To completely delete a file, it is not enough to place it in the trash. Data erased in this way can be easily restored using special software. However, situations arise when files from the hard drive need to be erased so that they cannot be returned. When selling equipment or sending it in for repair, it is better to play it safe and remove confidential documents and important files, such as a database. How to permanently delete files?

Method number 1. Formatting

The easiest way to clean it is to format it using Windows. To do this, in the “This PC” folder, select the desired drive with the right mouse button. In the context menu, click on the “Format” option and in the window that appears, configure the cleaning mode.

At full formatting the contents of the disk are filled with zeros, that is, all information is overwritten. Such rewriting alone may not be enough, so there is no 100% guarantee of success. There is a risk that powerful recovery programs will be able to return some of the deleted files.

Method number 2. Cleaning with programs

Go to the directory that contains hidden folders and the files you need to delete. Select them using the mouse button and delete them in the usual manner, for example, by pressing the Delete key, or Shift+Delete if you want to delete them permanently without the possibility of recovery from the trash. If some of the hidden elements cannot be removed, uncheck the “Read Only” attribute in its properties.

If you want to do hidden files or folders visible, select them and, by right-clicking, select in context menu"Properties". Uncheck the "Hidden" attribute. Apply and save the changes.

Tip 5: VKontakte: how to delete from a social network without the possibility of recovery

The desire to permanently delete your account from social network VKontakte appears among users for various reasons. Some are running from addiction, which they suddenly realized, others are running from broken feelings or virtual love.

You will need

• Internet

Instructions

On any free server, for example, yandex.ru or mail.ru, create a new mailbox. This can be done without even closing the inbox folder in the browser.

On the VKontakte social network, go to the “Settings” menu. Opposite the value “Who can view my page”, select the item “Only me”. Other users who visit your page will see a message indicating that the page has been deleted. This way you will notify your friends that you deleted your account intentionally.

Go to the Settings menu and the General submenu. Select "Change Password". Enter your old password in the top field and, without closing the page, proceed to the next step.

Open text editor“Notepad”, switch the layout to English and randomly press any keyboard keys. Select fifteen characters from this unique password and copy them to the clipboard using the right mouse button or using the Ctrl + C combination. Close Notepad without saving the file.

Return to "Basic" settings. Paste what was copied into the “New Password” line and the “Confirm New Password” line. Click on “Change Password”.

If everything is done correctly, the page will refresh and the message “Password changed” will appear. If this does not happen, repeat the operation until it succeeds. Proceed to the next step only after completing this.

Go to the “Change email” field. Enter in the “New e-mail” line the address of the mailbox that you created in the first steps of the account deletion operation. Click "Change email".

To your new and old Mailbox will come by letter. First, open the letter from the old mailbox, follow the link to confirm. Then do the same with the letter from the new mailbox. The VKontakte page should close. A window for entering your login/password will appear in front of you.

To eliminate the possibility of using the “Recover Password” button, delete the new mailbox, according to the instructions of the server where it was created.

Video on the topic

Today Google Chrome is one of the most popular browsers. The program has earned its popularity due to the speed and stability of its work. However, in some cases, you may need to reinstall your browser to update, troubleshoot, or reset settings.

Google Chrome on computer

If you want to delete Google Chrome from your computer without the ability to restore all your bookmarks, downloads and saved pages, you can use the Windows Add or Remove Programs tool. By uninstalling the program, you will erase all the settings that were stored on your computer. To go to the Google Chrome uninstaller, click on the “Start” button - “Control Panel” - “Uninstall a program”. In Windows 8 operating systems, you can go to the “Control Panel” by using the Metro interface and clicking on the corresponding shortcut in the menu that appears.

Saving bookmarks and settings

If you only want to reinstall Google Chrome, but keep all the recorded bookmarks and data, you will need to save the browser configuration files located in the program folder.

To save program bookmarks, open Google Chrome and go to the “Bookmarks” - “Bookmarks Manager” menu. You can also go to the management menu using the Ctrl, Shift and O key combination. After that, click “Arrange” - “Export bookmarks to HTML”. In the window that appears, select the folder where you want to save your saved pages.

If you want to save both settings and Chrome bookmarks, you can upload all the required data to your Google account. To do this, click on the program menu button and go to the “Settings” section. Click on the "Sign in to Chrome" button and enter your account information Google posts(Gmail, Blogger, etc.). You can also specify account, which you use on your Android and iOS gadget.

After logging in, click on the “Yes, sync everything” button. You can specify parameters for synchronization in the “Advanced” section. After the operation, you can remove the browser from your computer through the “Uninstall Programs” menu “Control Panel”.

After the browser is reinstalled, you can restore your bookmarks through the menu “Bookmark Manager” - “Arrange” - “Import Bookmarks from HTML file" If you want to restore your settings using the specified Google account, go to “Settings” and sign in to the previously specified account again.

There are a huge number of ways to delete a file without the possibility of recovery. Some of them are convenient, some not so much, but the easiest option is to use the well-known CCleaner program.

The main advantage of the CCleaner program is that this product has long established itself among users only on the positive side. Also, a file deletion tool is present in the free version of the program.

How to fill the drive with zeros or destroy files.

CCleaner – Capable of filling free space with zeros or completely deleting all data from a disk or flash drive. If you need to delete a specific file, then “CCleaner” is not entirely suitable, since the program does not have the ability to delete certain files without the possibility of recovery.

Go to the “Service” section and select “Erase disks” and then, depending on the situation, select the necessary options.

If the HDD or USB is put up for sale: In this case, it makes sense to completely format the drive. All files on the entire HDD or USB are completely destroyed.
Select - Entire disk (all data will be lost)

If you are selling a computer or laptop: In this case, you need to fill the free space on the disk with zeros to avoid the possibility of recovering files that were deleted in the usual way.
Select - Only free space.

The optimal cleaning method is “7”; if you want to play it safe, choose 35.

In this case, the free space on the USB drive will be filled with zeros; those files that were previously deleted will be impossible to recover. Current files will not be deleted. If you select the “Entire disk” option, you can delete all files from the flash drive without the possibility of recovery!

Disk cleaning takes quite a long time, it all depends on the read speed of the drive, free space and on the selected number of passes. As soon as the program finishes working, you can safely sell the drive, without fear that someone might restore the files and use them for personal gain.

The topic of today's article is somewhat unusual. Today we will talk about how to permanently destroy data. Destroy them so that they cannot be restored even with the help of special programs or research hardware systems.

Deleting a file is not enough

Regular readers of our site already know that simply deleting a file is completely insufficient from the point of view information security. Deleted files (with rare exceptions in the form of SSD drives) can be restored within just a few minutes. This is due to the fact that when deleting Windows file does not destroy its contents, but simply makes a note in the file system that the file has been deleted and the disk space it occupies is free. Respectively, deleted file can be restored using easy-to-use tools - for example, Hetman Uneraser.

Disk formatting

The very fact of the existence of tools like Hetman Partition Recovery, is a good indicator that formatted partitions are far from a guarantee of data security. In fact, with the exception of the same SSD drives, formatting a partition in “fast” mode (and in older versions of Windows, formatting in “full” mode) does not erase data, but only resets the file system. Accordingly, data after such formatting can be restored.

However, it should be noted that completely formatting a disk using Windows Vista and Windows 7 will still overwrite the contents of the disk with zeros, and formatting an SSD disk in any way will most likely (but not completely) lead to the destruction of data.

Data destruction programs

There is a whole class of programs designed for reliable and safe destruction of information. Such programs use arrays of random numbers to physically overwrite the disk space occupied by the file being destroyed. Some security standards (such as those used by the US Army) require multiple rewrite cycles and insist on the use of cryptographically strong random number generators. In practice, it's more like shooting sparrows from a cannon. For private users and most commercial organizations, a single rewrite cycle will be enough.

Finding such a program is easy - just run a search by keywords"secure file deletion". Wiping on the disk is carried out in a similar way - even the programs are often the same.

It should be noted that these methods only work with traditional magnetic drives, in which unambiguous addressing of the physical space on the disk is possible. In case of SSD drives this is not the case, and the destruction of information on them is a separate and rather little-researched topic.

Destroying data on CDs and DVDs

When getting rid of old backups, be sure to destroy the data. The easiest way to destroy information on a CD or DVD is to physically destroy the media. Do not give in to the temptation to break the “blank” with your hands - you will most likely cut yourself with fragments, and small fragments of plastic and aluminum substrate will be found in the most unexpected places for a long time.

The easiest way to destroy disks is to use an office shredder equipped with a CD and DVD receiver. In addition to them, there are also specialized devices - by the way, they are not at all as expensive as one might think. For most purposes, it is normal to cut the disc into four strips.

There are also devices that render disks unusable by drilling several holes in them (by the way, you can make holes in the disk yourself using a regular drill). Experts consider this method less reliable compared to using a shredder.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the manufacturers of secure information storage devices. DataTraveler and Silicon Power offer USB or hard drives that store information in encrypted form. To destroy access to the data of such devices, it is enough to delete the decryption key. Data recovery program from hard drive will not be able to decrypt the contents and will be absolutely useless.

We can also mention the heating of the disks, leading to the destruction of the translucent information layer. Like other methods, it should be used only in specialized devices - overheated “blanks” can quickly melt.

Often, when quitting a job, selling a computer or hard drive, the task arises of completely deleting files without the possibility of recovery. As I wrote in previous articles (,) deleting files and folders using Windows, formatting the disk allows you to easily restore them.

When deleted through normal means, files are simply marked as deleted and continue to be stored on your hard drive until another file overwrites them. Given the size of modern hard drives, such deleted files can be stored for years.

And now imagine that after selling the hard drive, new owner will recover your passwords or personal photos? An unscrupulous director decided to fire you and steal your work? There are many tasks for completely deleting files without the possibility of recovery.

Complete deletion of files is achieved by overwriting them several times using special algorithms. Re-encryption and overwriting with files with “zeros” are often used. The best program for complete removal is Eraser.

Eraser is a completely free program with an intuitive interface. eraser

works out of the box and does not require any configuration.

Installing Eraser

To completely delete a file, it is not enough to place it in the trash. Data erased in this way can be easily restored using special software. However, situations arise when files from the hard drive...

Greetings!
The need to completely clear a hard drive of data, for example, may arise when decommissioning a computer whose hard drive may contain confidential data.

Often, simply formatting the HDD is not enough to completely eliminate the ability to read data that was once on it. After all, if you use utilities that restore/extract data from formatted and damaged media, then the risk of gaining access to confidential data remains. This data may ultimately be acquired by competitors or special interests. services.

To eliminate this possibility, special utilities were created. The operating principle of these utilities is quite simple, but at the same time very effective: writing randomly generated information to disk, and in several passes.

After “processing” the disk in this way, there is hardly any possibility of restoring any of the files and data previously located on the disk. I would like to especially note that this operation much safer than the same thing that is sometimes resorted to in order to clean up the disk.

We've sorted out the introductory part, now let's move on directly to the consideration of actual solutions.

If you need to completely delete/erase data from your hard drive, and securely so that it is not possible to restore it, then use the Active@ Kill Disk utility - this utility is very effective in terms of permanently destroying data on the hard drive.

There is a version for both Windows and bootable versions (CD\Flash). The program for Windows will allow you to permanently clean an additional hard drive, i.e. The utility will not be able to clean the disk on which the system and the program itself are installed. To clean it you need to use boot disk.

A bootable CD or Flash disk with this utility will be useful to you if there is only one hard drive installed on your computer.

You need to create bootable media with the utility (there is a guide on how to do this on the website), and then boot from it by selecting the appropriate boot disk when you turn on the computer (you can read how to do this in).

When loading, you will see a menu that is displayed on a blue background. Select the item Active@ KILL DISK, which can be reached by pressing the arrows on the keyboard.

Then select your logical drive and press the key F10.

In the window that opens, use the arrows to navigate to the item CONFIRM AND ERASE and press the key Enter.

At the end of the procedure, your hard drive will be completely cleared of the data that was once there, and without the possibility of their recovery.

By the way, if you need to carry out a similar task for a Flash drive (card, USB drive, etc.), then the material will help you with this.

If you have any questions, you can ask them in the comments.

You have decided to sell your computer. Naturally, before selling, delete all personal information from the disks. Programs, documents, photographs... And many probably know that a deleted file can be restored. But not everyone knows that it can be restored even after formatting the disk. And you certainly wouldn’t want your personal or, especially, work documents to fall into the wrong hands after the sale. In this article I will tell you how to remove it once and for all.

When you delete a file, it is not actually the file that is deleted, but only its entry in the file table. And the clusters in which the file was written are marked as empty and can be read using special utilities until they are overwritten. Although, even after overwriting clusters, it sometimes happens that data from a previously written file is saved in them. For example, new file the smaller file is written over the older larger file. And since it will occupy fewer clusters, the last cluster will contain some fragment of data from the previous file.

Formatting the disk will not help either, since in this case only the data storage structure on the disk is formed ( file system), and the information is stored in sectors of the hard disk. What does this mean? That's right, it can be restored.

The only way to completely delete information is to use shredder. Probably many people have devices in their offices that are also simply called “paper shredders.” This is the shredder. No, I'm not suggesting putting your hard drive in it. It's just that computer shredders work on approximately the same principle. After using them, the information is also unreadable.

Methods for completely deleting information.
Mechanical.
Cause irreversible damage to the carrier mechanical damage. For example, subject to high temperature. Or destruction by chemically aggressive environments. What is the idea: there should be destruction of the base of the disk, or its working field

Hardware.
Expose the carrier to a magnetic field or radiation (destruction of the carrier by ionizing radiation).

Program.
Repeatedly overwrite sectors of the media with random numbers (“digital noise”).

Hardware shredders.

Shredders using the physical principle of impact magnetic field(demagnetization);
For example, the device for destroying information from magnetic media “Avalanche” from Ukrainian company"Epic". The principle of operation is quite obvious: if data on a hard drive is stored in the form of magnetized sections of a ferromagnetic surface, then these sections need to be remagnetized or demagnetized (orient the magnetic domains randomly). It is necessary to locally influence the disk with a powerful magnetic pulse. And then not only the user information is erased, but also the service information.

Shredders using the mechanical principle of action (“crushers-shredders”). For example, the Unidisk device. Having received a control impulse, the device is triggered and the coil accelerates the impact disk, which hits the hard drive. An impact disk with a pin hits the hard drive cover with enormous force and pierces it right through. Here is the result.

And this is what shredders for destroying CD/DVD discs look like. And their principle is the same as that of a paper shredder.

Software shredders

Software shredders carefully erase data in accordance with one or another information destruction algorithm and are indispensable for the reliable destruction of confidential information and personal data from magnetic media. As a rule, people are subject to software shredding hard disks, although some shredders are guaranteed to delete information from other media as well.

Basic software shredding algorithms:
– zeroing – replaces data with zeros;
– replacing data with pseudo-random numbers. This method hides the very fact of data destruction;
– DoD 5220.22M – replacing data with numbers from a special table. Data is overwritten 3-7 times;
– Peter Gutman’s algorithm (replacing data with numbers from a special table. Data is rewritten up to 35 times);
- Bruce Schneier's algorithm.

Standards for deleting information
– GOST P50739-95 – Russian standard;
– US DoD 5220.22-M – standard of the US Department of Defense;
– NAVSO P-5239-26 – US naval standards;
– HMG Infosec No.5 – British standard;
– VSItR – German standard;
– ASCI 33 – Australian standard;

The most common software shredders: Paragon Disk Wiper, WipeInfo (from the Norton Utilities package), Terminator Pro, Simple File Shredder, DataEraser, Acronis Drive Cleanser, WipeDrive, Object Wipe, FCD5.

Of the free shredders, I can recommend Eraser.

After installing the program, a new item will appear in the context menu of files, folders and the recycle bin - Eraser, which has 2 sub-items: Eraser (delete now) and Eraser on restart (delete when the computer is turned off). And in the context menu of disks there is also an item Eraser unused space (overwrite free space).

Despite the fact that the program is free, it contains a large number of removal methods (standards). To configure the removal method, run the program, the settings section.

P.S.
And for those who use FAR, to permanently delete files, simply press alt+del. In this case, FAR will fill the file with zeros and then rename it to a randomly generated name, truncate the length for zero and safely delete it from the disk. And in Total Commander the same thing can be done using shift+del.

To completely delete a file, it is not enough to place it in the trash. Data erased in this way can be easily restored using special software. However, situations arise when files from the hard drive need to be erased so that they cannot be returned. When selling equipment or sending it in for repair, it is better to play it safe and remove confidential documents and important files, such as a database. How to permanently delete files?

Method number 1. Formatting

The easiest way to clean it is to format it using Windows. To do this, in the “This PC” folder, select the desired drive with the right mouse button. In the context menu, click on the “Format” option and in the window that appears, configure the cleaning mode.

When fully formatted, the contents of the disk are filled with zeros, that is, all information is overwritten. Such rewriting alone may not be enough, so there is no 100% guarantee of success. There is a risk that powerful recovery programs will be able to return some of the deleted files.

Method number 2. Cleaning with programs

The most reliable way to get rid of data is to use special programs. On the Internet they are called shredders. The choice of such software is wide - you can easily find a suitable option.

Working with these programs is very easy - select the desired disk and cleaning mode. Most utilities allow you to rewrite a disc repeatedly - 2, 3, 7 or 35 times. Three rewrites are sufficient for reliable deletion.

Method No. 3. Deleting individual files and folders

A complete disk wipe is not suitable if you want to erase data without the possibility of recovery from only one folder. Not all programs have the option to delete individual files. Programs that contain this function will allow you to erase specific files from your computer, flash drive, or any other memory card. The principle of operation is the same; the program will repeatedly overwrite the selected data.

The smaller the size and number of files, the faster the deletion process. Permanently erasing a folder can only take you a minute! An example of an application with the ability to delete individual folders and files is Eraser.

About file recovery

Why can deleted files be recovered at all? OS They deal with deleted information in a very original way. Let's explain at Windows example. The system stores the contents of disk areas with data about the erased file until this space is occupied by data about a new object. So as long as these sections are not overwritten, you can restore old file. The conclusion suggests itself - in order to immediately delete a file permanently, you need to artificially overwrite it. The more rewriting passes, the more effective.

How to recover lost files?

Now you know how to permanently delete files without the possibility of recovery. It is simply impossible to erase something irrevocably by accident or mistake. If you have emptied the trash along with important documents or formatted a flash drive, do not rush to despair!

can handle it in a few minutes. "PhotoDOCTOR" will return lost photographs, regardless of the medium - flash drive, camera or mobile device . The image format doesn’t matter either – it works with JPG, RAW, DNG and many others. To ensure that your valuable files are always safe, check out useful tips

about that, and don’t lose your data. It's no secret that the most valuable thing today is information . Yes, with its help you can either make a fortune in a matter of hours or lose everything to the last penny. Although we do not have such data, unfortunately, important information

everyone has.
This can be anything, from documents to personal correspondence. Therefore, it is very important to be able to transfer, hide, copy and delete information.

This is the main reason why we decided to consider permanent file deletion. In this article we will reveal in detail the most popular methods , which will help destroy information. You know that completely destroy information deleting and formatting the disk is unrealistic. As a result, these files and folders are easily restored using special utilities and also using special applications.

Destroying data on your hard drive using the Eraser HDD program.

You don't need to be a computer science monster to learn how to permanently delete files from your computer, especially if you have a tool like Eraser HDD. The main advantage of this program is that it does not require installation on the machine. Moreover, this program is absolutely free.

2. Next, click the “Start” button. A list of available ones will instantly appear in front of you. hard drives. Please note that in the first column it is written hard number disk. You need to select the disk where you want to permanently destroy the information and remember the number that is assigned to it.

3. After that, enter the number physical disk and confirm your desire to destroy the data by clicking the “Apply” button.

4. Eraser HDD will ask you to confirm the action. And pay attention again!!! This is the last moment you have the opportunity to change your mind. If you confirm the deletion, wait for the following message to appear:

Congratulations, destruction of information on the hard drive was successful.

Auslogics BoostSpeed ​​or how to permanently delete files from your computer

If you need to remove separate files without formatting HDD, use Auslogics program BoostSpeed. Deleting information with its help will be as quickly as possible, see for yourself.

1. The first thing you need to do is download the program and install it on your computer. Launch it and in the main menu select “View”, where we click on “Tools”.

2. After that, in the “Confidentiality” group on the “Tools” tab, select the “Destroy files” link.

3. A new window opens in front of you, where in the “Auslogics File Shredder” menu we follow “Settings->Program Settings”.

4. The program will prompt you to specify “Options”. To do this, in the “Erase Settings” tab, if necessary: ​​– set the “Perform additional erase” checkbox. This guarantees you a more reliable level of data removal. In the drop-down list called “Erase Method”, indicate the appropriate method for destroying information (at the bottom of the list you will find all the necessary information about each method separately). Confirm your actions by clicking “OK”.

5. Click “Add” and from the drop-down list select what you want to add for later deletion: files (specify “Add files…”) or folders (“Add folder…”). We chose to delete the entire folder. Note that you can also choose to delete files .

6. In the “Browse for Folders” window, specify the drive and folder you want to delete. Confirm your decision by clicking “OK”.

7. The selected folder is already in the list to be deleted. If you want to add several more files or folders, repeat steps 5 and 6. When the list is ready, click the “Erase” button.

After this, the deletion of the specified folders and files starts. The time for this procedure depends on the amount of information being deleted and the speed of the computer.

As soon as the data from the computer is completely deleted, a dialog box will appear in front of you, where it will be written - “Erasing complete”. Here you can see information about how many files or folders were deleted. Here you can also find a link to a detailed report on the process. To close the window you need to click on the cross.

As a result of simple steps, you were able to easily delete files from your computer using a simple and affordable tool - Auslogics BoostSpeed.

As you can see, deleting data is a simple process if you have the necessary software packages at hand. With their help, it is possible to delete not only individual folders and files, but also format the entire disk. Finally, we note that there are a lot of similar programs today, and their principle of operation is practically no different from those described.

Take care of the information and you will always be on top of your game.