Active KillDisk provides a secure means of wiping information from storage devices, making recovery impossible. Utilizing Gutmann’s data erasure method, Active KillDisk erases deleted or unused files and any unused space on logical drives without touching existing ones.
This program can be useful to anyone wishing to dispose of hard drives safely and prevent their data from being recovered using various recovery techniques. It can even be run directly from a bootable disc.
Erasing Hard Drives
When deleting confidential files or any unwanted items on your hard drive, it’s essential that they’re done safely and permanently; otherwise, someone could possibly recover them using data recovery software.
Active KillDisk allows you to securely delete all physical drives on your computer without leaving any trace of information behind. It features an intuitive user interface with a list of storage devices containing partitions and unallocated sections in its left pane; clicking any one reveals additional information such as S.M.A.R.T parameters, partition geometry information, capacity, integrity status information and metadata about that storage device.
To erase a device, select it from the list and press F10 or click Wipe. A Wipe Disk dialog box appears with all available erasure methods and other settings that allow you to customize its erasure (please see Erase/Wipe Parameters for further details).
Once you’ve selected an erase method, press OK and wait while the program begins working on your drive. When completed, a certificate will show its sanitizing status alongside serial number and method used for wiping. While the free version supports Gutmann erasure only, upgrades to other options such as NSA-compliant overwriting of zeros on multiple passes can be purchased if needed.
Erasing Disk Partitions
Active KillDisk makes sure that when you erase disk partitions with it, all information you delete is truly gone forever – not recoverable even with special software. Its simple-to-use design makes it the ideal way to erase sensitive documents or any other files you don’t wish to keep stored on your computer.
For starting an erase of a partition using this software, select it from the list of local system devices in the left pane of the window. Clicking a physical disk reveals its properties while selecting a logical disk will alter file and folder information in the right pane.
If the selected disk is already being used, a dialog box notifies you to either skip this drive or force its dismount (volume detach). This application supports all standard hard drives and USB plug’n’play devices; additional parameters for the erasing process such as whether to delete unused clusters, metadata files area or free space within file clusters can also be set for greater control over its outcome.
This tool allows for simultaneous erase or wipe operations on multiple physical hard drives simultaneously (in multi-threaded mode). Once finished, initializing any erased disk(s) and shutting down your computer are options after completion; also included is saving a log and certificate of erasure/wipe in XML or PDF formats or sending log files directly to your mailbox for tracking purposes.
Erasing USB Disks
Your computer contains many personal and private files you don’t want falling into the wrong hands, yet accessing this data can be easily gained if someone knows how to bypass recovery software designed to recover deleted files and folders. With that in mind, Active KillDisk is an essential utility to use that can securely wipe your hard drives or partitions so information cannot be recovered in future.
This robust application can securely erase all information stored on hard disk drives, LU/RAID disk arrays and even USB flash and multimedia cards – including deleted and unused files – in just minutes. Compatible with multiple operating systems including UNIX, Linux and MacOS X and meeting United States Department of Defense standards for cleaning and sanitizing hard drives as well as international/industry standard erasure methods, it provides the ultimate peace of mind.
This portable software can be used on any PC running Windows as well as any laptop/notebook capable of booting into Microsoft DOS. Simply copy the self-extracting ZIP file onto a bootable USB/floppy drive/CD and boot your machine up. After booting up, DOS interactive screen mode or command line mode starts performing an erase operation while showing a progress bar displaying current status; any errors occur are shown as red text messages on screen.
Erasing Multiple Drives
Active KillDisk does not support simultaneously wiping multiple drives; however, the premium software does. It allows for all-or-none deletion of physical disks or multiple logical drives simultaneously; wipe entire hard drives/partitions; ensure data deletion; as well as wiping according to established Department of Defense standards in order to securely dispose of sensitive information.
The program operates in both DOS interactive mode and hands-off autoexecute mode, where DOS interactive requires selecting a drive and clicking its associated button before initiating an erasing/wiping process. If you wish to modify its parameters further, clicking more options… will open a settings box.
Once the process is completed, details about it will be displayed in the Session Log. If you would like to continue erasing data, simply press ESC again or click back onto the erase button.
Overall, this program is very user-friendly with an intuitive user interface. You can quickly view a list of all storage devices connected to your computer and select which ones you’d like to empty out by setting an amount and date limit for space wipe-out. Once done, it performs the task successfully to ensure that any deleted data cannot be recovered even using advanced file recovery software.