Using cipher.exe?

Can someone explain the command ~ c:\cipher /w ~ to me. It says it removes data from available unused disc space. Does this mean it zeros out all of the unused space on your drive?

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Comments

royal

Have you seen this? http://support.microsoft.com/kb/315672

It doesn't directly answer your question but it does state it does "permantently" remove all the data on disk and the only way to really do that is by zero'ing out the data.

Devin McCloud

Thanks Royal, I think that's what I was wondering if it was safe to use it on a drive with data on it.

When you delete files or folders, the data is not initially removed from the hard disk. Instead, the space on the disk that was occupied by the deleted data is "deallocated." After it is deallocated, the space is available for use when new data is written to the disk. Until the space is overwritten, it is possible to recover the deleted data by using a low-level disk editor or data-recovery software.

Cipher deletes all the deallocated files so no one can rip them from the drive!
I guess nothing beats trying it. Now I just need to find a drive to test and test the program Recover My Files!

dynamik

Just create one in a VM.