Drive Discovery Frequently Asked Questions Is Drive Discovery safe
to use?
Totally. At one level you would expect us to say that, so let us tell you why. Essentially, Drive Discovery deletes files with some operations and writes files with others – or clever combinations of these things. Whenever we perform any of these operations we do this through the operating system rather than underneath it or in defiance of it. Other operations have been extensively and exhaustively tested, and have fail-safes built in.
All hard drives contain moving parts so inevitably they fail from time to time through age, or wear. There are many software packages which perform intensive write / re-write operations and Drive Discovery is one of them, particularly when cleaning. Healthy drives take these sort of operations in their stride, but if the drive is starting to fail then there's a fair chance it'll fail when (or soon after) using a product like Drive Discovery. Not using Drive Discovery will not prevent a drive from failing, it'll still fail at some point days or perhaps weeks later. That's why back-ups of valuable data is important – a lesson almost all computer users are fated to learn sooner or later. Signs of impending drive failure are corrupted files and (or) an inability to launch applications that have previously been available to you. In this instance, do not run Drive Discovery, you'll just make a bad situation worse and possibly trash your drive; instead get everything backed up securely and check / consider replacing your drive. However tempting it may be, please do not blame Drive Discovery. Occasionally drive failures happen and it's governed by fate rather than us!
The software cleans the hard drive by overwriting the free space on the disk, and this means filling it up with data as many times as you select by using the wipe control. This process is called 'overwriting'. Drive Discovery is thorough; we fill every available scrap of space, even space in the Master File Table (when it speeds up again due to the location of the MFT on the drive). This means we're continually calculating the optimum size of data writes to fill the remaining space rather than trying to perform them within a specific time. If you notice some slowing down it's because we're filling every nook and cranny with smaller and smaller data writes. Be reassured by this, many other drive cleaning utilities don't bother! In any event, Drive Discovery tests out as one of the fastest drive cleaning tools available.
Because Windows does. Small files can be more efficiently stored by the operating system within the file table itself, and just as normal file deletion doesn't actually erase the data, so it is with files stored within the MFT that are subsequently deleted. Drive Discovery overwrites all empty MFT records to ensure all traces of deleted files are erased from here as well.
Not a lot for most processes. The exception is drive cleaning because we're engaged in the process of filling up the drive with data, either zero's, one's or random, all contained in files we create for that purpose. A power failure could leave the user with a drive full or partially filled with these temporary files. However, whenever Drive Discovery loads, the very first thing it does is check for the existence of files created for this purpose, and if it finds any, they're immediately removed before reporting to the user that the process wasn't properly concluded so that you can run it again if you wish. It's another good reason to have Drive Discovery load on start-up.
Firstly because anything you wipe with Drive Discovery is gone forever with no chance at all of recovering it, and secondly because people can press buttons by mistake. We only want to help you eradicate those files you intend to eradicate, hence all the red flashing and warning notices.
A user may decide that 3 or more overwrite passes are what he or she requires. They may decide this because they're aware that residual magnetic resonance data traces can still be recovered from underneath existing files using error cancelling technology. But it's worth noting that some deleted files may still only get overwritten the once. This can happen when files which are created and deleted (including temporary files that may have been written by applications) are overwritten by a new file before the next free space cleaning operation is run. Subsequently cleaning the free space wouldn't touch those files or address the fact that any data previously stored there was only overwritten the once by the new file occupying that space. Drive Discovery's “Deep-Clean” operation addresses this by rewriting all newly created (or subsequently modified) files and rewriting them to parts of the drive that have been been sterilised by our free space cleaning operation. At the same time as doing this we defragment them to deliver improved performance then wipe the original traces as many times as the user selects to deliver the best possible security.
Because more data writes to the drive are necessary. But at the end of it, when used in conjunction with the other cleaning operations, no deleted but recoverable data whatsover is present on the drive, no matter what clever technology is applied, and that's particularly important for those who may work with highly sensitive or valuable data. If the US Department of Defence recommends 7 wipe passes to totally eradicate all deleted file traces, then cleaning the free space with 7 wipes but not “Deep-Cleaning” underneath newly written files is a bit like having a house that needs a good cleaning, but then only doing the bits you can see, mistakenly thinking the dust and dirt underneath the furniture doesn't count. In recognition that files only need to be “Deep-Cleaned” the once, Drive Discovery remembers which files have been thus cleaned and which ones haven't, so it only takes a while the very first time it's run; thereafter it only “Deep-Cleans” files which have been written or modified since the last time the process was run – and it does that independantly for each individual drive.
Put yourself in our shoes. If we didn't include it, you can just bet loads of people would ask for it! Strictly speaking it's unecessary except where perhaps someone had inadvertantly cleaned up their drive with fewer wipe passes than they'd ideally like, and want to do it again as a result. It's there if it's wanted.
You can’t get low-level access to any drive not physically connected to the computer, and you need to install Drive Discovery on any individual machine you intend to analyze or clean, even across a network. Conversely, that also means if someone else is running Drive Discovery on a network connected computer, you need have no fear that they can view your deleted data, potentially violating your privacy.
We follow the industry standard convention of defining a version with the first character i.e. version 1, 2, 3 etc... Updates (point releases) and support within each version are completely free of charge although we need to reserve the right to apply a charge from one version to the next. Each version will contain significant changes and new features, and these cost money to develop for our users. However, our approach is to be discretionary about charging and version 1 to version 2 upgrades (for example) were free of charge. If we feel we need to apply an upgrade charge, please be assured we will always reflect a significant discount for existing users to reflect your loyalty and investment to date, and there will never be any obligation to upgrade from one version to the next.
You're running an older version and the answer is to update to v2.34 or later. This was a rare issue and arose because our software, in common with many others, uses non-scalable bitmapping in places. Microsoft includes an option to alter the dpi resolution to assist those with poor eyesight. Very few users alter their dpi setting from the standard 96 dpi, even though many may use diverse screen display sizes. Nonetheless, we've coded for it and if your computer displays these characteristics just download the latest version and you'll be fine.
Amazingly we had this 'complaint'! Our reply was as follows.... Motor vehicles are often used in crime, but that is hardly a good enough reason to object to their sale. Any individual's right to privacy and security on their own computer must take precedence over the objections of others that software used for this purpose could also be used to destroy pornography. Anyway, if you find pornography objectionable, don't you think that anyone who downloads something they shouldn't have or didn't intend to, can at least eradicate all traces of it? ...... We received no response.
Hey, we're computer users too and we know where you're coming from. If you're a private user with a couple of computers, go right ahead. It may not strictly say that in our license but if our accountant threatens to bill you for another copy, just quote this FAQ to her. If on the other hand you work for IBM.... don't be silly, of course you can't! All we ask is that you respect us in turn by keeping your personal license code private.
You've either downloaded from a site which is distributing a version with injected code added by a third party, or your software has been modified post-installation by a trojan / virus. This is potentially dangerous for you, and because we take customer security very seriously indeed, we run internal checks within the software to make sure it hasn't been infected with rogue third party code. If it has, we close down our software before it can do you any harm and prompt you to download a clean installation from our servers. If you didn't find the answer you were looking for in the FAQ, please use the contact form below when a member of the technical team will promptly address your enquiry. This service is provided free of charge and assists us with valuable customer feedback.
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