Getting Rid Of Those So-Called "Erased" file names

Erasing a file does not erase the file name. It will remain on your disk until its space is written over by another file. Cleaning free space and slack space will not do it. I've tried that with a few different eraser products which had the option of doing so. None of those I tried would erase the file name of an erased file. one way to erase those pesky file names is to do it yourself by quickly overwriting them with other data via a batch file; then erasing these new files to replace the first set of file names. Who cares if someone with DirSnoop sees you have a bunch of font files erased?

An eraser program written by Sami Tolvanen is supposed to wipe these file names along with the file itself. Unfortunately, I am one of those who find it incompatible with my machine and/or installed software. However, you might try it. It would save this extra step of getting rid of those file names.

A program called DirSnoop will purge those names with no problem, but it costs $29.

(Since writing this page, I have found a program that will not only erase filenames, but will erase all leftover filenames left by other erasers. This has become my favorite. It is BCWipe.

Here is my page examining it.

This may not defeat Magnetic Remenance testing if you have erased your files with only a few wipes, but who in the bleep is going to spend that kind of money and time retrieving data from the machines of average joes like you and me? And if you are still worried about that happening to you, you better be wiping every file with Gutmann's 35 wipe routine. That should stop anyone from getting much more than mere fragments of the wiped material. Of course, if one of those fragments is the right fragment, you could have a problem. But if you are that worried about this, you should have armed guards safeguarding you computer 24 hours a day. For the average joe, that's silly.

If you are still worried about someone recovering your info after doing a Gutmann wipe, you need Super Shredder


Go back to menu on HOME page.

- END -


Copyright: bluejay@cotse.net
January, 2003