Secure delete harmfull to hard drive?

Hi!
I have gotten in the habit of running CCleaner with the secure delete option (gutman 35 pass) enabled.
I know its not really needed,as i have no sensitive data on-board,
but I just like the feeling,and am willing to put up with the slowing of the delete.

Someone told me any secure delete puts a strain on the hard drive that can lead to early failure,is this true?

 

Harddrives are mechnical so when you do additional wipes it does wear it out more. However, I don't think it would be a significant issue to use it with CCleaner.

Separate issue, 35 passes as you have noted is not needed. Why waste your time then? Feeling secure dosen't make you any more secure.

 

Thanks,point taken.

 

FYI, I use 3 passes. Blue has commented in the past that 1 pass is actually enough. I listen to Steve Gibson in Security Now podcasts and he suggests that you probably need more than 1 pass but not much more.

As I'm no expert in this area and my inability to properly understand secure data removal means I use 3 passes.

 

Yes,I have just tried it on three pass's,and then ran Piriform recuva to see if any of a large number of picture files were in fact recoverable. the only ones not beyond recovery were some listed as resident in the MFT.(these were tiny tool button images,the like).
That is really the same results I got with 35 pass method,but quicker..
good enough.

 

There are many disk operations (hibernation file, paging file, MFT/FAT, etc) which involve much more "effort" from the disk than wiping/secure erasing and yet they're not being accused of damaging HDDs

 

Beware how much you trust Steve Gibson. His credibility is somewhat in question. While this can be somewhat applicable to anyone, his seems to be much more in question. Some love him, some hate him, but there really isn't anything that makes him a "stand out" kinda person, and some say his credibility is a result of what he is best at is marketing.

As for the 35 Pass, I doubt its really wearing things out significantly, but one pass should be enough. If you are the kind of person who feels he needs 35, you should also keep a pack of thermite handy for when your drives reach end of life.