List of data-erasing software explained

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		Windows, Linux		external[1]
CCleaner	Piriform		Windows, OS X		external[2]
Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN)	Darik Horn		OS independent, based on Linux		external[3]
dd[4] [5]			Unix		external
Disk Utility	Apple		OS X		external[6]
Eraser	Heidi Computers Limited		Windows		external[7]
HDDerase	University of California, San Diego		OS independent, based on DOS		internal[8]
hdparm	Mark Lord		Linux		internal[9]
nwipe	Martijn van Brummelen		Linux		external
Parted_Magic	Patrick Verner, Parted Magic LLC		OS independent, based on Slackware Linux		internal, external[10]	[11]
shred	GNU Project		Unix		external[12]
ShredIt	Mireth Technology, Burningthumb Software		Windows, OS X
srm	Dirk Jagdmann	[13]	Unix		external
Zeero			Tru64 UNIX

See also

• List of data recovery software

Notes and References

1. Web site: BleachBit Features. 3 April 2016.
2. Web site: CCleaner Features. 3 April 2016.
3. Web site: DBAN / Blancco Feature Comparison. 3 April 2016. https://web.archive.org/web/20160402111146/http://www.dban.org/download. 2 April 2016. dead.
4. Web site: Elliot. Duncan. Using "dd" and "urandom" to write random data to a disk. Duncan Elliot's blog. IBM. 17 March 2014. 11 November 2009.
5. Web site: Hodgetts. Benjamin. Securely Wiping (Zero Writing) a Drive. Robot Butler. 17 March 2014. 4 December 2010.
6. Web site: OS X: About Disk Utility's erase free space feature. 3 April 2016.
7. Web site: Appendix A: Erasure Methods. 31 January 2019.
8. Web site: HDDErase Readme. 3 April 2016.
9. Web site: kernel.org ATA wiki. 3 April 2016.
10. Web site: Parted Magic Secure Erase. Parted Magic web site. 3 April 2016.
11. Web site: Parted Magic Secure Erase. Parted Magic web site. 3 April 2016.
12. Web site: shred invocation. 3 April 2016.
13. Web site: secure rm. SourceForge. Dice Holdings. 31 January 2014.