You normally delete files on your PC by sending them to the trash. But if you take your PC out the door, you don’t want your personal information to be put out on the street. It is handy that Harry does not have to bother with retrieving files that you have deleted via the recycle bin. This of course also applies to USB sticks that go hand in hand. You can safely delete files with Hardwipe.
Tip 01: Portable or ordinary
You can find the digital shredder on the website www.hardwipe.com. There are several Windows versions of Hardwipe. In this article we use the basic version. This is free for non-commercial use, but then you have to accept advertisements. If you do not want to see advertisements, then you are dependent on the Essential edition ($ 14.99) or Professional edition ($ 29.99). The portable version is only available if you purchase the professional version. With Windows PE – a simplified version of Windows – you can then create a bootable USB stick, so that you can thoroughly erase the hard drive of your PC.
Overwriting is really gone
Even if you have emptied the bin properly, the files that you have deleted via this path are not really gone. The data has only been made invisible, and the system knows that it can use the space that this hidden data occupies for storing other data. As long as that data is not overwritten, it is child’s play to retrieve the files again with the right software. Even formatting the hard disk or usb stick is not enough. However, Hardwipe thoroughly destroys deleted data by overwriting the space on the data carrier with nonsense.
Tip 02: Language
Hardwipe is probably not yet set in Dutch, below Options you reach the preferences where you can set the correct language. By default you have the choice of English, Spanish and German, but via the button More Languages open a webpage with various language packages, including Dutch. Download this text file and place it in the folder hw-along which is located in the Hardwipe program folder. Check the Administrator rights to get this done and then restart Hardwipe for Dutch in the Options to be able to activate.
In most cases it is sufficient to overwrite the data once or twice
Tip 03: What do you want to delete?
At the top left in the working environment of the program is the button File data. You use this to indicate which data carrier, folders or files you want to get through the shredder. Make no mistake here and double-check your choice, because your deleted data is irrevocably lost. After you have indicated what you want to delete, return to the main window and select the method to overwrite the data. With the option Zero Overwrite Hardwipe will write zero data. When you Random Overwrite Hardwipe will write random data over it. After choosing, click on Start. A progress bar indicates how fast the job is progressing.
Tip 04: The road is gone
The more thoroughly you want to delete the data, the more time it will take. So the key question is: how far do you want to go in transferring data? The fastest methods are Zero Overwrite and Random Overwrite each overwriting the data in one turn (1 pass). In addition there is GOST R-50739-95, a Russian data remediation standard that overwrites the information in two passages. The first time this protocol records all zeros and in the second turn random characters follow. In most cases it is sufficient to replace the data once or twice. If you want to clear up state secrets, you can use one of the most thorough data clearing methods in Hardwipe, that of Professor Peter Gutmann. In this protocol, Hardwipe overwrites the selected data no less than 35 times with different algorithms, although this is a very time-consuming method. Even the American defense feels safe with “only” a seven-fold transfer method. When you want to delete a number of critical files, it is not such a problem Gutmannmethod, but if you want to clean a large hard disk, it often takes longer than you prefer.
Tip 05: Devices and volumes
If you want to destroy an entire disk or usb stick, use the button Devices. You will notice that the startup disk that you are currently using is light gray. Logically, you cannot erase the active system drive. If you have created different volumes on the same disk, you can use the button Volumes select the partition that you did not boot from. As we said before, using a method with many overrides to erase the contents of a disc or volume takes a lot of time. That is why there is an option in this command to automatically shut down the PC when the cleaning job is finished. And if you want to be able to work completely smoothly, then know that Hardwipe has also nestled itself in the context menu, so that you can easily delete a file or folder with the right mouse button.
The Free space function eliminates this and overwrites all free space
Tip 06: Delete free space
You have probably deleted a number of files in the last few weeks through the recycle bin that have not yet been overwritten by the system. The function Free space makes short work of it and overwrites all free space, and therefore all hidden data. Indicate which drive letter you want to clean up in this way and let Hardwipe do its thing. Hardwipe will place a number of dummy files in the background on the disk until it is completely full. Once full, the tool will delete all dummy files. You will also find a button in the main window Trash cans). If you work with multiple data carriers or partitions, you also have different trash bins at your disposal. Place a check mark at the trash bin (s) that you want Hardwipe to thoroughly empty.
Tip 07: Swap file
The bottom button, Pagefile, only serves to destroy the Windows paging file. The page file is a hidden file that Windows uses to increase the ram memory of the PC. It stores memory data on the hard disk. You can delete this paging file to guarantee the highest privacy. You have the choice of deleting the swap file every time at startup, deleting the swap file at exit or not to delete swap file anyway. Hardwipe only overwrites the paging file with zeros.
