PrivaZer Discussion Thread

Good to know that the issue is solved.

In fact, the 8.3 short filenames seems to be buggy on Win7 when you copy from NTFS to NTFS.
More info here :
https://social.technet.microsoft.co...xplorer-bug-in-copypaste?forum=w7itprogeneral
(I've tested it)

For the free space cleanup on Veracrypt volumes, I need to investigate. I keep you posted.

 

Just to make clear there is no other software running like anti virus or other disk tools.[/QUOTE]

 

Yes it is but why does PrivaZer have this problem but not CCleaner for example. I have not experianced issues with any other software such as cleaners or backup when using VeraCrypt in many years.

 

That's a good question and here is the answer :

PrivaZer goes beyond , it is the only cleaner to be able to clean the INDEX entries in the MFT (Master File Table) of NTFS volumes.

Why do you need to clean the INDEX entries?
To prevent the recovery of deleted files, it is highly recommended to delete not only their File entries in the MFT but also the leftovers in the INDEX entries!!

An INDEX entry is a list of files/folders contained in a certain folder. Deleted files are still listed in them and it is a privacy issue.

I presume that cleaning the INDEX entries in your particular case where files were copy-pasted from a Veracrypt encrypted/NTFS drive to another Veracrypt encrypted/NTFS
under Windows 7 that has known bugs concerning the short filenames on NTFS, leads to the situation.

 

Can you add "delete usn journal" option?

fsutil usn deletejournal /d c:

 

Hello @liba,

PrivaZer already takes care of USN Journals and it goes beyond a basic deletion.
USN Journal are overwriten by PrivaZer to prevent from any recovery.

Here it is :

 

Is there anything you can do within PrivaZer to work around this problem and allow users to clean encrypted NTFS drives INDEX entries?

Also is the cleaning of free space not possible because of the win7 bug?

 

I've just tested to clean INDEX entries on an Veracrypt encrypted NTFS drives on Win7
and it has worked with no issue.

So, the problem you had is related to the copy/paste operation itself on a buggy Win7 from NTFS to NTFS.
So in your case, where you use a backup tool, I would recommend :

1. either to use Win10
2. or to format your slave drive to exFAT.

Maybe I've missed another solution..

 

@Quantumbit,
another possibility is to remove the 8.3 names with fsutil.
See here :
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-server/administration/windows-commands/fsutil-8dot3name
(A backup is recommended prior to the removing)

 

OK Thank you for the link to removing the 8.3 names I will look into this option.

I am not a computer expert so I am struggling to understand how the copy/paste win7 bug is causing the problem I am having with PrivaZer.

I can understand the win7 bug being an issue with a back-up program but this problem is happening without running any back-ups.

The "test 2" folder is at rest on the slave drive and correctly named. Only when I use PrivaZer does it get re-named. The is no other involvement from any other software such as backup or antivirus etc.

It is simply running PrivaZer which renames the folder so there is no copy/paste being done.

If you have time and it is possible to explain in simple terms (I am not an expert) could you please help me understand why this happens when there is no copy/paste being done?

Also have you had any luck finding out why the free-space is not being cleaned?

Thank you very much for your help.

 

I'm trying to find a workaround.
I keep you posted.

 

Here it is :
https://www.privazer.com/PrivaZer_free-v4alpha5.exe

I forced the use of long filenames.
Please test it.
Your "test 2" folder should remain "test 2" instead of its 8.3 equivalent.

 

THANK YOU !

This is fantastic, it works!!!!!

Thank you very, very, very much! I have been unable to clean these drives due to this problem for such a long time I cannot believe it is all fixed!

Not only have you produced the best privacy software for windows but you are now fixing win7 bugs LOL

You are a programming hero!

I still have the free space problem if you are interested in looking at that unless you would like a break from programming for a while?

 

You are welcome .
Thanks for making us better.
Send me the specification of your storage by email.
Crystaldiskinfo details may help.

 

Sent my disk details and some screen shots

 

Send me by Email the result of the scan, especially the details of deleted files found in the MFT and the traces in the free space (the red squares)

 

I sent an email yesterday, was the information what you wanted?

 

under investigation...

 

Package Cache
C:\ProgramData\Package Cache\*.*

 

@Quantumbit,

I have an U:\ volume encrypted with Veracrypt.
And here is the result of the scan of the free space BEFORE and AFTER a cleanup with PrivaZer :


BEFORE



THE CLEANUP



AFTER




It looks good, no?

 

Yes your results look good but this is not happening for me on all my slave drives (I have four).

The free-space clean works as expected on the C drive, which is the encrypted boot drive.

The results I emailed to you is what happens every time I try to wipe free-space on the whole drive encrypted slave disks. PrivaZer appears to be wiping the free space but if I run PrivaZer immediately after a clean the same items remain as before cleaning.

PrivaZer displays to the user that it is cleaning free space, the user would only notice if they run PrivaZer again straight after a clean.

There seems to also be many MFT not cleaned in the lists I sent you.

Please would you tell me what else I can test to help you work out what is going wrong for me on my drives?

I will reply later tonight as my wife has me doing odd jobs all day LOL

 

OK.
Send me by email the same screenshots I posted here : before and after cleanup.

 

I have just sent a zip file.

I have included all the info I thought might be useful.

Thank you for your help, I hope you can fix the problem

 

I will have a deeper look on it tomorrow or Monday

 

Thank you very much, very kind of you.