over writting un-used diskspace making pc go weird

I

ident

New Member
Firstly i read abit about it and asked around. About over writing unused diskspace. I have started running it, it is now at 23% and my fonts went, and one or 2 buttons.

"The problem with fonts after running Eraser is a well known bug, though the bug is with Windows rather than Eraser! Windows doesn't like the font files being touched, which is what Eraser tries to do (by cleaning the cluster tips) in the Cluster Tips Area overwrite. The solution, as you have found, is to restart Windows.£

after reading on here i saw this and relaxed abit.

Please set my mind at rest, running this will not touch and of my files and folders. i only wanted to clean up previously deleted data.


worried about my machine now. got alot of movies and music etc i dont want to lose
 
i've had my fonts change on me too while wiping free space. everytime its been solved by rebooting. this only happens to me when i try to use the computer while the freespace wipe is in progress.

i've never had eraser corrupt or overwrite any files that it wasn't supposed to while doing a freespace wipe and i've been using eraser for years. you should be alright.
 
Thank you very much. Yes i have bene using the computer as i did not expect it to be only at 44% at 2 days.

Putty has decided not to work and some buttons dont show but heard also that a reboot solves this.
 
i got 2 160gb hard drivers and for some reason selected 35 passes but didnt really expect it to take that long.

Only really needed 1 pass i guess as only selling to a "sort" of mate and got lots of old deleted private information from work etc.
 
No problem with fonts, but after a wipe, the folders in Outlook Express were corrupt. Maybe that's a font problem as the titles were corrupt looking.
A reboot fixed everything.

One pass, XP SP2 on an older 20 gig laptop.
 
yeah, I did a 35 pass wipe on a 80gig drive one time and it took quite a few hours, i think it took a whole night. I only choose 1 or 3 passes now.
 
ident said:
Firstly i read abit about it and asked around. About over writing unused diskspace. I have started running it, it is now at 23% and my fonts went, and one or 2 buttons.

"The problem with fonts after running Eraser is a well known bug, though the bug is with Windows rather than Eraser! Windows doesn't like the font files being touched, which is what Eraser tries to do (by cleaning the cluster tips) in the Cluster Tips Area overwrite. The solution, as you have found, is to restart Windows.£

after reading on here i saw this and relaxed abit.

Please set my mind at rest, running this will not touch and of my files and folders. i only wanted to clean up previously deleted data.


worried about my machine now. got alot of movies and music etc i dont want to lose
Click to expand...
ident:

no need to worry. A reboot after running eraser will sort out the fonts problem (it was myself who wrote the post that you have quoted in message number one). I would also suggest NOT using the computer as kringle has suggested he / she does while running a free space wipe as this may slow down the wipe process and depending on how your computer is configured it could mean data being written to the free space - just as you are trying to wipe it.

Lastly, if your computer is still running (the 35 pass Guttmann method) just cancel the operation, reboot the computer and choose a shorter method. If I ran a 35 pass operation I could probably have a long weekend break to somewhere nice and come home to still find eraser running!

If you just want to erase old data then a one pass pseudorandom (PRNG) data pass would be enough. Use the 3 or 7 pass US DoD standard if you wish for more security, or use the option to change the PRNG pass to a higher number. I have used a 8 pass PRNG pass in the past, but now just stick to a 1 pass PRNG.
 
Hi ident

ident said:
I take it 35passes is a little overkill?
Click to expand...

Yes I would say so. On a modern hard drive a single pseudorandom pass should be enough security for the average person, you need to decide for yourself if your data needs any more than that.
 
It is really. Gutmann, the guy who came up with the method even said in an addendum to his well published paper that you only need to perform passes specific to the encoding technology used for your drive. You have a large capacity drive which means its considered to be modern (i think anything over 20GB is, too) so it uses PRML or EPRML encoding technology. He goes on to say that on these modern drives "a few passes of random scrubbing is the best you can do".

After I read that, I stopped considering the 35 pass method. Well, that and how long it took me the last time I used it. :D

You can read more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gutmann_method
 
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