Securely overwriting and delete files GUI? [Solved]

[Hillbilly H]

i have found overwriting GUIs for wiping whole drives but not targeted files.
Anyone have suggestions.
i know shred but im not good with command line.

 

[dos2unix]

Files are a lot more difficult than entire file systems.

Even shred isn't 100% safe. If I wipe out an entire filesystem, everything is gone.
Oh sure, I need to do multiple reads and writes 1's and 0's, etc... all that helps.

But if I erase a file, sure I can remove it off the disk, at least the place on the disk
where the primary file was. But certain programs like vim and nano cache stuff in memory.
You can reboot, and that will delete what was in RAM, but what about tmp files and cache files?

Then most of us use journaled file systems. EXT4 or XFS or BTRFS are popular, some of the data
you write to disk, also gets written to the journal. ( How do you think file recovery applications work? )

So I have to delete the file, the cache, the journal, any temp files, and whatever may still be in RAM.
Easier said than done. Very few programs do all of this for you at a file level.

 

[Hillbilly H]

Just to overwrite the files data on the HDD will work for me.

 

[osprey]

i have found overwriting GUIs for wiping whole drives but not targeted files.
Anyone have suggestions.
i know shred but im not good with command line.

Are you after a just a GUI solution, or would you accept a command line solution?

 

[dos2unix]

I use srm ( secure remove ). It's about the same as shred.

To delete a file normally...
rm mysecret.file

To delete with shred...
shred mysecret.file

To delete with srm...
srm mysecret.file

I guess one advantage to srm... two less letters to type vs shred.

 

[wizardfromoz]

You on Cinnamon, MATE or Xfce, Hillbilly? (worth putting in 1st line of signature)

I have an idea or two, but have to sign off for my evening.

Wiz

 

[Hillbilly H]

Are you after a just a GUI solution, or would you accept a command line solution?

A GUI solution would be best.

You on Cinnamon, MATE or Xfce, Hillbilly?

My apology. (cinnamon)

Edited (TMI)

 

[Lord Boltar]

Have a look at BleachBit - https://www.bleachbit.org/download/linux

I use it all the time to clean cache files and shred files or folders - just ask Hillary Clinton is what was used to wipe her email servers back in 2016 - LOL - https://www.bleachbit.org/news/bleachbit-stifles-investigation-hillary-clinton

 

[Hillbilly H]

i found a old 200gb hdd i can add as a second drive to the computer.
That way i can overwrite the whole drive with mediatester.

 

[KGIII]

Have a look at BleachBit - https://www.bleachbit.org/download/linux

I use it all the time to clean cache files and shred files or folders - just ask Hillary Clinton is what was used to wipe her email servers back in 2016 - LOL - https://www.bleachbit.org/news/bleachbit-stifles-investigation-hillary-clinton

If you're really adventurous, you can *probably* add "Shred" (using BleachBit) to your right click menu.

[Solved] How to edit cinnamon panel context menu - Linux Mint Forums

Then you only need to get the command right once. You'd be mashing that information at that link with the information on this link:

Delete Files Securely In Nautilus [ Linux ]

When you delete a file, you are not really deleting it from your had drive. All the system does if free up the space occupied by that file t...

www.webupd8.org

If you smash those two things together, you might be able to 'shred' right from the right-click menu.

 

[CrazedNerd]

GUI is the least secure way to delete a file on seemingly every operating system, because it normally just goes into the recycle bin. The file was not deleted in any sense of the word.

There are a lot of utilities for garbling data, i would bet you that if you zeroed out a hardrive, garbled the data (randomizing the drive by writing hexadecimal characters to the drive), and then zeroed it out again, not even the government would be able to recover it. I'm curious about what you mean by a "secure" way to delete files. If you use the "rm" command (not GUI), or clicked "empty recycle bin", then overtime the data will not be recoverable if you keep writing stuff to the drive.

I asked a similar question like this a long time ago, but things gotta be deleted to keep this forum secure and interesting soooo...

 

[Hillbilly H]

ill try to explain what im looking for. Back around 2001 i had a program on my "win me" computer to overwrite files buy 1, right clicking on the file. 2, click on the program. A GUI would pop up giving you a choice to overwrite 1-9999 times.
LOL No i dont remember the name of the program.

 

[forester]

ill try to explain what im looking for. Back around 2001 i had a program on my "win me" computer to overwrite files buy 1, right clicking on the file. 2, click on the program. A GUI would pop up giving you a choice to overwrite 1-9999 times.
LOL No i dont remember the name of the program.

Kremlin?

 

[CrazedNerd]

ill try to explain what im looking for. Back around 2001 i had a program on my "win me" computer to overwrite files buy 1, right clicking on the file. 2, click on the program. A GUI would pop up giving you a choice to overwrite 1-9999 times.
LOL No i dont remember the name of the program.

LOL, best to just use "srm" if you have a machine with linux installed then That is quite a neat/wierd program though...kinda surprising that the security community now adays doesn't have some open-source version of something that just performas that "simple" task.

 

[Lord Boltar]

There is a Gnome Script file here - https://www.gnome-look.org/p/1007571
Adds right click function to Shred File but it is for Nautilus

 

[wizardfromoz]

That's 12 years old, your lordship.

Nowadays you can install Nautilus from Terminal or from Synaptic Package Manager, and once installed, from either you can install

nautilus-wipe

Restart your Nautilus if it is open, and then -right-click your file or folder and choose

wipe

BUT

And we all know Wizard's butt is seldom far behind him.

1. If you install Nautilus, do not wipe your Nemo, you will brick your desktop.
2. There is an easy method for both Nemo in Cinnamon and Caja in MATE

It involves just adding a PPA, as follows

 sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kelebek333/tools
 sudo apt update
 sudo apt install nemo-wipe

Restart your NEMO if it is open, and then -right-click your file or folder and choose

wipe

Incidentally, MATE users can do the same with that PPA, and just install caja-wipe for its FM (file manager).

Wiz

IMPORTANT - Make sure you take a Timeshift snapshot before adding PPAs (personal package archives), and your choice before wiping files and folders. And use the Comments field to identify what you are doing for easy recognition later.

 

[LorenDB]

There is a file shredder Flatpak that I use: https://flathub.org/apps/details/com.github.ADBeveridge.Raider

 

[Lord Boltar]

That's 12 years old, your lordship.

Yep I know but a little tweaking -

Extract the script, then set executable like this:
tar zxvf ./shred_file.tar.gz
sudo chmod +x ./shred_file/shred_file

To run the script is easy:

shred_file shredmyfile

where "shredmyfile" is the file you wish to shred.

 

[wizardfromoz]

I was tired last night, when I was writing #16 and made an error near the bottom, I have edited it to read

Restart your NEMO if it is open, and then -right-click your file or folder and choose

wipe

That is the part that directly relates to the OP in his current situation.

Cheers

Wiz

 

[Hillbilly H]

.. Thank you all and God bless!..
Nautilus-wipe will work good!