Yes, it is. PC Professionell, a leading German computer magazine, was impressed with SafeErase's data destroying capabilities. They carried out a test with file recovery software and were of course unable to restore any data that had been deleted with SafeErase. You can delete data from any medium. The only requirement is that you have local access to the files and folder. It isn't possible to delete files from a network drive. O&O SafeErase draws upon a wealth of scientific knowledge to provide the most secure methods of file deletion. Our medium security level is based on the recommendations of the BSI (German Computer Security Agency), our high level on the standards of the US National Security Agency, and our highest level on the work of scientist Peter Gutmann's article "Secure Deletion of Data from Magnetic and Solid-State Memory". Our highest level, which is set by default, thereby exceeds the recommendation of the German and US governments. For more details about the individual methods, see the answer to 4. below.

Technical questions

No, you can't! No software for data recovery, not even O&O UnErase, can get back data that have been destroyed with O&O SafeErase. You should therefore be completely sure you want to delete your file! This isn't enough to completely prevent data from being restored. Formatting your hard disk simply deletes the "table of contents" from your hard disk. The data can be restored relatively easily. Overwriting your files once does indeed prevent anyone from restoring them by software methods. However, when data are written to your hard disk, the area directly adjacent will also be systematically magnetized. There are ways of interpreting this pattern and restoring data, even if the actual file has been overwritten. Restoring data that have been overwritten once or even three times is very expensive, but not completely impossible! All of the O&O SafeErase methods provide a means of secure data deletion. Each overwrite data several times, making it impossible for unauthorized persons to get their hands on private or internal company data. As described above, there are both software and hardware methods of data recovery. Software methods fail where data has been completely and deliberately overwritten. The different methods follow official recommendations of institutions as the US National Security Agency (NSA). However, hardware methods are extremely advanced and can even gain data from hard disks that have been seriously physically damaged (e.g. after bomb blasts). The level you choose is dependent on your assessment of the importance of the data and the time you have available. The higher security the method, the longer the process will take.

The lowest security level overwrites your data once with random data. What we've called "low security" overwrites your data with a pre-defined value three times, then with its complement, then with a random value. The medium level of security corresponds to one used and recommended by the BSI (German Computer Security Agency). The data is overwritten three times, each with a random value. High security involves the use of an algorithm developed by the US National Security Agency. Here, the algorithm is used to overwrite your data three times. Then, an overwrite with random values takes place, before a final sweep with the NSA algorithm. Our highest level of security exceeds both the BSI and NSA recommendations. Data are overwritten 35 times, all by predefined rules. For added security, these are applied in a random order. For a more detailed description of the levels, you can refer to our Users' Guide That depends on your chosen deletion method as well as the speed of your hard disk and processor. As a rule of thumb, bear in mind that simple overwriting (i.e. "Lowest Security") will take the same amount of time as writing the file to the same partition. Deleting with "Highest Security" will take around 35 times as long. If you have any further questions, please contact our support team. Just send an email to: support@apposite.com.hk