Scan for file corruption & errors + Disk wiping

[masterton]

1. Hello. I would like to see if all data files in my computer are still healthy, i.e. they haven't been damaged or corrupt yet. Manually opening one by one is not an option. There are literally millions of files.

I knew the System File Checker but it is only for Windows system files. I want to check the health of all my data files. Disk checking, as far as I know, has nothing to do with file corruption. The drive can be healthy even if some files have been corrupt unrelated to drive failure reasons.

I tried to search on the net but couldn't find any.

Any method or workaround which could check for file corruption & errors, even if the check is not comprehensive or faultless, is much appreciated. Thank you.


2. I would like to ask whether there is any good program which could:
(A) *really* wipe specific files and folders irrecoverably
(B) *really* wipe the data of whole drive/disk irrecoverably
I hear that some programs claim it does but actually not (it's still there when you use the recovery program) so I want something which is really working, be it free or paid. Thank you.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

To check file system structure on a windows box you can do from a command prompt

chkdsk x: /f

This will run a check disk and fix any file system errors

sfc /scannow

Do this and you will get a system file check that will compare your windows install with the cd (provided you have it handy and its the same SP level.

hope that answers the first.


As for the second, anything is recoverable given enough time and resources. A $5 hammer is your best bed if you really want it gone.

 

[masterton]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
To check file system structure on a windows box you can do from a command prompt

chkdsk x: /f

This will run a check disk and fix any file system errors

sfc /scannow

Do this and you will get a system file check that will compare your windows install with the cd (provided you have it handy and its the same SP level.

hope that answers the first.

That's not what I want unfortunately. What I want to check are exactly the opposite - It's the data/personal files that we care about. But opening one by one is practically impossible.

As for the second, anything is recoverable given enough time and resources. A $5 hammer is your best bed if you really want it gone.

How come? I don't realize it's impossible to erase files completely once written.
I supposed the "deleted" file is still there because the blocks of data (which could be spread across different places of the physical drive) haven't been rewritten completely by other data. It should be no longer recoverable once all blocks of data have been rewritten.

What is $5 hammer? Could you explain more? What program can do it?

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: masterton

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
To check file system structure on a windows box you can do from a command prompt

chkdsk x: /f

This will run a check disk and fix any file system errors

sfc /scannow

Do this and you will get a system file check that will compare your windows install with the cd (provided you have it handy and its the same SP level.

hope that answers the first.

That's not what I want unfortunately. What I want to check are exactly the opposite - It's the data/personal files that we care about. But opening one by one is practically impossible.

As for the second, anything is recoverable given enough time and resources. A $5 hammer is your best bed if you really want it gone.

How come? I don't realize it's impossible to erase files completely once written.
I supposed the "deleted" file is still there because the blocks of data (which could be spread across different places of the physical drive) haven't been rewritten completely by other data. It should be no longer recoverable once all blocks of data have been rewritten.

What is $5 hammer? Could you explain more? What program can do it?

A $5 hammer is a hammer from the hardware store, you give the drive a couple good hits and it wont function any more.

The reason data can be recovered is because firstly when an operating system writes a file it creates an entry inthe file system that basically says this file is here and here are its attributes.

When you delete a file you are just deleting the pointer to it. Even when that data is overwritten it is slightly different in its magnetic charge and with sophisticated equipment can be determined what the original value is.

In short, nothing is ever really gone unless you physically destroy it, if someone such as say the fbi/cia want it bad enough it can generally be recovered.

 

[masterton]

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
A $5 hammer is a hammer from the hardware store, you give the drive a couple good hits and it wont function any more.

LOL! Silly me. I supposed it is some tech terms.

The reason data can be recovered is because firstly when an operating system writes a file it creates an entry in the file system that basically says this file is here and here are its attributes.

When you delete a file you are just deleting the pointer to it. Even when that data is overwritten it is slightly different in its magnetic charge and with sophisticated equipment can be determined what the original value is.

In short, nothing is ever really gone unless you physically destroy it, if someone such as say the fbi/cia want it bad enough it can generally be recovered.

That's scary...

So the hammer method is the only 100% way to destroy the data forever, isn't it? OR is it still possible to recover if FBI/CIA managed to "physically recover" the broken hard disk?

Hammer method is not really feasible in our cases. We still want to use the drive after data destruction.

 

[RadiclDreamer]

Originally posted by: masterton

Originally posted by: RadiclDreamer
A $5 hammer is a hammer from the hardware store, you give the drive a couple good hits and it wont function any more.

LOL! Silly me. I supposed it is some tech terms.

The reason data can be recovered is because firstly when an operating system writes a file it creates an entry in the file system that basically says this file is here and here are its attributes.

When you delete a file you are just deleting the pointer to it. Even when that data is overwritten it is slightly different in its magnetic charge and with sophisticated equipment can be determined what the original value is.

In short, nothing is ever really gone unless you physically destroy it, if someone such as say the fbi/cia want it bad enough it can generally be recovered.

That's scary...

So the hammer method is the only 100% way to destroy the data forever, isn't it? OR is it still possible to recover if FBI/CIA managed to "physically recover" the broken hard disk?

Hammer method is not really feasible in our cases. We still want to use the drive after data destruction.

Well, it boils down to this. Ask yourself what you could possibly have that would warrant the use of very expensive time and equipment. Unless you are a terrorist with a plot to destroy the world, I think you are safe with a simple wipe, or take it a step further and run dban

http://www.dban.org/