Directory Snoop is one & it's Excellent & offers a free fully working trial :thumb:

    Have a look in here for some examples of it working https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=283335&highlight=caspian
     
  3. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    Thanks CloneRanger! I remember using Directory Snoop when that thread was started, but i didn't look to see there was an option for secure deletion of data found. I was just using it to see what data i could recover at the time. I will have to look at it again.
     
  4. katio

    katio Guest

    heidi eraser, completely free.
    Note that they can't work 100% because they can't delete slack space of files in use or that are protected (write perms for SYSTEM only).
     
  5. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    I already have Eraser. Eraser will not find already deleted files, and secure delete them. You have to wipe your drive's entire free space instead. That is time consuming, and more ware on your drive. I don't want to shorten the life span of my drive.
     
  6. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    Yes it will find already deleted files, deleted files just have the flag that indicates to the system that the file exists...removed.

    Not not modern HDs they're platers are denser and harder than older HDs.
     
  7. katio

    katio Guest

    Do you have a SDD? If not, no worries. HDD failure rate and the amount of data written to it aren't correlated, or at least studies so far haven't show any conclusive results (see the 2007 google study, which is the most interesting one on that topic, link)
    The way eraser does it is the most secure option. Other software doesn't care about slack space at all and can't and won't pick up all file fragments.

    Eraser could be optimised by skipping sectors that already contain just zeros or ones, but apart from that you simply have to overwrite everything to be on the safe side. I can't imaging other software being that much faster if they thoroughly scan the whole disk.
     
  8. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    Carver, i'm not sure you are understanding me. Are you stating that Eraser has a search function that allows you to search your HD to find files that have not been secure deleted or have been lost due to corruption, and only secure delete those files without performing a wipe of all the unused disk space?
    If so then which version of Eraser does this? I use v5.8.8. I used v6 for a while, but found it was too buggy for me. I have not seen this function. Where is it? Could you take a screen shot, and show me? I must be overlooking it. Thank you so much in advance!
     
  9. Carver

    Carver Registered Member

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    Eraser 5.84 had a feature called secure delete used to transfer a downloaded file into a secure safe like a truecrypt file container then erase the orignal. You could search for the file using Recuva (uses the copy method of saving a file) Recuva leaves the original file in freecpace) then smply delete freespace or use http://undeleteplus.com/ I have version 2.94 it deletes the copy in freespace but that was a couple of years ago.
     
  10. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    Ok, So Eraser does not have a search feature. I thought you must have misunderstood me. I already have Recuva, and have used it for secure deleting found files. I was just looking for an alternative. In order for restore software to assist in secure deleting files it would have to give an option to secure delete the files after finding them or restore them to the exact location on the drive that the file already resides, and then use a secure deleter to delete them after they are restored. I'm looking for software that finds files that have not been secure deleted, and then allows you to secure delete them. I don't want to have to try to restore the file to the exact location that it resides on the disk, and then secure delete the file. I'm not really sure what restore software would give an option for restoring found deleted files to the exact location it resides on the disk. If there is software that gives that option then that would work. It would be much more simple to just go ahead, and secure delete the data found without having to restore it in this manner. I do not know the exact method in which all undelete software uses to restore deleted files, but I would be willing to guess that most do not restore the files found back to the exact location on the disk they are found. Restoring large amounts of data in this manner would be difficult, and not as reliable as restoring the data to a different location on the disk.
     
    Last edited: Nov 24, 2010
  11. Heimdall

    Heimdall Registered Member

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    If you're still using XP, take a look at Restoration:

    http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Back-Up-and-Recovery/Restoration.shtml

    It handles restoring of files and secure deletion of previously deleted files. Unfortunately, the delete function no longer works on Windows 7.
     
  12. Cutting_Edgetech

    Cutting_Edgetech Registered Member

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    Heimdall, thanks! I will try it out. I'm going to be out of town for the next 2 weeks so i want be able to test it until then.
     
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