The main objective is to completely remove the content of a text file from HDD or SSD, without drive formatting and overwriting, and be completely sure that it cannot be recovered. The file can remain on the disk, just its original content should be permanently removed. OS: Windows. Admin rights: NO (executable cannot be run).
If I only delete my_text.txt
file, someone else will be able to recover the file and it's data using certain file recovery software. What is the best way to remove such a file without using any of the tools?
I came up with one solution, but I am not sure, if it does the job.
Possible solution which I got after reading this question and encryption not being an option:
Let us assume that the my_text.txt
file size is 40960 bytes. The original file should be opened in the text editor, where an alternate (meaningless) text of bigger size (45056 bytes) should be pasted over the selected old text. The file should be saved after this.
QUESTION: Will this solution permanently overwrite the original content of the file on disk? I suppose so, because the header and pointer of the file were not modified, just the data in its container was overwritten.