After 35 pass i'm still able to recover my file!

Well this is a pretty disturbing finding - because till now no one has been able to recover files; I certainly haven't. I'd like to invest resources into this where possible.

Joel
 
Joel said:
Well this is a pretty disturbing finding - because till now no one has been able to recover files; I certainly haven't. I'd like to invest resources into this where possible.

Joel
Click to expand...

I know you are a perfectionist Joel and that’s why we love you here but I do wonder about this myself.

I have tested Eraser to the best of my ability over a long time and I have never experienced problems like this.

Perhaps binolandia might like to wait for the release of Eraser V6 and then test again ?
 
Update:

run eraser on my home pc, then i was unable to recover anything!

work pc are Acer Travelmate.

If you agree i can give you remote control (using teamviewer) of one notebook while i run recover after eraser
 
Could you list the software which is installed on the computer?

Joel
 
software installed are similar for each pc:

standard is :

windows xp sp2 or sp3
office 2003
acrobat reader 8
winzip
Acer tool
IBM Client Access
Microsoft Forefront Antivirus

we install other software only on-demand (visual studio, toad etc )
 
Hi binolandia

Thank you for sticking with this, we do need to find out what the problem actually is. It is very important to Eraser and its users that it functions correctly on all computers.

The only thing I can think of and this is purely guessing is that it may be something to do with the Acer software. They do seem to provide some “helpful” tools with their bundle but I have had trouble myself installing software on a friends Acer lap top when their “helpful tools” were installed.

Could you please try to disable the Acer tools and try again please ? Actually I wonder if you should uninstall Eraser first, disable the Acer tools, then re-install Eraser and try without starting the Acer tools again.

I understand this is a lot of trouble for you but so far you are the only person we have who has reported this error and you seem be a competent sort of chap so you are very useful to us.

Thanks.
 
Hi Overwriter,
don't worry,
i will take an acer notebook, format e and then reinstall only winxp without acer tools to make other test with eraser

I will post results asap

bye
 
I can confirm this issue. I tested on both a VMware Windows XP SP2 image and on a real installation (again Windows XP SP2) both drives formatted as NTFS.

Running either Recover My Files or Recover My Photos, I'm able to find a lot of files using the Complete Search and selecting the Physical drive (instead of the partition).
Run Eraser to wipe the unused space, I can still see all the files Recovery My Files previously found. And no, I have no backups and no compression turn on.

My guess this happens because the disk is accessed directly bypassing the windows file system but it's just a guess. I also tried a few other free space wipe programs and all have this problem.

If I select the partition instead of the physical drive then no files are found after wiping the free space.
 
Yes: with virtual machines they are a little unpredictable because the layer between the OS and the VM adds a layer of uncertainty. Buffering can be done by both OS and VM so the behaviour is pretty much undefined.

Joel
 
Joel said:
Yes: with virtual machines they are a little unpredictable because the layer between the OS and the VM adds a layer of uncertainty. Buffering can be done by both OS and VM so the behaviour is pretty much undefined.

Joel
Click to expand...
Hi Joel, thanks for your reply. Notice that because of that I also tested on a real Windows XP installation, just to be sure, with the same results.
 
I have the same problem.
I've read the other threads pertaining to this and landed here.

Vista home premium, sp1
eraser 5.86 (erase & launcher run as admin)
pc inspector (recovery)
firewall, a/v turned off
disconnected from internet

erase seems to run but I can fully restore files that were deleted months ago.
I've tried single and 7 pass individually to see if perhaps an alogithm might be at fault but same results.
Here is my latest log file (2 lines, all of 37 secs) trying to erase all unused space on C:
===============
12/15/2008 4:34:42 PM: Scheduler (5.86.1) starting.
12/15/2008 4:35:19 PM: Scheduler quitting.
=====================

I have a curious side issue with the scheduler though. I can't change the time anymore on either an existing or a new task. I can change the day but not the time.
Perhaps we all might have a corrupted eraser rather than some file/OS system issue?
 
With Vista and the Scheduler you must run Eraser elevated or disable UAC. Have you tried that?

Joel
 
thanks for the reply.

I can disable uac but I'm reluctant to do that since I could allow something else to execute while it's turned off.

I have no idea what elevate is though. Running in admin mode for ALL users isn't enough?

The issue I have is the same I have with many technical people. You offer something for not-so-techie people to use but you talk in techie terms.

I've been around since the dos-age and there were utilities then that would over-write erased data. Those were written is masm though. What has become so difficult? Can I run erase in dos/command mode now or are there too many hooks into the OS to do that?

I tried executing from the shell but that didn't work either.

I'm NOT downgrading you or the product. Just as in the thread, there seems to be problems and I haven't heard any solutions yet. Just "try this", "try that". Perhaps it's time to ignore the OS and its restrictions and offer people a way to execute from dos? Maybe I'm just dumb but I'll PAY for a product that works without my being that technically astute.

Thanks for your understanding.
 
Sorry, but it happens. Vista's going so "secure" that even security-related programs don't work properly: Eraser's just one of them. Writing to a folder in Vista outside of the user's own will result in redirection and nothing is overwritten. Unless you go into DOS, you won't be able to overwrite anything. Even so, IIRC NTFS doesn't work under DOS.

This thread should help you get Eraser starting Elevated. It has to be done every time Eraser starts. It's annoying if you are running on a schedule, but until 6.1 is out that is the workaround.

Joel
 
Hello,

i just read all this post and i have exactly the same problem.

i use winxp sp3

with eraser 5.86.1 i erase all unused space checked : free disk space + mft / cluster tip / directory entries

after that with Winhex i can find thousands of thumbnails form adobe bridge. Most are months old. Most look good, some are partly damaged.
i tried: purge all thumbnails from adobe bridge.
cccleaer, all temp files
no virtual memory in win xp
no hybernation in xp

Most of the windows files are locked, i also run eraser in xp safe mode. Same result.

some suggestions?
i am sure i am doing something wrong.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top