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Wiping Free Disk Space


Attention! Wiping free disk space for SSD devices is not required in most cases. Read the File Erasure on SSD and HDD devices page for details.

R-Wipe & Clean disables wiping free disk space on such devices by default. You may enable it, but you should understand what you are doing. The only important part that should be cleaned even on an SSD device is MFT on NTFS disks. The best wiping algorithms for that are zeros or pseudo-random numbers.

Disk data you can wipe depends on your user account type and Windows version.

Tap to expand         Data that can be wiped:

Attention! When a disk is wiped, all previously deleted files cannot be restored! No Windows or third-party data recovery utility can do this!

Wiping free disk space on a single disk

You do not have to start R-Wipe & Clean to wipe unused space on a single disk. You may do this from File Explorer . Make sure that the Wipe free space directly from the shortcut menu option is selected on the Integration tab of the Settings panel.

To wipe unused disk space on a single disk,

Long tap the disk in File Explorer , and select Wipe free space with R-Wipe & Clean on the menu.

The R-Wipe & Clean tab will appear.

Click to enlarge

R-Wipe & Clean tab

Select the wiping settings for this disk and tap the Wipe now button.

R-Wipe & Clean will start wiping the disk, and the Wiping dialog box will appear showing the wiping progress. When R-Wipe & Clean finishes wiping, the Report dialog box will appear.

Wiping free disk space on several disks

To wipe unused disk space on several disks,

Select Free Drive Space

The Free Drive Space panel will appear.

Tap to enlarge

Free Drive Space panel

Select the disks you want to wipe.

If necessary, change the wiping settings, and tap the Wipe Now button. Default disk wiping settings may be set on the Free Drive Space Wiping Settings tab of the Settings panel. To learn more about wiping algorithms, go to the Wiping Algorithms page.

R-Wipe & Clean will start wiping the disk, and the Wiping dialog box will appear showing the wiping progress. When R-Wipe & Clean finishes wiping, the Report dialog box will appear.

You may interrupt wiping. Tap the Stop button. Wiping will be stopped, and the Report dialog box will appear, showing how much of unused space has been wiped.

Disk wiping may be included into a large wipe and clean task. Go to the Setting a Large Wipe and Clean Task section for details.

Note! Removable storage devices cannot be included into a large wipe and clean task.