"
Erase file" (file wipe) function in
"File tools"
submenu (in main menu and create archive context menu) is intended for
secure file deletion (
file shredding /
purging / sanitizing).
Through Pea executable it accepts multiple files (not directories) as
input and provides multiple overwriting of file data with random data
stream (AES256 CTR) forcing flush to disk each time, then replacement
of content with randomly sized random data to fake file size, and
multiple renaming of the file with random string.
Please use it carefully since wiped data will reasonably be not
recoverable with known means.
Anyway please note that secure file deletion doesn’t overcome any known
risk of data leakage, since may exist copies of the data as temporary
files saved by application that accessed the file, or as not securely
deleted older version of the file, or cached by the system: wiping a
file cannot affect that data, which can be recovered with software
utilities or specific hardware probes.
Moreover,
flash
based storage usually re-allocates sectors for writing
transparently for the software, in order to reduce unit’s wear since
flash units have a shorter lifespan in terms of writes; this doesn’t
allow to efficiently physically overwrite original content, reducing
the efficiency of file wiping.
In those cases only wiping the whole disk would be effective, but this
can be very time consuming and, for flash based disks, it will lead to
fast wear and reduced lifespan of devices (disk wipe is currently not
implemented PeaZip’s file wipe procedure).
