At a Glance
Expert's Rating
Pros
- Invokes the secure erase function
- Comes on a DOS boot disc
Cons
- Won’t work on drives with frozen security status
Our Verdict
Though geeky, and only for Windows 32-bit or DOS, hdderase.exe allows you to invoke your hard drive or SSD’s secure erase function for super-secure wipes that don’t tie up your system.
Who would do you trust to tell you how to delete files securely?
How about a researcher at the Center for Magnetic Recording
Research at the University of California, San Diego? Dr. Gordon
Hughes of the CMRR wrote HDDErase to help us securely delete files.
Note: To use this command-line utility, you’ll need to boot from a floppy that has the program on it. See the CMRR Web site at the link to your left for details.