Manual: ntfswipe

NTFSWIPE(8)				   System Manager's Manual				 NTFSWIPE(8)

NAME
       ntfswipe - overwrite unused space on an NTFS volume

SYNOPSIS
       ntfswipe [options] device

DESCRIPTION
       ntfswipe	 clears	 all  or part of unused space on an NTFS volume by overwriting with zeroes or random
       bytes.

OPTIONS
       Below is a summary of all the options that ntfswipe accepts.  Nearly all options have two  equivalent
       names.	The  short name is preceded by - and the long name is preceded by --.  Any single letter op‐
       tions, that don't take an argument, can be combined into a single command, e.g.	-fv is equivalent to
       -f -v.  Long named options can be abbreviated to any unique prefix of their name.

       -a, --all
	      Wipe all unused space. This may take significant time. If the option --unused-fast (or -U)  is
	      also present, the faster wiping method is used.

       -b, --bytes BYTE-LIST
	      Define  the  allowed replacement bytes which are drawn randomly to overwrite the unused space.
	      BYTE-LIST is a comma-separated list of values in range 0-255 expressed in	 octal,	 decimal  or
	      hexadecimal base.

       -c, --count NUM
	      Define  the number of times the unused space is to be overwritten. If both options --bytes and
	      --count are set, the space is repeatedly overwritten this number of times by each of the	val‐
	      ues in the list.

       -d, --directory
	      Wipe all the directory indexes, which may contain names of deleted files.

       -f, --force
	      This  will  override some sensible defaults, such as not using a mounted volume.	Use this op‐
	      tion with caution.

       -h, --help
	      Show a list of options with a brief description of each one.

       -i, --info
	      Display details about unused space, without wiping anything.

       -l, --logfile
	      Overwrite the logfile (update journal).

       -m, --mft
	      Overwrite the unused space in the MFT (main file table, which contains the file names, and the
	      contents of short files).

       -n, --no-action
	      Executes the wiping process without writing to device.

       -p, --pagefile
	      Overwrite the Windows swap space.

       -q, --quiet
	      Suppress some debug/warning/error messages.

       -s, --undel
	      Overwrite the space which had been allocated to a file which has been deleted recently and  is
	      still  undeletable.  This	 option is not compatible with --bytes and the replacement bytes are
	      random ones or taken from a standard list.

       -t, --tails
	      Overwrite the space at the end of files which is unused, but allocated because the allocations
	      are always done by full clusters.

       -u, --unused
	      Overwrite the space which is currently not allocated to any file (but may have  been  used  in
	      the past).

       -U, --unused-fast
	      Overwrite	 the space which is currently not allocated to any file, trying not to overwrite the
	      space not written to since the previous wiping.

       -v, --verbose
	      Display more debug/warning/error messages. This option may be used twice to display even	more
	      messages.

       -V, --version
	      Show the version number, copyright and license of ntfswipe.

EXAMPLES
       Wipe out all unused space in an NTFS volume.

	      ntfswipe -a /dev/sda1

       Wipe out all deleted file names from an NTFS volume.

	      ntfswipe -dms /dev/sda1

BUGS
       There  are  no  known  problems with ntfswipe.  If you find a bug please send an email describing the
       problem to the development team:
       ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net

AUTHORS
       ntfswipe was written by Richard Russon, Anton Altaparmakov and Yura  Pakhuchiy.	 It  was  ported  to
       ntfs-3g by Erik Larsson.

AVAILABILITY
       ntfswipe is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:
       https://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g/wiki/

SEE ALSO
       ntfs-3g(8), ntfsls(8), ntfsprogs(8)

ntfs-3g 2022.10.3				  June 2014					 NTFSWIPE(8)