Map ereased, but is still found by recovery-tool

Z

Zeez

New Member
Hello! I am about to sell my computer, and came across your program Ereaser. It looks and sounds very useful, but it doesn't seems to work. I ereased a map with almost 1000 files. The status told me that it was completed, but when i tried to recover deleted files with a recovering-tool, i was able to find all the files i ereased. How come? I have seen good reviews about this software, but this scares me since i got secret information about my websites etc. which must not be recovered by a new owner. It's easy to say "well dont sell it then!", but aren't this program supposed to work? Any ideas? I maybe need to recover the files (ironic enough) and then erease it again? And maybe again?

Thanks in advance
 
What are maps?

There's always the possibility that the copies are residing elsewhere on the disk and not the copies you erased. Shadow copies, temporary files etc. Your recovery tool may also be digging out copies of files which are not the ones you erased.
 
Thanks for your answer,
Well basically the files I ereased were files I had already deleted from the recycle bin, but i recovered them and then ereased them. I guess that it wasn't the best way, and I didn't know about overwriting spaces that are not used, I guess I should have done that instead. Well later I downloaded "File shredder" which make it possible to overwrite unused space on the hard drive. After what i have understood, this should work. After like a hour of waiting, I cannot anylonger open the pictures and files via the recovering-tool, but yet I can still find the same amount of files, though they seems to have been kind of "destroyed".

What would you say about this? Can I be sure now that i can sell the computer (thanks to your program and File shredder) without the risk of a new owner recovering my data?

Thanks
 
Glad that's the case. Recovery programs take the deleted copy and make another for certainty. They do not make the deleted one "undeleted."

Eraser has the same functionality, it's called an Unused Space erasure. Run that and your data should be gone, including the extra data if you let Eraser run to completion. Eraser is quite thorough, so it can take a while. Only after then would I be able to say that to some level of certainty that your data is gone for good.

I'm assuming you just do not want casual people stumbling on your data and not that your disk drive is forensic evidence (both are different scenarios and require different treatment.)
 
System:
Windows 7
HDD1 ITB Main
HDD2 300gig backup
NTFS
Free space erasure method: HMGIS5 3 wipes . plausible deniability enabled.
Standard erasure: Recycle bin..Scheiner pass 7
Software used to recover files. Recover my files and recuva.
No surprise to me that your able to recover files I've been testing erase since inception and I've ALWAYS been able to recover my files even after a gutmann wipe.
Last test done early December 11. I wiped free space using above method and I was still able to view and recover most of the files I had sent to recycle bin on the secondary drive. Nowadays if I want to get rid of data I pull the backup drive out when it gets old unscrew the cover and yank the wafers than run them through a dvd shredder. Then I buy a new HDD and start all over again. I might add I can recover all files on a USB drive after erasure and a free space wipe. The only reliable way to destroy data on a USB is to use a sledge hammer and then burn it lol.
I've tested this since XP and on every windows OS to Win7 and it's always been the same. I'm upgrading to linux so trying to diagnose a windows problem here would be quite useless.
I ain't fussed about it, I mean I like testing erase and recover programs and looking forward to see what Linux offers as wipe and recover options but, ummm, I wouldn't trust any erase program. It's a case of false security methinks.
 
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