In today’s digital age, securely deleting files from your drives is crucial to maintaining your privacy and security. Simply deleting files by moving them to the recycle bin or trash folder is not enough, as they can still be recovered using specialized software. In this tutorial, we’ll explore how to securely delete files from your drives on different operating systems.

Windows

Using built-in tools

  1. Select the files you want to delete.
  2. Right-click on the selected files and choose “Delete” or press Shift + Delete.
  3. Confirm the deletion.
  4. Continue with the next steps …

Using Cipher to overwrite free space

After deleting sensitive files, you can use the built-in Windows tool called Cipher to overwrite the free space on your drive. This ensures that the deleted files cannot be recovered.

Here’s how you can use Cipher:

  1. Open Command Prompt as an administrator. You can do this by searching for “cmd” in the Start menu, right-clicking on “Command Prompt,” and selecting “Run as administrator.”

  2. In the Command Prompt window, type the following command and press Enter:

cipher /w:<drive_letter>

Replace <drive_letter> with the letter of the drive you want to clean. For example, if you want to clean drive C, the command would be:

cipher /w:C

This command will overwrite all free space on the specified drive with zeroes.

Duration

Depending on the size of your drive, this process may take some time to complete.

Tip

Note: It’s essential to perform the Cipher operation after deleting sensitive files because Cipher overwrites free space and not the files themselves. If you run Cipher before deleting files, the files you want to securely erase will not be overwritten.

Warnings and Precautions

  1. Since Cipher overwrites free space on your drives, the available free space will keep decreasing during the process. It’s recommended to avoid using the system and close all apps until the operation is finished to prevent interruptions.
  2. The lifespan of disks, whether hard drives or solid-state drives (SSDs), is measured by their spin cycles (for hard drives) or the amount of read/write operations performed (for SSDs). Overwriting free space with Cipher may impact the life expectancy of your drives.
  3. Due to wear leveling 1, a technique used in SSDs to prolong their lifespan by distributing write and erase cycles evenly across the memory cells, overwriting free space using Cipher can cause more harm than good on SSDs. Instead, consider creating an encrypted container directly on the drive itself for sensitive files.

Using third-party software

There are several third-party software options available for securely deleting files on Windows, however be carefull when downloading free software unless you can fully verify it’s functionality, like with FOSS(Free Open Source Software) where the source code is usually distributed or made available to the general public

macOS

Using built-in tools

  1. Select the files you want to delete.
  2. Right-click on the selected files and choose “Move to Trash”.
  3. Open the “Trash” folder.
  4. Right-click on the files in the Trash and choose “Delete Immediately”.

Using command line

Alternatively, you can use the Terminal to securely delete files:

srm -v <file_path>

Replace <file_path> with the path to the file you want to securely delete.

Linux

Using command line

  1. Open the Terminal.
  2. Use the shred command to securely delete files:
shred -u -z -n 35 <file_path>

Replace <file_path> with the path to the file you want to securely delete. Conclusion

By following these steps, you can ensure that your sensitive files are securely deleted from your drives, protecting your privacy and security.