Encrypted directories

T

tigerbiter

New Member
When overwriting unused space, how does eraser interact with virtual, encrypted, hidden directories?
If it can't find it, I suppose it can't erase it.
If it is invisible to eraser, does eraser assume that it is free space, and overwrite it?
Anyone here have any experience with this?
 
Can you provide an example of what you mean? Your description seems kind of vague. For example, what is a virtual directory? There could be many meanings.

If it is an area of the drive that can be accessed normally, then Eraser can overwrite it. If it is a TrueCrypt drive, then it exists normally as a file which can be overwritten.
 
Virtual drives, etc.

For example, Cryptainer hides an encrypted, virtual drive.
TrueCrypt can hide a drive within a drive, and another within that.
PGP simply encrypts files without hiding them.
How does eraser "see" the drives?
Does it erase the encrypted data?
 
I haven't used Cryptainer, only TrueCrypt. A TrueCrypt drive and a hidden drive within it are both held as a single visible file that appears to consist of random bits. The visible file can be overwritten by Eraser if you choose to do so, thereby destroying the file and any drives (and information) it represented.

Eraser doesn't work on a *mounted* TrueCrypt drive (hangs Windows when I try it), nor is it necessary to use Eraser on such a drive since the entire contents of the drive are already encrypted. Just dismount the drives and the information remains encrypted and "invisible" without TrueCrypt and the password to the file.

For example, say the mounted TrueCrypt drive is called Z:, and you have a file you want securely deleted from Z:. Just delete the file normally (provided you have Recycle Bin turned off) and it is gone. There is no need to overwrite unused space as it is already encrypted and appears as garbage without the password.
 
No, the file itself is visible (has a name) on your hard drive, and thus not freespace. You would have to select the file deliberately and ask Eraser to overwrite it.

For example, you could have a file named "blob" that is a TrueCrypt container. Were you to open the file with a text editor or hex editor, you would only see apparently random bits. But when you open the file in TrueCrypt and provide the correct password, it gets mounted as another drive. It can also have another hidden drive contained within it, and that can be mounted as yet another drive. Both are contained within the visible file called "blob".
 
So doing a DBAN wipes everything?

So just to verify, DBAN wipes EVERYTHING on the hard drive, right? Encrypted or not?
 
Yes, it does. Pete
 
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