Wiping free space

T

The Wizard of Odd

I used some programs to wipe the free space on my hard drive. I then used a
program to recover deleted files. To my surprise, it found about 6,000
deleted file names from the last 4 years.

They were not recoverable, but i was wondering how does one get rid of all
those old file names? Where are they stored?

TIA!

The Wizard of Odd


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T

The Wizard of Odd

I used many demos, freeware, and shareware to wipe the free space. I just
tried "RecoverMyFiles", a recovery program. It located the name of 13,000
files. That was the "Quick Search." The vast majority were labeled as
overwritten. I have defraged many times over the years. I have also
created a huge file which i copied over and over until it filled my hard
drive. Then i deleted it and wiped the free space.

Where are the names of every file i ever used stored? How does one get rid
of these? They don't do any harm, but i'd still like to get rid of them.

The Wizard of Odd


x-- 100 Proof News - http://www.100ProofNews.com
x-- 3,500+ Binary NewsGroups, and over 100,000 other groups
x-- Access to over 1.6 Terabytes per Day - $8.95/Month
x-- UNLIMITED DOWNLOAD
 
K

Kerry Brown

The Wizard of Odd said:
I used some programs to wipe the free space on my hard drive. I then used
a
program to recover deleted files. To my surprise, it found about 6,000
deleted file names from the last 4 years.

They were not recoverable, but i was wondering how does one get rid of all
those old file names? Where are they stored?

The only way to be sure the files are not recoverable is to destroy the
drive. Smashing the platter into several pieces or melting it should suffice
:)

All joking aside that really is the only way to be sure.

Kerry
 
B

Broooz

Kerry Brown said:
The only way to be sure the files are not recoverable is to destroy the
drive. Smashing the platter into several pieces or melting it should
suffice :)

All joking aside that really is the only way to be sure.

What about the Peter Gutmann method - it is an algorithm that seems to be
very difficult to recover files - it writes over your disk about 10 times in
such a way that you would need to be a terrorist suspect for anyone to
bother to try and recover
 
K

Kerry Brown

Broooz said:
What about the Peter Gutmann method - it is an algorithm that seems to be
very difficult to recover files - it writes over your disk about 10 times
in such a way that you would need to be a terrorist suspect for anyone to
bother to try and recover

It could still be done with the right equipment. Now, who actually has
access to that equipment and would want to do it is another story :) If you
really want to be sure then destroying the drive is the only way.

Kerry
 

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