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Open Command Prompt in administrator mode.Extract and place the SDelete.exe files on Desktop.Download SDelete utility from Microsoft Sysinternals website.The eraser task will take a while to finish depending on the hard drive size.Īnd that’s it! That’s how easily you can erase deleted files permanently beyond recovery with the help of BitRaser File Eraser.Īs an alternative to BitRaser File Eraser, you can also use Microsoft Internals’ SDelete utility to erase deleted files in Windows 7. Click ‘ Erase Deleted Data’ and then select the drive volume(s) from where you wish to erase deleted files in Windows 7.To erase deleted files in Windows 7, follow these steps: With the help of a powerful file eraser software such as BitRaser File Eraser, you can erase both existing and deleted files from a Windows 7 PC or supported internal and external storage media. Thus, it’s important that you securely erase your deleted confidential files in Windows 7 to safeguard data privacy and prevent data breaches, which may happen when you sell, donate, share, or dispose of your storage media or devices without a secure eraser. Plus, these files may still get recovered by using powerful data recovery software and forensics tools. However, the chances of OS allocating unallocated storage space to new files are bleak-especially when the drive has enough storage space. This overwriting destroys the deleted files beyond the scope of recovery. So, the next time when you copy data or download files, the OS ‘may’ store the new files in unallocated space by overwriting the previously deleted file(s). The OS marks the space or sectors occupied by the deleted file as Unallocated.
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Thus, the deleted file remains on the drive unless overwritten. When a file is deleted in Windows, only the pointer (address) to the file’s physical location on the disk is removed from the File Allocation Table (FAT) or Master file Table (MFT). Read this guide to learn how to permanently erase deleted files on Windows 7 beyond the scope of recovery.ĭeleting a file is entirely different than erasing it. The files deleted on Windows systems using Shift + Del or emptying the Recycle Bin can be recovered quickly.
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