eraser running very slow

[rmits]

I am running eraser on unused disk space (c. However, it is running very slow >2days already and no sign of ending. Is this normal? I remember it didn't used to take so long before. I have 6.0.6

I presume this is all one needs to run to remove data that has been deleted and wants to remove permanently from computer. I guess one could just go to recycle bin and run eraser on recycle bin. Is that sufficient to accomplish what I want to do or do you have to really run eraser on unused disk.

 

[DavidHB]

The wipe is taking too long, and may have frozen. This can happen when Windows discovers that there is little or no free space on the drive and prevents eraser from working. If you cancel the task or close Eraser manually, check that it has not left its wiping files to take up some or all of the free space on the drive. There is guidance on this in the FAQ.

If you set the wipe to any thing more than the default single pass this will greatly increase the processing time, and is IMO unnecessary.

Sending the file to the Recycle Bin and then erasing the contents of that fully erases the file. Wiping free space is something different; you use that to get rid of the traces of files you have previously been deleted but not erased. You should not need to wipe free space on a drive all that often; it is, as you have discovered a lengthy process, and quite demanding on the hard drive.

David