Eraser command line Window7

C

changlinn

New Member
Hi Everyone, I have been using and recommending eraser for a long time for secure deletion, I currently run a script at login that erases a few folders that I tend to use for temporary work, since moving to Windows 7 64bit this has worked all bar erasing the contents of the recycle bin, I am using the below in my script. Running this without the silent says the recycle bin is empty when it clearly isn't, is there a way around this, other than scheduling a delete of it occasionally with the gui (which still seems to work)?

"C:\Program Files (x86)\Eraser\eraserl.exe" -recycled -method DoD_E -silent
 
Obviously, you are still running Eraser 5; Eraser 6 has no 'eraserl' function, as yet at least. Eraser 5 is no longer supported, and it does not seem to co-exist all that comfortably with Vista and Windows 7. Perhaps longer term, you might consider moving to Eraser 6, which starts with Windows (but does not seem to be a resource hog) and has an 'Erase on Restart' task type which might replace your script. The latest version, Eraser 6.0.7. seems pretty stable, and I feel comfortable in recommending it.

For now, it is worth checking what is left in your Recycle Bin. On both Vista and Windows 7, the OS seems occasionally to leave odd randomly named files in the Recycle Bin folder, and these files cannot be removed by any normal means, even in Safe Mode. The only way I could get rid of them was to boot from a Linux-based rescue disk, and manually delete the 'Recycled' folders on all of my drives. Once they were gone, they have not returned. If this is your problem, then it is not really Eraser related. If, however, Eraser 5/eraserl is not erasing 'normal' files, my guess is that you have a problem with permissions; possibly the script will only work if it is run elevated, which, from my reading on the subject, seems to be tricky. Perhaps, with Eraser 5, a scheduled erase is indeed the best answer.

David
 
@DavidHB: Nope definately running 6.06.1376 and definately have eraserl, but the version info on that says 5.7.0.0.
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@Joel: Doesn't look to be a corrupt recycle bin just an issue with 5.7.0.0 eraserl, I managed to get it working doing the below (this keeps the folders intact but deletes the files inside so that is ok)
"C:\Program Files (x86)\Eraser\eraserl.exe" -folder "C:\$Recycle.Bin\" -subfolders -keepfolder -method DoD_E -silent
 
It seems that you installed Eraser 6 without uninstalling Eraser 5 first, which is, I believe, not recommended. Joel can advise better than I how well the two programs co-exist.

I'm also surprised that you got Eraser 6.0.6. to run under Windows 7 x64; I never could. My normal advice would be to upgrade to eraser 6.0.7, but for you that would involve uninstalling Eraser and deleting manually (or using a cleaner to remove) all traces of the old installation before re-installing.

David
 
Well eraserl.exe works so I will leave it as is, even the recyclebin hack I mentioned above works.
I need to have command line access and eraserl gives me that.
 
Eraser 6 was never designed to be used with Eraser 5. Your configuration isn't supported: use at your own risk. The only problem I foresee is that you'll get versioning conflicts if you install both in the same area. But there definitely will be more problems I can't think of at hand. I'll detail more in future if needed.

In any case: use at your own risk.
 
Yep I just noticed there is eraser5 in c:\program files (x86) and eraser 6 in c:\program files\ I restored this build from an image so I may have installed 5 pre imaging and 6 post, ah well it works for the time being, bring back command line functionality and I can get rid of 5 :)
 
Given what Joel says, you might do well to think of Plan B for when the existing setup falls over ...

I'd guess that Joel would probably not wish to re-create eraserl.exe until the core Eraser functionality is running as a service, which is still some months off.

David
 
Eraser has a command line interface, just that it's more convoluted, and not suited for running tasks from a script (due to the change in the way Eraser works). Try calling
Code: 
eraser help
on v6.
 
Joel said:
Eraser has a command line interface, just that it's more convoluted, and not suited for running tasks from a script (due to the change in the way Eraser works). Try calling
Code: 
eraser help
on v6.
Click to expand...
Sorry, I'd forgotten about the Command Line. It would be useful if the information were in the manual (it's currently TBD). It would also be useful if there were a 'use task' parameter (to use an existing predefined manual run task) as well as 'add task'. That could surely be part of a script?

David
 
The problem is that the command runs asynchronously -- understandable since the architecture is such that the tasks are asynchronous so running them in scripts can be a problem.
 
So, returning to my original thought, when you have implemented the Eraser core as a service (somewhen, as they say in these parts), will it be feasible to develop a Linux-style command line utility that simply calls the running service when required, and which could be run in a script?

David
 
The CLI is supposed to be fleshed out... see #355.
 
For starters, have a look at the current CLI and see what needs added -- add suggestions to the ticket mentioned earlier.
 
Joel said:
For starters, have a look at the current CLI and see what needs added -- add suggestions to the ticket mentioned earlier.
Click to expand...
I've added a range of suggestions, which is very much a first attempt. Thoughts and comments would be appreciated from anyone.

David
 
Suggestions go to the Trac ticket. Everything else comes here (if in doubt, post in the Trac ticket)
 
Joel said:
The problem is that the command runs asynchronously -- understandable since the architecture is such that the tasks are asynchronous so running them in scripts can be a problem.
Click to expand...
Isn't a problem for my scripts, thanks Joel does everything I want, I had to spawn off another script to do my erases but now it can collapse into the original script, the one feature I would like to see is don't delete the top level folder but recurse below it which it doesn't seem to do properly at the moment, I have to recreate the folder after the erase.
 
I fixed a bug like that in 6.0.7: please have a search for that ticket and re-open it; or create a new ticket if you can't find it.

Thanks.
 
Joel said:
I fixed a bug like that in 6.0.7: please have a search for that ticket and re-open it; or create a new ticket if you can't find it.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
Ah well there's my problem, still running 6.0.6, thanks for being so effecient, I'll upgrade.
 
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