https://www.raymond.cc/blog/permanently-delete-and-remove-sensitive-files-to-prevent-data-recovery/ Has anyone used any of the tools in above link. I understand they will delete properly the first time. Or can anyone suggest a program to permanently delete from the recycle bin. Say files are 'deleted' to recycle bin and when sure all in recycle bin is permanently deleted. Looking for one text file i deleted by accident i did not find it but found 300GB of files which can be recovered. How come a text file creeated a few days ago cannot survive but big file from years ago can? Text too small get over written quickly?
I've use SDelete and File Shredder in past. Now I use Ccleaner to wipe free space on non SSD disk. You can also set CCleaner to overwrite data when it's cleaning redundant data (including files in Recycle bin). You can also use Recuva to find undeletable files and overwrite them.
Sometimes undelete tool shows that file can be recovered but after recovery you find out that file is damaged and you can't use it. So even if 300 GB of data can be recovered that doesn't mean you'll be able to use it. If you'll use CCleaner to wipe free space make sure you enable option Wipe MFT free space under Settings to remove remanents from there also.
Last time I run it to overwrite free space it deleted filenames from MFT. I'll recheck it in few days and see if file names will remain.
David, I have had great experiences with BleachBit for cleaning up! My applications are on linux systems. Regarding finding no recently deleted file: luck of the draw sometimes. A normal delete leaves the space available for the OS to use. If you are unlucky, your OS wrote the very next file in the space formerly occupied by the file you are looking for. It happens!!
Palancar, I like file shredder except there is no right click/shred in recycle bin or on the recycle bin icon. CCleaner has a right click outside the recycle bin that empties it. I think c cleaner has too many options though and registry cleans which i understand are not needed. BleachBit looks good too. I am nervous with eraser. Years ago. on XP, probably due to my inexperience with computer programs, i accidently deleted a file which was part of MS Word but maybe it was a problem with eraser Probably it was only a small text file. Thanks for feedback guys
If you are on windows you can use the cipher commando. It is a built in utility and overwrites all non-allocated space with 0'a, 1's and random bits. https://www.howtogeek.com/137108/how-securely-overwrite-free-space-in-windows/
