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utility to clean HD of old deleted files

Discussion in 'Windows XP' started by muruga, 2006/09/27.

  1. 2006/09/27
    muruga

    muruga Well-Known Member Thread Starter

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    s there a freeware or shareware that will erase the old deleted files - to free up the clutter left behind on HD when i "delete" unwanted files & uninstall stuff and also really erase files that I will delete or uninstall now. As U know when you "delete" a file it is not actually totally removed from HD. I want to free up all that space.
    thanks
     
    muruga,
    #1
  2. 2006/09/27
    Bimmer Guy

    Bimmer Guy Well-Known Member

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    Bimmer Guy,
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  4. 2006/09/27
    charlesvar

    charlesvar Inactive Alumni

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    Hello murga,

    Deleting will free up the space once its deleted from the Recycle Bin. The contents or parts of the file are still there untill written over. This is a privacy issue more than anything else. There are programs that overright disk space with numbers to address that.

    What you may mean is file fragmentation, which defragging addresses.

    Regards - Charles
     
    charlesvar,
    #3
  5. 2006/09/27
    PeteC

    PeteC SuperGeek Staff

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    Muraga
    Only partly true :) The entry for the file in the MFT is removed and the file is no longer seen in Windows Explorer. The space on the disk which the file occupied is marked as available for overwriting and that space is included in the free space on the drive. However it is possible to recover the file UNLESS it has been overwritten.

    If you want to securely delete the file the method involves overwriting that area with meaningless data several times. A freeware program such as Eraser will do that to Defense/Government standards.
     
    PeteC,
    #4

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