I have some photos on my hard drive that I want to remove permanently so they cannot be recovered with file-recovery software. Simply deleting them does not seem sufficient, but I still need to keep other files on the drive. Is there a way to securely erase only those photos, or at least make them unrecoverable?
3 Answers
If the entire drive can be discarded, a full wipe or physical destruction is the simplest approach. But that is unnecessary when you need to preserve other data. Encrypting the drive and destroying the encryption key protects the whole drive, not just a few selected photos.
Also check for other copies first. Turn off synchronization temporarily, then remove the photos from cloud storage, backup software, network storage, recycle bins, and any other devices that may have received them. Otherwise, deleting the local copy may not remove every copy.
If you need to keep the rest of the drive, use a reputable secure-file deletion tool rather than wiping the entire disk. It can overwrite the space used by the selected files, although the exact result depends on whether the drive is an HDD or SSD. For an SSD, secure erase or the manufacturer’s sanitize tool is generally more appropriate because wear leveling can leave old data in inaccessible areas.
That helps. I specifically need to remove the photos while keeping the other files, so I’ll look for a tool that supports secure deletion of selected files.