I recently got a new computer with a Dual Core processor, four gigabytes of RAM and a one terabyte hard-drive. I wiped the free space recently using the 35 passes algorythm, and it took three hours. Of course 1TB is a lot to overwrite, but the thing that bothered me was that CCleaner was only using 3% of the CPU and 33% of the RAM.

On the old computer it would use as much of the resources as it could. Is there any way I could make the program maximise its efficiency and capitalise on all of that free power? I'm hoping that could cut the time it takes significantly.

I'm running Windows 7 if it makes a difference.
Thanks in advance.

Hi Agr1ppa, and welcome to Piriform.

I'm always pleased when programs can run and do their thing using as little resource as possible, but each to their own of course.

You could speed the process up in spades by doing away with the 35 passes on a huge drive.

The relative merits of how effective this is compared to a single secure-delete overwrite have been the subject of much debate, and maybe this article will help deciding whether the idea is worth consideration.

http://www.h-online.com/security/news/item...-it-739699.html

But as I say, each to their own as this is just a "food for thought" suggestion, and the devs do take note of these posts.

The time it takes to wipe free space is largely determined by the write speed of the drive and has very little to do with CPU or RAM usage. Unless you have very little freespace on your drive, 3 hours for 35 passes doesn't sound right. 35 passes on any significant portion of a terabyte drive should take much longer.

35 passes took me 2 days using eraser. I'd be chuffed with 3 hours

I don't think that wipe free space takes any notice of the chosen deletion method, just gives you one pass of zeroes. I think you're spot on Glenn, the time is all down to write speed and not a lot to do with processor speed or usage.

I had heard about this, though when it comes to sensitive data I'd rather be doing too much as opposed to finding out that one overwrite isn't enough when somebody is dining out in Prague at my expense.

I'm quite pleased that the PC is still usable when running CCleaner, but if it was sacrificing overwrite speed by limiting how much power it used, I'd find that quite counter-productive.



I had a feeling that might be the case. I suppose I'll have to use a less complex algorythm for the big wipes.
It's about 800GB once you subtract the OS and backup partition. Haven't put a great deal of data on it yet, so I suppose I must either have a fast disk or the software isn't doing it properly.

"I had heard about this, though when it comes to sensitive data I'd rather be doing too much as opposed to finding out that one overwrite isn't enough when somebody is dining out in Prague at my expense."

There has been countles threads on this, but the general belief but most users here is that one over write is enough.

I have searched endlesly for evidence one pass has been recovered and i cant find any one claiming to do so.

I don't know why you would want CCleaner to use as much resources as it could. Its actually a lot better if it will use less RAM or less CPU usage cause that would mean you can run other programs and even games smoothly even if you are making a scan with CCleaner. I have Vista and 1GB RAM in it and dual core CPU and whenever there is a scan, much CPU usage and whenever there is an antivirus scan, my games will just be laggish because the scan will take up too much CPU usage. I think its better specially to other computers with less resources than yours.

I suppose I'll have to stop posting in invisible ink.

Sorry, I clicked reply before you posted about the wipe free space feature only performing one pass.
I turned the overwrite complexity down and it still took the same amount of time to do 1%, so you're right about that.

Thanks for the support guys.