Eraser is an
open-source
Open source is source code that is made freely available for possible modification and redistribution. Products include permission to use the source code, design documents, or content of the product. The open-source model is a decentralized sof ...
tool available for the
Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
operating system.
It supports both file and volume wiping.
Eraser securely erases data by overwriting it such that the data is
irrecoverable.
It supports a variety of data destruction standards, including British
HMG IS5 (Infosec Standard 5), American
DoD 5220.22-M, and the
Gutmann method
The Gutmann method is an algorithm for securely erasing the contents of computer hard disk drives, such as files. Devised by Peter Gutmann and Colin Plumb and presented in the paper ''Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory'' ...
which features a 35-pass overwrite.
The tool has been recommended in ''
TechAdvisor ''Tech Advisor'', previously known as ''PC Advisor'', is a consumer tech website and digital magazine published by Foundry, a subsidiary of IDG Inc, which also produces ''Macworld, PCWorld'' and ''TechHive.'' IDG Inc was acquired by Blackstone in 2 ...
'',
''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'',
and ''
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
'',
and is a tool suggested by the United States government
Computer Emergency Readiness Team
A computer emergency response team (CERT) is an expert group that handles computer security incidents. Alternative names for such groups include computer emergency readiness team and computer security incident response team (CSIRT). A more modern ...
.
See also
*
BleachBit
BleachBit is a free and open-source disk space cleaner, privacy manager, and computer system optimizer. The BleachBit source code is licensed under the GNU General Public License version 3.
History
BleachBit was first publicly released on 24 D ...
*
CCleaner
CCleaner (, originally Crap Cleaner), developed by Piriform Software, is a utility used to clean potentially unwanted files and invalid Windows Registry entries from a computer. It is one of the longest-established system cleaners, first launc ...
*
Data erasure
Data erasure (sometimes referred to as data clearing, data wiping, or data destruction) is a software-based method of overwriting the data that aims to completely destroy all electronic data residing on a hard disk drive or other digital media b ...
*
Shred (Unix)
is a command on Unix-like operating systems that can be used to securely delete files and devices so that it is extremely difficult to recover them, even with specialized hardware and technology; assuming it's even possible to recover the file ...
References
External links
Official websiteDocumentation
Data erasure software
2003 software
Utilities for Windows
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