Is there anyway to permanently delete files from a computer?

Question

I have read all over the net that once you download a file it is always there. even if you delete it and empty it out of the recycle bin it can still be un deleted by the police or whatever. BUT i also read that their are file shredder programs that will get rid of the file and make it impossible to be undeleted. so which is true?

Answer 1

Of course you can delete file permanently. However, you have to perform a secure delete. It works by first encrypting your data. This action turns the normal information into a scrambled code that cannot be unlocked with out advanced software and knowledge of encryptions. Multiple point encryption will almost guarantee its secrecy. Step 2 is to delete the information. This encrypted and deleted data remains on your drive. However, if recovered, it cannot be read. The final step is to overwrite the data. This naturally occurs over time, however privacy programs can speed up the secure file deletion procedure. The page below will give you the 3 steps in detail.
http://www.delete-computer-history.com/secure-file-deletion.html

Answer 2

Both are true to a point.

Deleting a file doesn't make it go permanently away, it is basically renamed and stored elsewhere. It is recoverable at that point. What happens is that these files are saved on your free space. Every time you delete something new, it is renamed and overwrites something that was previously deleted. This goes on perpetually.

According to the government, once a piece of data is overwritten 7 times, it is unrecoverable. However a computer guru named Guttman, said that for something to be unrecoverable, it needed to be overwritten a total of 35 times.

It is not just illegal things that people don't want to be found, it is also personal information, credit card numbers etc.

I use a program called System Mechanic, which incorporates the Guttman Wipe, you can delete something and overwrite it 35 times when you delete it.

Answer 3

The best way to answer this would be with an analogy.

Your hard drive is like a series of lockers (like you would find in high school). When you save a file to your hard drive, junk is stored in your locker (it's actually thousands to millions of lockers, but I will use one for sake of simplicity). After storing the data, a lock is put on to make sure nothing can disturb or "overwrite" the data in your locker.

Deleting that file and emptying the recycle bin ONLY removes the lock on the locker. The stuff inside is still there and can be recovered, taken out, or more stuff can be crammed in.

Let's say you had a gun in your locker at one point but have since taken it out. Authorities could have the locker tested for miniscule reminants of powder, microscopic metal fragments, etc. All the pieces could fit together to determine that you had a gun in that locker. This is the same way data recovery companies and tools can be used to recover lost or overwritten data.

Say you didn't want anyone to know you ever had a gun in there. You can use methods like "zeroing" the drive, or having a program place random data or junk into the lockers to dilute the evidence. For example, after removing the gun, you kept putting random things in your locker for a month like gym shoes, bleach, car keys, whatever. Over time, the powder and metal fragments are going to be harder to detect since less of them remain, but it's NOT impossible to still detect them. The issue is a matter of cost.

If you are trying to hide the fact that you stole your friends lunch money, most likely the authorities aren't going to invest the time and money into recovering the evidence. However, if you have recently stolen the secret pepsi formula, or the colonel's secret recipe, they may justify the cost of going after the evidence. The same thing applies to data and hard drives.

Answer 4

NOT REALLY
when you delete a file all you do is you delete any windows reference to it and it still stays in yr drive until it is overwritten - there are some programs that claim to permanently delete files but i'm really suspicious anything can be done permanently - with the state of recovery technology today as long as hard drive can be spinned the data can be recovered - the only way to make hard drive unreadable is to drill two holes with a drill in it
- for a state-of-the art recovery today check Data Saver's web page http://www.datasavers.com - ANY OPERATING SYSTEM, ANY TYPE OF COMPUTER DATA STORAGE

Answer 5

I think doing a Shift+ delete would be enough to make the file un restore able again. When you do Shift+del the file does not go to the recycle bin, but is permanently deleted, so you wouldn't be able to find a trace of it.

- K

Answer 6

If you have nothing to hide, then you have nothing to worry about. Eventually as you use your computer the data that held the file data will be overwritten. Things like a fileshredder do the same thing, but do it faster.

Answer 7

i as quickly as had a situation like that, i attempt to apply the gadget fix even though it did no longer help, it basically restores a number of my junks yet no longer the report i prefer to repair. my chum informed me that a completely deleted report can't be restored anymore.

Answer 8

Yeah, take out the disk and bash it, smash it, and crush it with a hammer, that is the only sure way to "destroy" digital data. Again that might not work if someone is smarter than you...