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Questions tagged [file-shredding]

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0 votes
1 answer
540 views

Is it safe to trust the `shred` command to delete a file on a modern hard drive?

I heard that hard drive cache can mess with the shred command making it not useful on modern hard drives, but I can't find any other evidence to back up that claim.
Kalcifer's user avatar
  • 101
0 votes
0 answers
526 views

Will tools like shred, wipe or dd (or hard drives in general) check that a write was successful?

I usually use shred to delete complete hard drives. But I was wondering if and how tools like shred, wipe or dd verify that the expected bits end up on the hard drive. Does a hard drive always check ...
Joe's user avatar
  • 101
0 votes
0 answers
400 views

How to scramble a directory name as part of a secure erase under Linux?

There are many tools available for Linux to securely erase data on a per file basis: shred, wipe, srm, ... you name it. Related instructions and advices typically focus on the contents of the files to ...
Jürgen's user avatar
  • 101
0 votes
1 answer
131 views

How to remove files and personal information from computer?

I'm about to give my computer to a lab for repair. I'd like first to remove personal info like browsing history, software installed, various files. Some of the files I want removed, I accidently ...
bulky's user avatar
  • 1
2 votes
1 answer
352 views

Does copying and pasting files create sparse files?

Suppose I copy and paste large files numerous times to fill up the free space. Will doing so actually override data into the HD blocks or will it create "sparse" references into existing data in the ...
superuser4245's user avatar
1 vote
1 answer
667 views

Does shredding a hard disk drive decrease its lifetime and/or performance?

I'm trying to shred a 1TB hard disk drive with this command: dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda bs=512 count="total sector number " But unfortunately, I'm interrupted twice because of power failure. So ...
TerminalOfLove's user avatar
2 votes
4 answers
8k views

How do I wipe a USB drive using dd on cygwin on Windows?

I am trying to use dd to wipe a usb drive using Cygwin on Windows. What should I use for the of argument? dd if=/dev/null of=?
user674669's user avatar
0 votes
1 answer
379 views

How to safely shred unlinked files on a Unix-based file system?

Scenario: After working with a confidential file (e.g. PDF a bank statement), you typed: rm my-confidential-file (or the famous Shift-Delete action in a GUI-based file browser such as nautilus) ...
leden's user avatar
  • 786
-1 votes
1 answer
36 views

copy protection and scheduled destruction of external devices [closed]

I want to share a video with my friends, I want it to be exclusive to him and for a limited period of time. Devices which I use can be pendrive, hardrive or dvd. I don't mind loosing the device ...
Tirumala Rao Dammalapati's user avatar
4 votes
1 answer
15k views

What is the best way to shred files on a SSD [duplicate]

I was about to shred files on a new Solid State Drive but the shredding app warned me it was not a good idea because it would be inefficient and would also reduce the lifespan of the drive. Is there ...
Andres Guzman's user avatar
4 votes
3 answers
4k views

How to destroy file contents without deleting files

My goal is to have files of original size that can't be opened (or recovered) in their respective software such as MS Office Word. My purpose is to simulate presence of files while I don't want to ...
Mike's user avatar
  • 223
1 vote
3 answers
1k views

What shredding utility can I use?

I happen to know that formatting a disk even 10 times does not destroy everything. Is there a good shredding utility I can use on Linux ?
statquant's user avatar
  • 255
31 votes
7 answers
45k views

Shredding files in windows

Is there a built-in cmd command/utility on Windows that can shred files (delete and overwrite with random data) without the need to use third party software? In linux i would use shred. It a wonderful ...
Tawfik Khalifeh's user avatar
2 votes
2 answers
366 views

Faster tool than shred to make files a bit difficult to recover?

I need to shred files, but there are too many files and shred takes ages for each file. Each file is 4GB. Is there a faster tool than shred -n 1? Strangely, shred -n 1 on a 4GB file takes MORE time ...
Nicolas Raoul's user avatar
2 votes
1 answer
782 views

How to safely zero fill a file in a compressed filesystem in Linux?

I had read that the shred doesn't safely work for compressed filesystems when shredding a file, how this can be accomplished in a compressed fs ?
Tarantula's user avatar
  • 121

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