Logan James asks:
Will using an app such as “Wise Care 365″ disk eraser wipe my hard drive’s “in use data” (i.e. installed games, programs, software), or will it only wipe files I have deleted/uninstalled in the past?
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Manuel Guillermo López Buenfil
November 7, 2012I haven’t used that particular program, but any disk eraser utility should not delete anything that you have installed. They just delete “temporal” files, and these should only include data that is not necessary for any program to run, but which may help to customize or accelerate a program. So, you may end up having to log in somewhere again or missing your browsing history, but they should not make any program unusable. Disk cleaners let you decide what you want to delete (for example, that program you mention has a category called “Surf the Internet”, my guess is that it deletes your browsing history and some temporal browser files). Just read what each category contains, to check if it has anything you want to keep. If you don’t know what something is, chances are you won’t need it. But if you want to stay safe, you can choose to delete only things you recognize.
Bruce Epper
November 7, 2012A disk eraser will normally let you choose what it is going to wipe. You can tell it to toast an entire disk, a specific partition, or to just wipe the unallocated (or free) space on the disk. With Microsoft operating systems, deleting a file does not actually delete anything; it simply marks the filename in the index as having been deleted and puts the sectors on the disk that the file used back on the free list but leaves everything else intact. By wiping the free space, all sectors on the free list will be overwritten thereby destroying anything that was contained in any files that may have occupied those sectors. At the same time, most will also go through the MFT or FAT (the file index on the hard drive) and overwrite the data that is contained in the entries marked as deleted.
Jim Chambers
November 7, 2012An erasing app will erase everything by writing zeros or other characters to every byte on the HDD from 1 to several times so that it is almost impossible to recover anything. To use the drive you must partition and format it. However, if you choose to only erase free space, all the unused space incuding areas containing deleted files etc. will be written over. Some erasers will even deleate data from the End of File code to the end of the sector
Rajaa Chowdhury
November 7, 2012Never used this software, I use Piriform’s ccleaner for the job.
Disk Wipers are not the same as Cleaners.
November 7, 2012I just checked my Ccleaner. There is a disk wiper under tools.
November 7, 2012softwaredemons
November 7, 2012NO it will not delete in use data it will delete files which are no longer in use like something you have deleted or files required for programs you have uninstalled
Jim Chambers
November 7, 2012Just to clarify my previous comment. Wise Care 365 is not a disk eraser as title of your question suggests. It is a housekeeping app similar to IObit Advanced system care that has several components that defrag, delete temporary files, clean the registry etc. The files could be easily recovered if not overwritten by new files.
Aniket Singh
November 7, 2012u should try c cleaner free cleaner software with good ratings……
Dhaval Patel
November 7, 2012The drive wiper generally have the option which provide you to select that whole drive will be erased or only free space (on which deleted files are present). If your app (Wise Care 365) doesn’t showing this option then just forgot it and download this free software. Ccleaner http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download after installing this software run this software and under TOOLS tab you will have DRIVE WIPER. Here you can select the drive that you want to wipe, option of select the entire drive or just free space and also level of overwrite.
ha14
November 7, 2012Wise Care 365 disk eraser
Disk Eraser executes a complete removal of the deleted data from your disk. And the erased data will never be recovered by any data recovery software.
http://www.wisecleaner.com/wisecare365/help/en/
Disk Eraser uses three colors to mark your drive status.
– Red means your drive is in danger because many files on it are found to be able to be recovered by recovery software.
– Yellow means your drive is not safe because some files on it can be recovered by recovery software.
– Green means your drive is safe because no files on it can be recovered.
Lisa Santika Onggrid
November 7, 2012I usually use CCleaner, and it’ll only erase data in recycle bin and other temporary files. If you want to securely delete an existing file, find a file shredder.
Naveen Kumar
November 8, 2012i don’t know about this software but generally disk wipe means it will only erase deleted and uninstalled content. i will not wipe any other content
josemon maliakal
November 8, 2012They will delete the unwanted temp files only…
Christopher Webb-Orenstein
November 29, 2012Someone suggested CCleaner. Just as a heads up, I used CCleaner recently, and it creates a large file that overwrites everything. However when it is done the file is supposed give back all the space. I’m still down 20 gb in storage space. I still looking at how to fix it.