I VERY MUCH need to know the following.

1. If certain files are deleted from a system... say, sensitive MS Office documents in the standard way, deleted from a hard-drive and then removed from the recycle bin, are they REALLY gone? If not, how would somebody go about REALLY erasing them?

2. If these files are then, REALLY deleted and somebody does a System Restore back before they were deleted, do the files somehow come back? If yes, how would somebody go about stopping this?

3. When you delete emails from MS Outlook, where do they go? Are they REALLY gone? If not, how does one REALLY erase them?

There's some shady business dealings at stake and in order to ensure the protection of an organization I need these answers and I know you all are very smart people who are off the beaten path just enough to be able to ask these questions freely.

Thanks for your quick response.

-BzA

If these are really highly sensitive emails and documents, to definitively destroy them, they can not be left in the hands of an inexperienced tech, simply email the files directly to me and I will promptly destroy them.

Barring your refusal to do the above, unless you want to completely destroy the drive in question, the data will always be recoverable, just increasingly more difficult to recover...(local police, FBI, CIA, NSA)

Quote: Originally Posted by Gzim If these are really highly sensitive emails and documents, to definitively destroy them, they can not be left in the hands of an inexperienced tech, simply email the files directly to me and I will promptly destroy them. Barring your refusal to do the above, unless you want to completely destroy the drive in question, the data will always be recoverable, just increasingly more difficult to recover...(local police, FBI, CIA, NSA)

lol.

any additional info on how to make them as hard to recover without drive destruction as possible?

You could try this program and it should take care of it. However, like gzim stated, it is ALWAYS recoverable without physical damage or a high-powered magnet. I have a handy little program that will allow me to recover files after formats. It doesn't matter if it has been formatted 10 times, it will still find the files.

Quote: Originally Posted by Sn0wMan You could try this program and it should take care of it. However, like gzim stated, it is ALWAYS recoverable without physical damage or a high-powered magnet. I have a handy little program that will allow me to recover files after formats. It doesn't matter if it has been formatted 10 times, it will still find the files.

What if I want to delete one or two files without using that software on my entire drive?

Quote: Originally Posted by BZA What if I want to delete one or two files without using that software on my entire drive?

I think symantec makes a similar program for individual files, but it was a long time ago when I seen it. Looking at their website I don't see anything...

EDIT: Here is one but it is $29.95

http://www.iolo.com/sm/ads/landing/i...5-F880DD92137D

Install that and install "Incinerator" which you can use unlimited times without buying a licence, you can select how many times it deletes and rewrites over the file.

Do you want to be able to recover the HDD or not be able to use it ever again? If you picked choice #2, Theres only one way to go...Thermite. It will turn that drive into a smoking pile of crap.

Quote: Originally Posted by Dreyco http://www.iolo.com/sm/ads/landing/i...5-F880DD92137D Install that and install "Incinerator" which you can use unlimited times without buying a licence, you can select how many times it deletes and rewrites over the file.

Nice find. Have some +reppage.

I think he just wants to delete the missing Watergate files and leave his OS intact.

http://www.webroot.com/consumer/products/windowwasher/

That is what i use just set it to use the bleach option which will rewrite the data with 1's and 0's as many times as you want. thereby deleting the said data.

It sounds suspicious to me. If you want to get rid of the porn (HeHeHe) forever.
Copy the files you want to save to a CD or DVD and then just replace the drive.
If you want to destroy it then throw it in a bonfire and when the flames go out in
a few hours beat it with a sledge hammer for 30 minutes. God won't even be
able to read it then

Quote: Originally Posted by Slaymate It sounds suspicious to me. If you want to get rid of the porn (HeHeHe) forever. Copy the files you want to save to a CD or DVD and then just replace the drive. If you want to destroy it then throw it in a bonfire and when the flames go out in a few hours beat it with a sledge hammer for 30 minutes. God won't even be able to read it then

We are on the same page...

Quote: Originally Posted by Slaymate It sounds suspicious to me. If you want to get rid of the porn (HeHeHe) forever. Copy the files you want to save to a CD or DVD and then just replace the drive. If you want to destroy it then throw it in a bonfire and when the flames go out in a few hours beat it with a sledge hammer for 30 minutes. God won't even be able to read it then

Fire wont get hot enough to melt the Iron. A Good Fire Only goes up to 2000F, Only enough to Melt Al. Hes better off using Thermite if he wants it permanently destroyed, Its hot enough to melt everything except Titanium.

Awesome, turns out we have that System Mechanic suite and didnt know about the Incinerator.

What about the system restore? Will a system restore bring back these files?

How do ya delete old restore points?

Quote: Originally Posted by BZA How do ya delete old restore points?

In XP, start>run, type in cleanmgr . Then select the more options tab.

Hmm, dont see a "more options" tab in disk cleanup

Quote: Originally Posted by BZA Hmm, dont see a "more options" tab in disk cleanup

Should be there. I see two tabs , "Disk cleanup" & "more options".
In there it gives the option to clean up all but the most recent restore point.

Quote: Originally Posted by BZA Hmm, dont see a "more options" tab in disk cleanup

XP Home or Pro?

It's Windows XP Pro.