Hardwipe 5.1.3

Overview

Hardwipe is a secure data erasing package that takes its job seriously. There is a desktop version for Windows and a boot version that cooperates nicely with Windows PE which can be useful when wanting to overwrite a system before re-installing Windows or other software.

The GUI can be used to take data sanitation actions or the command line can be used to perform similar actions for users who prefer to run commands this way.

The Hardwipe secure data wiping can be initiated from the Windows Explorer through a shell extension. This adds a menu item to the right-clicked context menu which can initiate a wipe of a highlighted file or files.

Internal hard drives, external hard drives, USB flash drives, memory cards and other storage media can see their data overwritten to securely delete it.

The software can overwrite data many times over in order to ensure that a data retrieval software utility cannot recover the data later. This includes well known data protection protocols like GOST R 50739-95, DOD 5220.22-M, Schneier and Gutmann.

Installation

The installation proceeded without any difficulty. There was no malware present.

Hardwipe works with any modern Windows OS, plus Windows PE for boot-time sanitation.

Interface

The interface is a dull gray color with Hardwipe, Tools and Help as the three menu options at the top. There are some icon commands in the left sidebar for File data, Devices, Volumes, Free space, Recyclers, and Page file.

While the layout is a bit boring, it is also quite functional and actions like wiping do get splashes of green along the progress bar to liven things up a little bit. When a wiping procedure has been completed then a green tick appears.

The log files that are generated and can show on the screen are very clear about what actions have been taken on the user's behalf. These can be saved for later reference.

Pros

• Securely erase files
• Right-click in Windows Explorer to bring up Hardwipe options
• Supports strong, multiple iteration overwriting protocols including GOST R 50739-95, DOD 5220.22-M, Schneier and Gutmann
• Erase the Windows Pagefile
• Wipe the contents of the Recycle Bin

Cons

• None.

Conclusion

Hardwipe is a quality, secure data overwriting tool that can be used to ensure that deleted files stay deleted forever. It will overwrite files data with nonsense values a number of times to ensure that the files cannot be recovered by data recovery software.