still finding data that i erased?

P

physix

New Member
hello, i have been using eraser for a short while now and i seem to be having a bit of trouble. i use eraser to delete all my files, specifically i use the gutman method in which i herd now days isn't a good method to use. while i was searching for the best method to use i stumbled upon the website of the recovery software i used. they was stating that e forensics use a 1 pass method of all 0's and deem that as being cleared. after hearing that i asked myself the question, " why doesn't the government do that if its so secure"?

now that my method has been stated, and my question about which method should i use is out of the way. my real problem is i ran the software called "recuva". i didn't even let it finish its job because i forgot to check the deep scan box, and it already found a ton of deleted files in which i thought i file shred. another thing that bothered me was there was actual files found that i have no interest in and not sure how they got there. the files contained some pictures of homosexual porn, and a few containing stupid random funny pictures. i am pretty much the only one that uses this computer, and im quite confused to how those stupid pics were found in my recycle bin and computer.
 
I am using Eraser 6.0.8.2273 on Windows 7 and have this same problem.

Recuva's deep scan is able to find and recover nearly all the files I have wiped. Doesn't matter how I wipe (erase by file name, erase the entire disk, or erase unused space) the files are still there lurking.

Another annoying and possibly unrelated problem is when I am in My computer and right click on the drive, then select "erase" I get a message within a second or two that says "task complete with errors." Thing is this task should have taken an hour or two (I'm trying to erase a 60gb usb hard drive) but in reality it's not erasing anything. I can find all those files with Recuva again.

In situations where I want to wipe an entire hard drive, for example after an OS has been infected or just to do a fresh OS install I can boot to a dban iso and it wipes everything. Brutal. But I need something that will wipe a file, folder, usb drive or maybe unused space on my hard drive and Eraser doesn't do that for me. Even when run as administrator.

Will there be a version written specifically for Windows 7?
 
physix said:
hello, i have been using eraser for a short while now and i seem to be having a bit of trouble. i use eraser to delete all my files, specifically i use the gutman method in which i herd now days isn't a good method to use.
Click to expand...
There really isn't a "good" method, all methods are useful in different situations. It just happens that the Gutmann method is rather time-consuming with very little increase in data security, if any, on modern drives.

physix said:
while i was searching for the best method to use i stumbled upon the website of the recovery software i used. they was stating that e forensics use a 1 pass method of all 0's and deem that as being cleared. after hearing that i asked myself the question, " why doesn't the government do that if its so secure"?
Click to expand...
Paranoia? I think there are quite a few people on this forum who think that 35 passes are insufficient. It really depends on who you are up against.

physix said:
my real problem is i ran the software called "recuva". i didn't even let it finish its job because i forgot to check the deep scan box, and it already found a ton of deleted files in which i thought i file shred. another thing that bothered me was there was actual files found that i have no interest in and not sure how they got there. the files contained some pictures of homosexual porn, and a few containing stupid random funny pictures. i am pretty much the only one that uses this computer, and im quite confused to how those stupid pics were found in my recycle bin and computer.
Click to expand...
Sounds like malware infection. Clear the root cause of the malware (this is not an appropriate forum to discuss how), then do an unused space erasure to clear the traces.
 
imnotrich said:
Recuva's deep scan is able to find and recover nearly all the files I have wiped. Doesn't matter how I wipe (erase by file name, erase the entire disk, or erase unused space) the files are still there lurking.
Click to expand...
Windows scatters copies of files all over the place. Since Recuva is able to find files via file signatures, you'll need to remove those copies. The FAQ deals with this quite well (see David's getting to know Eraser thread).

imnotrich said:
Another annoying and possibly unrelated problem is when I am in My computer and right click on the drive, then select "erase" I get a message within a second or two that says "task complete with errors." Thing is this task should have taken an hour or two (I'm trying to erase a 60gb usb hard drive) but in reality it's not erasing anything. I can find all those files with Recuva again.
Click to expand...
Find what error it is. Right-click the task in Eraser and view the Task Log.

imnotrich said:
In situations where I want to wipe an entire hard drive, for example after an OS has been infected or just to do a fresh OS install I can boot to a dban iso and it wipes everything. Brutal. But I need something that will wipe a file, folder, usb drive or maybe unused space on my hard drive and Eraser doesn't do that for me. Even when run as administrator.
Click to expand...
You probably forgot to exit the copy of Eraser which is running in the background before starting one new instance as an administrator. The non-admin copy remains in memory since the admin one files a duplicate instance running.

imnotrich said:
Will there be a version written specifically for Windows 7?
Click to expand...
I use Windows 7 to develop Eraser. I don't see why a specific version needs to be written for Windows 7? Perhaps you may like to explain.
 
hi, you may try DuplicateFilesDeleter to remove your duplicate files, it works very well and remove duplicate files quickly.
 
Is it possible that you are trying to erase a flash stick, a solid-state drive (SSD), or a similar medium? That will not work. Eraser works by overwriting the target files. When you re-write solid-state and flash memories, however, the replacement data do not overwrite the original. Thus, erasing is ineffective for those.
 
These are probably artefacts left by temp files. e.g. when you edit a word document a temp file is created, you should run a free space erase to catch these types.
 
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