Permanately Deleting Files

[Confusednewbie1552]

How do you permanetly delete files form hardrive without uninstalling Windows XP and harming the hard drive?

Please post in the correct category.

AnandTech Moderator

 

[Schadenfroh]

no offense man, but people are gonna flame you about this being a non hardware issue.

 

[GrumpyMan]

General Hardware. Example: Hey how about those Raptor hard drives huh?

 

[Cogman]

delete file, empty Recycle bin, Defragment, Install something. That will get rid of it or make it unreadable.

 

[JackBurton]

Before the crash of 2004, I would have recommended BCWipe. But since it took my machine down the last time I tried it with XP SP2, I'd say, try something else. I'm still looking for a good program too.

 

[tynopik]

http://sourceforge.net/projects/eraser/

 

[tart666]

Originally posted by: Confusednewbie1552
How do you permanetly delete files form hardrive without uninstalling Windows XP and harming the hard drive?

depends on what you mean by "permanetly"... for classified info you can use degaussers, for sensitive info you can use triple overwrite programs, like the "eraser" above. I just use Shift-Del, which bypasses the recycle bin. Saves time, for large files, too.

 

[caz67]

plenty of freeware programs, just Google it.