will Eraser destroy files written by WinZip and by Cryptaine

[dummy101]

The Eraser User Guide states that Eraser will not overwrite certain encrypted and/or compressed files, but it later states that it will overwrite the zip files and other (encrypted?) files written by various applications. I am particularly concerned that it will destroy files written by WinZip and by the Cryptainer Program.

The Cryptainer program is provided by Cypherix.com. It enables the user to create a “virtual vault”, which is protected by a password, to keep and use data files (created and used by Word Perfect, Excel, Quicken, etc.) and to present them to the user in Windows Explorer as a separate drive, decrypting them and re-encrypting them on-the-fly as the user calls for them. Because these files contain all my personal data, I am very concerned that Eraser will overwrite them routinely without any more attention or knowledge from me (a completely non-technical user) than to identify the folders where they are stored, to be “Targets” when running the Easer program.

 

[DavidHB]

Re: will Eraser destroy files written by WinZip and by Crypt

The compressed and encrypted files Eraser will not deal with are those compressed or encrypted by the NTFS file system. Anything the file system sees as a normal file can be erased normally. This will certainly apply to files from WinZip; I don't know Cryptainer, but I suspect that the OS will see the virtual vault as a file, which is what happens with other similar programs I have seen; those files can be erased. I'm afaid that you will have to identify where the file is stored, but that is not an Eraser issue as such. Eraser will not erase any file that it is not specifically asked to erase.

David

 

[Joel]

Re: will Eraser destroy files written by WinZip and by Crypt

I second David, if Cryptainer uses the same principles as TrueCrypt (from your description, it does.)