Overview
Eraser is an advanced security tool which allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your disk drives by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns. You can drag and drop files and folders to the program, setting arbitrarily complex schedules and any number of targets, or use the convenient Windows Explorer shell extension.
All the patterns used for overwriting are based on published standards by either researchers or government agencies and they are selected to effectively remove the magnetic remnants from the hard disk making it impossible to recover the data. These methods include
Peter Gutmann’s paper Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory
National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual of the US Department of Defense
Simple pseudorandom data.
Using Eraser
Eraser, although being designed as an advanced security tool, has a user-friendly interface for users to design, schedule and execute tasks. The interface is therefore an integral part of the user’s workflow and in this chapter we demonstrate the common tasks users expect of such a program.