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How do I delete files permanently from my computer and make it unrecoverable?
Hi everyone, I was organizing my computer recently and found some old files and sensitive data that I want to completely delete. I don't want these files to be restored, and I feel that ordinary dele...
Hey! I was in the same boat not long ago—found some old sensitive files and wanted to make sure they were gone for good. I used BitWiper, and it worked like a charm. It securely wipes the files by overwriting them, so there's no chance they can be recovered.
Source: https://www.sandeski.com/permanently-delete-files
Definitely made me feel a lot more confident about my data being totally gone!
When you empty the Recycle Bin or delete a file permanently from computer (e.g., using Shift + Delete), the file itself isn't immediately erased from the disk. Instead, the space it occupies is marked as available for new data. The file's entry in the file system is removed, which makes it invisible and inaccessible through normal means.
Even after permanent deletion, the actual data remains on the disk until it's overwritten by new data. Specialized data recovery tools can often recover these files if the sectors containing the data haven't been overwritten.
The Cipher tool on Windows 10 is a command-line utility that is primarily used for managing encryption on NTFS drives, but it also has a feature that allows for the secure deletion of data. One of the most useful features of the Cipher tool is its ability to securely overwrite the free space on a drive. This prevents the recovery of files that have been previously deleted.
Open Command Prompt as an administrator and type the following command: cipher /w:C:\ (replace C:\ with the drive letter where the deleted files were located). This command will overwrite free space on the drive and permanently delete files on PC without recovery.
After deleting sensitive files, use Cipher with the /w option to ensure the data cannot be recovered.
