undine_2042
New Member
I am about to give away my old PC, so after reformatting HDD and reinstalling XP SP3, I checked the HDD using PC Inspector (PCI) and also DiskDigger.
To my surprise, both reported thousands of recoverable deleted files!
Just checking the jpgs for example, I found many family pics that were many years old, and almost without exception they were all complete and recoverable.
Plus of course there were many docs with private correspondence and identity info, also recoverable!
[BTW, I also tried Recuva, which reported only TWO recoverable files - absolutely useless!!!]
OK, so I used Eraser to wipe the unused disk space, 1st with one pass pseudorandom., then re-ran PCI.
Nothing had changed. The same number of files were found, and as before were for the most part recoverable
OK, so I used Eraser to wipe the unused disk space again but with 35 pass Gutmann, then re-ran PCI.
Again, nothing had changed. The same number of files were found, and as before were recoverable :cry:
I then ran a few tests which showed that a file deleted with Eraser was NOT recoverable.
But, files that had been deleted by either SHIFT-DELETE, or DELETE then EMPTY RECYCLE BIN, were definitely recoverable.
--- Giving up on Eraser, I tried using windows command CIPHER /W C:\ ......, but again, that did not remove any of the recoverable deleted files :!:
So ... anybody know what is wrong with Eraser ???
This behaviour has previosuly been reported here: http://bbs.heidi.ie/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5481&start=15
Does anyone know of a tool that will genuinely remove previously "deleted" files, without having to use DBAN???
I would love NOT to have to rebuild the PC AGAIN :evil:
To my surprise, both reported thousands of recoverable deleted files!
Just checking the jpgs for example, I found many family pics that were many years old, and almost without exception they were all complete and recoverable.
Plus of course there were many docs with private correspondence and identity info, also recoverable!
[BTW, I also tried Recuva, which reported only TWO recoverable files - absolutely useless!!!]
OK, so I used Eraser to wipe the unused disk space, 1st with one pass pseudorandom., then re-ran PCI.
Nothing had changed. The same number of files were found, and as before were for the most part recoverable
OK, so I used Eraser to wipe the unused disk space again but with 35 pass Gutmann, then re-ran PCI.
Again, nothing had changed. The same number of files were found, and as before were recoverable :cry:
I then ran a few tests which showed that a file deleted with Eraser was NOT recoverable.
But, files that had been deleted by either SHIFT-DELETE, or DELETE then EMPTY RECYCLE BIN, were definitely recoverable.
--- Giving up on Eraser, I tried using windows command CIPHER /W C:\ ......, but again, that did not remove any of the recoverable deleted files :!:
So ... anybody know what is wrong with Eraser ???
This behaviour has previosuly been reported here: http://bbs.heidi.ie/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=5481&start=15
Does anyone know of a tool that will genuinely remove previously "deleted" files, without having to use DBAN???
I would love NOT to have to rebuild the PC AGAIN :evil:
