How to Delete / Erase Sensitive Files Permanently

Technically speaking when you hit the ‘Delete’ button attempting to remove any files from your computer, these files are not really removed from your hard disk. What the delete action does is un-link the file so it is not visible nor accessible. These deleted files have a high chance to be recovered with hard disk recovery softwares. So if you want some files to be really removed from your hard disk, you need something more than just deleting them.

Erasing, in the other hand means wiping its entire data beyond recovery. When you want to get rid of sensitive files or folders permanently, try this user friendly software – Eraser. It’s free so you don’t have to pay a penny

Erase Sensitive Files Permanently with Eraser

Eraser is a secure data removal tool that allows you to completely remove sensitive data from your hard drive by overwriting it several times with carefully selected patterns (Gutman, USDoD and others).

What Eraser erases:

Files and Folders
Files/Folders that were only previously ‘deleted’
Index.dat on Reboot
Contents of the Recycle Bin
Windows Temporary Files
Internet Cookies and Cache
Encrypted Files and Drives
Free space on 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS
Paging (swap) file

You can simply drag and drop files and/or folders onto the on-demand eraser and use the convenient Windows Explorer right-click extension or use the built-in scheduler for automated wiping of unused disk space or browser cache files.

*Be careful when execute this program because the erased file will be gone forever.

Download Eraser (8.53MB)

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Comments

Ramy June 4th, 2008

Thx Hong Kiat, great post. :)
Reply
Shoovi June 4th, 2008

Frankly speaking there is always potential(!) possibility to recover files using atomic-force-microscope but it would costs a milions…
Reply
Jusdy J. June 4th, 2008

i always use Shift+Delete when deleting my files….no files in Recycle Bin…
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hongkiat June 4th, 2008

@Ramy That is a post by my co-author – Kay :-)

@Jusdy J. You’re right, Shift-Del does bypass recycle bin, but the file still stays within the hard disk. Only the logical link to the file is removed. To really ‘erase’ a file from your hard disk, it has to be somehow replaced and replaced numerous time by other files until it’s unrecoverable.
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Syahid A. June 4th, 2008

Yeah, this is the one tool that i use to delete sensitive (*cough*) files. Pretty easy to use.
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Kay June 4th, 2008

@hongkiat: thanks for introducing me. :)
Reply
Ajay@readerszone June 4th, 2008

ya u r right deleting files is tough job and this program makes life very easy for us
Reply
Steve Yu June 5th, 2008

I’ve been using this handy software for quite some time, am satisfied with it.
Reply
Welcome to Paradise June 14th, 2008

I mostly depend upon a top level file shredder program and it hasn’t let me down till date.
Reply
freedom4 May 24th, 2009

Thanks so much for this info! Does Eraser erase photos as well in the same way?
Reply
fargotech May 24th, 2009

Why is there such a hugh difference in the file size downloaded as the size of the file attempting to download? It states the file size as 8.5gig but ends up being about 200k on the eraser 32-bit downloaded file.
Reply
Randomperson October 18th, 2009

I want a same-type of program but to work on ANY Type of PC. This works only if you update with a C++ program i dont want to install, nor would it work on my PC.
Reply