A speed mode can help system responsiveness on long operations and the system can be auto powered off after a long wiping operation has completed. There are 6 wiping algorithms ranging from a single random or zero pass up to 35 passes and an option to rename the files up to 9 times to lessen the chance of recovering the filename (default is 3). Shift or Ctrl is supported for multiple selections. An annoyance is the inclusion of advertisements inside the main window although it’s not overly intrusive.Ĭlick File Data on the left and browse for the files and folders to securely delete. Unfortunately, the portable version is no longer free so the software needs to be installed.

HardWipe has several different types of data erasing, such as wiping Recycle bin contents on selected drives, wiping a drive’s free space, wiping a drive or volume completely, or shredding files and folders. Important Note: Permanently deleting files is something that should be used with care as once the file is deleted and overwritten, you won’t be able to get it back, even with recovery software. All tools were tested in Windows 10 and 7 64-bit. Here are 10 free tools that can securely erase or “shred” your files making them unrecoverable. This method is the quickest and most secure as the files are erased immediately and not left in a recoverable state until the next time you decide to wipe the drive’s free space. Then there’s the method we’re talking about here which is to completely overwrite and wipe the file or folder as you go. You can also erase the deleted data off a current drive by wiping all its free space. If you sell or give your drive to somebody else, it needs to be completely wiped so nothing is left that can be recovered by the new owner. There are various ways to overwrite deleted files. Once a deleted file has been overwritten, it’s very difficult to recover and more professional methods would be needed to get any readable data back. In this case, a free tool that you can use to recover data is all that’s required.īut this is obviously not good if you want to permanently delete a personal or private file because anyone could just try to recover it. That’s because the file is never truly deleted and Windows is just told that the space the file occupies is available to write over when needed. In Windows, if you delete an important file, even from the Recycle bin, it’s still entirely possible to recover that file as long as it doesn’t get overwritten between its deletion and your attempt at recovery.

Best file deletion programs