O&O Safe Erase 4

When it comes to getting rid of something forever, Windows does its best to let users change their minds.

Dropping a file into the Recycle Bin for example, doesn’t delete it at all – anyone can subsequently open the bin and restore it.

Even emptying the bin doesn’t actually delete the file because Windows only removes the directory entry – a bit like tearing up an index card but leaving the book still sitting on the library shelf. Hence the need for Safe Erase, which can be used to permanently remove files, folders and partitions, as well as entire hard disks.

As befits such a one-way street, Safe Erase makes it hard to delete things by mistake, so the procedure typically goes like this: decide what to delete, click Apply, choose Simulate to see what will happen, and then finally click Delete Now to do the deed. Once users become more familiar with Safe Erase they can also right-click on files and folders in Windows and choose ‘Securely Delete’ from the pop-up menu.

There are six different deletion methods to choose from, going up to 'highest security' which goes through a set of 35 cycles of deletion, executed in random order. The makers stress that whichever method you choose, there’s no way to get the data back. Certainly when we tried to retrieve deleted files using freely available recovery programs we didn’t get close.

This of course makes Safe Erase good for deleting everything from a PC before selling it second-hand (or even before taking it to be recycled) and is a lot easier than taking the machine apart and physically removing the hard disk. It’s also good for a deep clean before re-installing Windows to make sure you get rid of all the old data.

The help file was quite poor, and included lots of German words in the index but overall the software’s about as friendly as this kind of thing gets and, in our experience, very effective.

Safe Erase is inexpensive and a good choice for anyone who wants to erase files, folders, partitions and disks so they’re gone for good.