Re: secure file deletion

From: Vanguard (vanguard_stealth_at_yahooNIXTHIS.com)
Date: 01/26/05 

Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 08:05:42 -0600

"Steve Riley [MSFT]" <steriley@microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:56297632422890821968053@news.microsoft.com...
> There is no need to purchase any utilities or download any software.
> Please check the built-in help for the CIPHER.EXE utility. CIPHER /Y
> is better than pretty much anything else at obliterating data on disk.

"cipher /?" doesn't show /Y as a legal parameter. Maybe you meant /W
which wipes all unused space on a volume (see
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=315672). However, you'll have to
delete your file AND then flush the Recycle Bin (because the "deleted"
file will still be allocated and not in unused disk space if in the
Recycle Bin) before running "cipher /w". But then cipher.exe is only
available on Windows XP Pro whereas the OP never did say which version
of Windows he was using. Eraser (http://www.heidi.ie/eraser/) works
under Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, XP and DOS, and it's free, too.

Cipher only *overwrites* the unused disk space (i.e., it encrypts it).
That only removes the file logically but it can still be recovered and
decrypted (anything ciphered *could* be deciphered given enough time and
horsepower). Eraser makes it nearly impossible to PHYSICALLY recover
the file. If you cannot physically recover the file, it doesn't matter
if it was encrypted or not. 

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