Where does deletion data go.

Just discovered I have a large amount of no longer needed data in several .txt and .dat files. It amounts to several tens of gigabytes. My hard drive is not a T-Byte spinning disk but a 120 Gbyte solid state hard disk. Recovering this space seems like a good thing to do. However, I am not certain that merely moving it over to the recycle bin and then emptying the recycle bin really sends it out into the lumineferous aether to be lost and gone forever. Rather something deep within my soul tells me that Windows XP puts in some out of the way place within my SSD. My question is where does deleted data really go? If it is indeed stored in an out of the way place on the SSD, is there a software application available that will allow me to really rid my PC of this data?

 

Hello Lusby,

Same problem but solved. Do a Google search for Hard Drive Powerwash. It is freeware and it works. You will be amazed at how much free space it will make by permanently deleting .old, .txt .ini etc files. It, Hard Drive Powerwash does not touch any system files. I have been using it for a couple of years.

Also, change Folder Options to show hidden files. Open the Windows folder and you may see lots of Windows Update uninstall files in blue. Quite safe to delete these and recover a lot of disk space. But, do not delete the ie8 folder if you have the Internet Explorer 8 update.

Cheers,

Aunty Jack.

 

Does this Hard Drive Power Wash application work like the Windows Disk Defragmentor? Is this application safe to use on a Solid State Hard Drive?

 

Hello again Lusby,

Hard Drive Powerwash is not a disk defrag utility. Don't know about solid state drives and Hard Drive Powerwash but I would think that it would be quite safe as it merely identifies old .log, .ini, .txt etc files and deletes them for good.

Cheers,

Aunty Jack.

 

Where does deletion data go?

Hypothetically speaking, let's say I have a large list of names and corresponding phone numbers on stored on my PC. As I have said elsewhere on this forum, I have a 120 Giga-Byte solid state hard drive, if that makes any difference. At some point I decide that the best security policy with regard to these numbers is to delete these them rather than keep them on my PC where some hacker might find them and use them, either against me or perhaps cause trouble for the people on this list. So I first send the list to the recycle bin and then empty the recycle bin. Do these two actions together completely remove the names and phone numbers from my PC? Or might it still possible for a sufficiently skilled hacker to stumble onto this list in an invasion of my PC?

 

I believe that the drive would have to be in the hands of the hacker, as any deletion is over time written over many times, now there are companys that can use software to read down thru many layers of a disk after it has been wiped, but this is not cheap.

dban will wipe a disk really well, and ccleaner has a drive wipe section where you can choose to wipe the free space of a drive, with either 1 pass, 3 passes or 35 passes, this will go over the free space with x's and o's, and if a hacker can get through these the hacker must be very good!!

I do not think a hacker would bother.

==