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This is a list of utilities for performing data erasure.
Name | Developer | Licensing | Operating system required to run | Maintained? | Supported wipe methods | Reports |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BleachBit | Andrew Ziem and contributors | GNU General Public License | Windows, Linux | Yes | external[1] | on screen, Copy and Paste-able |
CCleaner | Piriform | Trialware | Windows, OS X | Yes | external[2] | ? |
Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) | Darik Horn | GNU General Public License | OS independent, based on Linux | No | external[3] | ? |
dd[4][5] | Same as host OS | Unix | Yes | external | not directly supported without scripting | |
Disk Utility | Apple | Commercial proprietary software | OS X | Yes | external[6] | ? |
Eraser | Heidi Computers Limited | GNU GPL v3 | Windows | Yes | external[7] | ? |
HDDerase | University of California, San Diego | Freeware | OS independent, based on DOS | No | internal[8] | ? |
hdparm | Mark Lord | BSD license | Linux | Yes | internal[9] | not directly supported without scripting |
nwipe | Martijn van Brummelen | GNU GPL v2 | Linux | Yes | external | Yes |
Parted_Magic | Patrick Verner, Parted Magic LLC | uses mostly GPL components with published source, a few proprietary components, and fee for media/download[10][11] | OS independent, based on Slackware Linux | Yes | internal, external[12] | CSV, TXT, and extended TXT[13] |
shred | GNU Project | GNU GPL v3 | Unix | Yes | external[14] | not directly supported without scripting |
ShredIt | Mireth Technology, Burningthumb Software | Trialware | Windows, OS X | Yes | ? | ? |
srm | Dirk Jagdmann | MIT License[15] | Unix | Yes | external | not directly supported without scripting |
Zeero | Proprietary software | Tru64 UNIX | No | ? | not directly supported without scripting |