Quote:
Originally Posted by Gregg Bell
I read that whole bleachbit page and still couldn’t figure out if after shredding it that space that was freed up is still available for use. I mean, I'm assuming it is but they just didn't say.
|
What I don't understand is why you think it might
not be.
There are a variety of secure delete programs available, and all work in the same basic manner.
When you delete files from a drive using the OS, what you are removing is the pointers to the files and the space they occupy. That space is marked as free, and can be reused by the OS the next time it needs it. The potential issue is that the underlying data those files contain is still on the drive in that freed space, and can potentially be recovered. Secure delete programs not only delete the pointers to the files - they overwrite the data on the the areas those files occupied with random garbage, to make it impossible to recover.
Whether you use the standard OS file delete routines or a secure delete, you get the freed space back. You go with a secure delete solution because you think the data
in the deleted files is sensitive enough that you want no chance for it to be recovered. (Extreme caution is needed, because
you won't be able to recover it either if you delete the wrong thing.)
I have a couple of programs like that and have yet to use them. Very little data here is
that sensitive, and stuff like that isn't kept on my HD. It's on a USB thumbdrive that is removed when the data isn't required, and stored elsewhere. If I replaced the HD in my machine, I might reformat it before tossing it, but wouldn't bother to securely wipe it - there's nothing on it that would give me heartburn if an unknown third party
did recover it.
______
Dennis