Completely destroying items long after deletion

I know there are programs out there that can shred files when deleted, unlike sending them directly to the recycling bin. Are there any programs that can shred files sent to the recycling bin even after the recycling bin is empty ?

I'm referring to files deleted in the past, we know that those files are not completely destroyed after they are emptied from the recycling bin. How can I guarantee there are no fragments left regardless if it was deleted yesterday, last week or 3+ years ago ? I read you can save some space if you completely destroy it.

A program such as CCleaner has a provision to "wipe free space".

I've never used it, but I assume it would write zeroes to any space on the HD that was not occupied by a currently undeleted file.

That might accomplish what you want, but I don't know how you could ever confirm that it had.

ignatzatsonic said:

A program such as CCleaner has a provision to "wipe free space".

I've never used it, but I assume it would write zeroes to any space on the HD that was not occupied by a currently undeleted file.

That might accomplish what you want, but I don't know how you could ever confirm that it had.

You can wipe the free space though previous defragging could mean some old files could be recovered forensically.

You can use something like the freeware Recuver to gauge whether files you have deleted are still recoverable, though this is by no means absolute.

There is no piece of software on the market (private or public) that will remove data from a hard drive. If the hard drive is intact, we can pull data off of it (no matter what).

Who are "We" out of interest?

Oaken said:

Who are "We" out of interest?

The NSA (National Security Agency).

Didn't you know that they monitored this forum?

Don't forget to wear your tinfoil hat.

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