Full security deletion in Windows without third-party tools

When you delete files in Windows, they can be easily recovered. Windows deletes the files in the system, but they remain on your hard drive until they are replaced with new data. Windows Hard Drive

Despite the fact that on SSDs, it is more difficult to recover files from hard drives, due to the behavior and garbage collection done by the SSD controller, all deleted data is not completely deleted by default.

So if you've deleted some sensitive data and you want to be sure that it can not be recovered for any reason, we'll now describe a deletion that will eliminate them forever, even without third-party tools.

In , Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10, there is a utility console called “encryption” or “".

It is a command line tool to encrypt files using EFS (File Encryption System). But this tool has an additional function. It can "rewrite" and clear again in the free space, so that all the data it contains will be deleted safely.

To achieve this, the cipher performs 3 passes. With the first pass, it fills the empty space with zero data, the second fills the empty space with numbers 0xFF, and the final pass fills it with random numbers.

This process may take time, depending on how large your disk is and how much free space it contains.

To clear the free space safely with Cipher.exe, do the following:

In Windows search, look for cmd.exe. When the black icon appears, right-click on it and open it as Administrator.

Type the following command and press Ender:

cipher / w: C

Replace the “C” with the letter of the drive on which you want to clear the free space, and wait until it is finished.

Cipher.exe is a great way to safely clean your free space if there is any real reason. Note that on SSDs, additional recordings in the long run may slightly reduce the life of discs. But your free space will be deleted safely, and no one will be able to recover your sensitive files or know what activities you have done on the computer.

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Written by giorgos

George still wonders what he's doing here ...

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