14 DAY TRIAL // We've been talking about all sorts of softwares that are capable of recovering the lost or deleted data from your hard disk. But we've never mentioned a thing about the applications that can successfully perform a nice, clean, irrecoverable data deletion. Most users are trying to keep the data on the computer while others are desperately wishing to wipe out all the information from the hard disk.
Some reasons for you to do that may be selling your hard disk, giving away your computer and if you are in a company a reuse of some machine by some new employer etc. If you are giving away your hard drive or just borrowing it to a friend for a week or two, it is important to erase all the "compromising" information in there.
The belief that a simple erase or even formatting will do the job is already busted, if you have tried one of the data recovery softwares we have presented. So, a bigger cannon is necessary in order to accomplish the complete wiping. For that we chose Acronis Drive Cleanser. It is ironic how a company produces both hard disk wiping software as well as backup utilities.
The price for this tool is almost as costly as buying a new storage device of a smaller size or as a protection tool. To get your hands on this "data flusher" you will have to spit out $49.99, I tell you that it is worth it. It will clean up your drive and the information will not be recovered too easily and in no case will it be in its entirety.
When opening the application, it will begin by scanning your storage devices and the drives you have. It will not take too long and soon you will be able to get to the beginning of the wiping process. The wizard interface guides you step by step to the finalization of the operation. From the first window, the application warns you that "Proceed" is the word that will release the wiping operation. So be careful with that. This is a good thing as you will not press the Next button overwhelmed with fear that the following window will start the erasing.
Data Selection window displays all the hard drives and partitions on your system. They are colored and at the bottom their meaning is shown: yellow for primary partitions, blue for logical drives and green for the unallocated space. The program allows the user to select the partition sentenced to wiping and all you have to do is click on it.
The user gets to select the action to be performed after the data has been deleted from the disk. The three options available allow deleting the partition, formatting it or leaving it as it currently is. For each of the actions, the user will benefit from information and explanation at the bottom of the screen. Thus you will learn what each of them does.
The next step is choosing the wiping algorithm. I must tell you that the list is impressive: U.S. Standard, DoD 5220.22-M, NAVSO (Navy Staff Office) P-5239-26 (RLL and MFM), German Standard (VSITR), Russian Standard (GOST P50739-95), Peter Gutmann (my favorite), Bruce Schneier. Some other options are Fast, Custom and Load from file. Once selected, each algorithm is explained in the Description window.
Fast is the quickest, but the least secured destruction algorithm. There is only one overwrite pass for this option. Custom allows the users to create their own algorithm. The maximum number of passes that can be chosen is 100 (the more passes the more secure the destruction and the slower the operation) and the pass settings will be configured in a later step (write pattern, verification) - the user does not have to configure each pass at a time, but can also set the write pattern for more passes at once. A random number can be selected and in this case you have to specify the length.
The Custom settings can be saved to a file in order to be used at a future wipe by choosing the Load from file option.
The final step of the wiping operation will display all the settings pertaining to the chosen algorithm (name and number of passes), as well as the information about the partition you are about to destroy (the beginning sector and the size).
Big disappointment in the Demo version of the application as it does not perform the wipe, but it gives you the chance to see the second part of the software: the Disk Editor. It is a very dangerous tool to work with if you have no experience, but very useful for experienced users.
Disk Editor from Acronis permits the user to play with the boot sectors, files and folders structure as well as finding lost clusters. In the wrong hands (a beginner or someone having no information on this) it can be a real pain in the neck and may result in losing all the data from the disk, but a more experienced user will find it a very helpful tool.
The Good
Nice application, designed for both advanced and beginners. The wizard guides you step by step to the end. Disk Editor is a useful tool for those daring to fiddle with the disks sectors.
The Bad
There is no option for wiping smaller amounts of disk, like folders. I was disappointed by the result of the demo version as it did not wipe or format anything.
The Truth
Judging by the quality of other Acronis products, Drive Cleanser should rise to your standards and do a good job.
Take care with the Editor and if you do not understand what it is doing you'd better click exit at the end of the wipe and leave the viewer to professionals.
Here are some snapshots of the application in action:
