January 30, 201214 yr Hi guys,I know I am probably paranoid about all this but I was just wondering is there a safe way to delete files on the HDD that I know I don't need which are just slowing the system down after they have been fully deleted. Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern
January 30, 201214 yr Author Thanks for the quick reply but a but while loking on the web by accident I found a good piece of software that can be used with the right click to just delete anything and unused space on the HDD. Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern
January 30, 201214 yr Author also found out that the software uses the Gutmann method as well. Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern
January 30, 201214 yr Author It seems to be making a lot of random files in C: which I presume it will then delete later, its a long process. Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern
January 30, 201214 yr Author this is taking ages, i have gone down to 0 space left, and now i am at 10GB and i have to get to around 800GB. Its been about 10 hours. Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern
January 30, 201214 yr Author well after 10 hours i decided to stop the task and i got an extra 10GB of space, I think I need a new method or software. Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern
January 31, 201214 yr VirginAusI'm not sure what you are trying to achieve? A deleted file does not usually slow a hard drive down nor the OS, they are simply ignored. The methods above are for 'securely' deleting files but that doesn't mean that the HDD will get any faster.Do you have a lot of secret and sensitive files that you need to delete? :Nail Biting: It must be that Melbourne air!Fragmentation probably causes more HDD lag times than anything else, but with 1 and 2 Tb drives that's less of a problem too.However, I still think that you might achieve more by defragmenting your HDD instead of a secure delete.RegardsPeterH
January 31, 201214 yr Author Nah, I have nothing "secret" on it, its just that there have been so many reinstalls of FSX that I would just think I would be better off getting rid of those extra files, weather it makes it quicker or not. I have also done a defrag on it today. Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern
January 31, 201214 yr Author its just that boot seems to be taking a long time, well over a minute. Both optimists and pessimists contribute to our society. The optimist invents the airplane and the pessimist the parachute. ~Gil Stern
January 31, 201214 yr When you delete a file, all it does is move the directory entry to the trash bin--the file will still occupy space on the drive. When you empty the recycle bin, you permanently delete the directory entry and mark the blocks formerly used by the file as available. So to reclaim space from deleted files, you have to *both* delete them, and then go empty the Windows recycle bin. But if you were to read the blocks with a low-level disk utility, all the data is still there until something else comes along and overwrites it. The secure erase programs have to overwrite all those files many times over to make sure the data can't be recovered off the platter (i.e. by reading from the intertrack space on the platter with a special device). That's why it's so slow. Edited January 31, 201214 yr by w6kd Bob Scott | President and CEO, AVSIM Inc ATP Gulfstream II-III-IV-V Sys1 (MSFS20+24/XPlane12+11): AMD 9800X3D, water 2x240mm, MSI MPG X670E Carbon, 64GB GSkill 6000/30, nVidia RTX4090FE Alienware AW3821DW 38" 21:9 GSync, 2x4TB Crucial T705 PCIe5 + 2x2TB Samsung 990 SSD, EVGA 1000P2 PSU, 12.9" iPad Pro Thrustmaster TCA Boeing Yoke, TCA Airbus Sidestick, Twin TCA Airbus Throttle quads, PFC Cirrus Pedals, Coolermaster HAF932 case Sys2 (P3Dv5/v4): i9-13900KS, water 2x360mm, ASUS Z790 Hero, 32GB GSkill 7800MHz CAS36, ASUS RTX4090 Samsung 55" JS8500 4K TV@60Hz, 3x 2TB WD SN850X 1x 4TB Crucial P3 M.2 NVME SSD, EVGA 1600T2 PSU Fiber link to Yamaha RX-V467 Home Theater Receiver, Polk/Klipsch 6" bookshelf speakers, Polk 12" subwoofer, 12.9" iPad Pro PFC yoke/throttle quad/pedals with custom Hall sensor retrofit, Thermaltake View 71 case, Stream Deck XL button box Sys3 (DCS/P3Dv4/ATS/ETS): AMD 7800X3D, MSI MPG X870E Carbon, Noctua NH-D15S, 64GB GSkill 6000/30, EVGA RTX3090 Alienware AW3420DW 34" 21:9 GSync, Corsair HX1000i PSU, 4TB Crucial T705 PCIe5 + 2TB Samsung 970Evo Plus, TM TCA Officer Pack, Saitek combat pedals, TM Warthog, TM RS300 FF wheel/pedals, Coolermaster HAF XB case
February 22, 201214 yr Hi.. You can delete files permanently from your hard disk by using file eraser tool. If you have deleted files by using this software, they cannot recovered by using any recovery software. To delete files from my computer, I have used a file shredder for windows and it enables me to erase all files within few minutes. You can download demo version of this software and check it.
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