Bill H 6,577 Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 Back in the good old days when DOS was king, there was a utility via DOS to go in and clean the unused areas of the drive by making them all zeros. When you delete a file it does not actually go away, and can stay on your drive forever, so by forcing zeros throughout the unused portion of the drive, you effectively cleaned the drive of old files. Now we have Windows, but that utility has gone by the by or has it? How does one accomplish cleaning the hard drive these days? Does anyone know? Yes, I know you can wipe the entire drive, but what I'm talking about just wipes the unused portions of the drive. Ok? Thanks. Link to post Share on other sites
Woolf 8,555 Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 This what you are looking for less than 30 sec on google http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=255105&a=255105&po=8,00.asp Windows 7: The Top 10 Hidden Features8. Wipe Free Disk Space08 It's no secret (or at least, it shouldn't be) that when you delete files or folders in Windows, they're not actually erased—the space they took up is simply marked as "available for use," which allows the files to be recoverable (with the right software) until they're overwritten with new data.There is a utility built-into Windows (even XP Pro and Vista) that will overwrite all the free space on a hard drive, insuring any files you've deleted stay dead. Launch a command prompt and type cipher /w:X where X is the letter of the drive or partition you want to wipe. Be patient—the process can take a long time if you have a lot of free space. 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Kim_ 957 Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 http://www.dban.org/ 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Admin (Retired) broden 57,127 Posted December 21, 2013 Admin (Retired) Share Posted December 21, 2013 2 Link to post Share on other sites
Brucewayne 3,803 Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Paul 55,116 Posted December 21, 2013 Share Posted December 21, 2013 This what you are looking for less than 30 sec on google http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=255105&a=255105&po=8,00.aspWindows 7: The Top 10 Hidden Features8. Wipe Free Disk Space08 It's no secret (or at least, it shouldn't be) that when you delete files or folders in Windows, they're not actually erased—the space they took up is simply marked as "available for use," which allows the files to be recoverable (with the right software) until they're overwritten with new data. There is a utility built-into Windows (even XP Pro and Vista) that will overwrite all the free space on a hard drive, insuring any files you've deleted stay dead. Launch a command prompt and type cipher /w:X where X is the letter of the drive or partition you want to wipe. Be patient—the process can take a long time if you have a lot of free space. I realize this will not help you "wipe" your hard drive. However, upon loading the link the Woolf posted, I began going through the various "Hidden Features" of Windows. I got down to "God Mode", which is pretty neat. Simply create a new, empty folder on your desktop. Name it: GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C} Then double click to open it. Pretty neat. Other stuff is on the list as well. I haven't seen item number 10 yet. Link to post Share on other sites
Bill H 6,577 Posted December 21, 2013 Author Share Posted December 21, 2013 http://www.dban.org/ Nice but it takes out the entire drive, when I just want to clean up the unused space and leave my programs and data intact! Thee is always at least one smart ass lurking about. 1 Link to post Share on other sites
Bill H 6,577 Posted December 22, 2013 Author Share Posted December 22, 2013 This what you are looking for less than 30 sec on google http://www.pcmag.com/slideshow_viewer/0,3253,l=255105&a=255105&po=8,00.aspWindows 7: The Top 10 Hidden Features8. Wipe Free Disk Space08 It's no secret (or at least, it shouldn't be) that when you delete files or folders in Windows, they're not actually erased—the space they took up is simply marked as "available for use," which allows the files to be recoverable (with the right software) until they're overwritten with new data. There is a utility built-into Windows (even XP Pro and Vista) that will overwrite all the free space on a hard drive, insuring any files you've deleted stay dead. Launch a command prompt and type cipher /w:X where X is the letter of the drive or partition you want to wipe. Be patient—the process can take a long time if you have a lot of free space. I tried this, but I got an error message saying "cypher" was not a recognized command prompt! Link to post Share on other sites
Woolf 8,555 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 (edited) I tried this, but I got an error message saying "cypher" was not a recognized command prompt! Did you try chiper i i i i i i i Grrrrrr should be cipher Thanks to johnboy999 Edited December 22, 2013 by Woolf 1 Link to post Share on other sites
miles-high 3,918 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 The most secure way to clean your HD is IMO, copy or backup the data using USB3.0, eSATA or other faster device to another HD... Then, clean the HD using one of the shredder software (using RCMP, DOD, DES, etc., etc. approved protocols... you can Google it or using one of these freewares: http://download.cnet.com/File-Shredder/3000-2144_4-10662831.html). Note: Formatting is not good enough... Once completely shredded, transfer the necessary files back to the original HD… 1 Link to post Share on other sites
johnboy999 1,691 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 Did you try chiper i i i i i i i Might be better if he tries cipher !!!!!!!! Link to post Share on other sites
Woolf 8,555 Posted December 22, 2013 Share Posted December 22, 2013 (edited) Correct my post Edited December 22, 2013 by Woolf 1 Link to post Share on other sites
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