WipeFreeSpace

Contents:

• Description
• WipeFreeSpace GUI
• Screenshots
• Download
• Building the software
• System compatibility
• Reporting issues
• My projects on SourceForge
• My other software
• Contact information
• Page information

Description

WipeFreeSpace is a program which will securely wipe (clean, shred, fill, overwrite) the free space on the following filesystem types:

• ext2, ext3, ext4
• NTFS
• XFS
• ReiserFSv3, ReiserFSv4
• FAT12, FAT16, FAT32
• MinixFSv1, MinixFSv2
• JFS
• HFS+
• OCFS

located in a file, on a partition or drive, just like the shred program securely wipes files.

This allows protecting the user's privacy when e.g. selling the drive or the whole computer.

Normally, when you delete a file, only the information about where the file was is deleted, the file contents stays on the drive. If there's no writing to that area, the file can physically stay on the drive for a long time. The file contents can be found by e.g. dumping the whole drive with the dd program to a file and looking at the generated image. This may seem not so dangerous, but if you delete confidential information (files with passwords, credit card numbers, encryption keys), any person with physical access to the drive can read that information and use it against you.

Sometimes you may delete confidential data the normal way by accident (or have no other choice, because programs like Internet browsers, mail clients, chat clients delete data the normal way). In such case normally you would have to shred the whole partition, which may be a big problem. This is where WipeFreeSpace comes in. This program works in a similar way to the shred program, but instead of shredding regular files, it overwrites (just like shred) the free space on a partition, without doing any harm to existing files.

WipeFreeSpace wipes the following things (when supported by the backing library):

• free space (space in unused blocks/clusters)
• free space in partially used blocks (also called the "slack space")
• deleted files' names and other data that can be used to undelete a file (like the journal)

WipeFreeSpace does NOT decrease the amount of available free space when working.

The most up-to-date documentation can be found in the package itself, a generated copy is available here, in the docs directory.

Documentation is also available on the WipeFreeSpace wiki.

Currently, WipeFreeSpace does the following actions on supported filesystems (note that "free space in partially used blocks" is sometimes called "slack space"):

1. Ext2/3/4 (native, working libraries from e2fsprogs / libext2fs):
   • wiping the free space
   • wiping free space in partially used blocks (NOTE: may print errors on sparse files and other exotic objects)
   • wiping deleted files' data (part of free space or partially used blocks), wiping deleted files' names and setting deleted files' names' lengths once to zero
   • wiping the journal
   
   
2. NTFS (libntfs / ntfs-3g: not official - not written by the filesystem's creators, written without any specifications)
   • wiping the free space
   • wiping free space in partially used blocks (in files exceeding i-node size)
   • wiping deleted files' names, deleted files' names' lengths (wiping, not zeroing once), wiping deleted files' data (part of free space or partially used blocks)
   • wiping the journal
   
   
3. XFS (only supported by executing xfs_db from xfsprogs, because I haven't found any usable development library):
   • wiping the free space
   • wiping deleted files' data (part of free space or partially used blocks)
   • wiping free space in partially used blocks
   
   
4. ReiserFSv3 (using the library from reiserfsprogs, but that library is not a part of any official development package):
   • wiping the free space
   • wiping free space in partially used blocks, but only if the block has just 1 item
   • wiping deleted files' names
   • wiping deleted files' data (part of free space or partially used blocks)
   • wiping the journal
   
   
5. ReiserFSv4 (using the library from reiser4progs-devel):
   • wiping the free space
   • wiping deleted files' data (part of free space)
   • wiping the journal
   
   
6. FAT12/16/32 (using the library from tffs-lib):
   • wiping the free space
   • wiping free space in partially used blocks (NOTE: may crash on sparse files and other exotic objects)
   • wiping deleted files' names (at least the short ones)
   • wiping deleted files' data (part of free space or partially used blocks)

   NOTE: the original tffs library does its own data flushing (in the HAI_writesector() function), so even when WipeFreeSpace is told to perform just one wiping iteration (which uses the system/drive cache on other filesystems and doesn't flush the data immediately), the data is flushed after each sector, which makes FAT12/16/32 wiping really slow.

   NOTE: filesystems with object names of length 64 or more may cause problems with traversal and thus may not be fully wiped (if a file can't be opened, its last block can't be wiped, if a directory can't be opened, objects inside it can't be wiped).

7. MinixFS (using the mfstool program as a library):
   • wiping the free space
   • wiping free space in partially used blocks
   • wiping deleted files' names
   • wiping deleted files' data (part of free space or partially used blocks)
   
   
8. JFS (using the library from jfsuitls):
   • wiping the free space
   • wiping the journal (log)
   • wiping deleted files' data (part of free space)
   
   
9. HFS+ (using the library from hfsplus):
   • wiping the free space
   • wiping free space in partially used blocks
   • wiping deleted files' data (part of free space or partially used blocks)
   
   
10. OCFS (using the library from ocfs2-tools):
    • wiping the free space
    • wiping free space in partially used blocks
    • wiping deleted files' names (if the library works)
    • wiping deleted files' data (part of free space or partially used blocks)
    • wiping the journal (log)

NOTE: WipeFreeSpace tries to wipe partially used blocks only in regular files on the filesystem. It may print errors (short reads) or crash on sparse files and other exotic objects. Printing an error is normal in such case. WipeFreeSpace may also print an error if there were no objects suitable for wiping - this also is a normal situation meant to inform the user.

WipeFreeSpace has been added to Softpedia Linux.

WipeFreeSpace has been added to GearDownload.com and has been certified 100% FREE
Visit GearDownload.com

WipeFreeSpace has been added to GraphicsFamily.com and has received the "Best Software Award"

THE PROGRAM HAS BEEN TESTED, BUT IT MAY NOW OR LATER CONTAIN ERRORS, WHICH MAY LEAD TO DATA LOSS. ALWAYS BACKUP YOUR DATA BEFORE USING THIS PROGRAM. READ THE LICENSE FOR A WARRANTY (THERE IS NONE).

WipeFreeSpace GUI

WipeFreeSpace also has a new GUI written in Java, available for download together with the program itself, at SourceForge WipeFreeSpaceGUI2 downloads.

Screenshots of WipeFreeSpace

Screenshots are available on the SourceForge project page.

Download WipeFreeSpace

Current version is 3.0.




Current GUI version is 1.0.




Download these at SourceForge.

(free badge provided by Shields.io)

WipeFreeSpace release file feed

RPM dependencies:

• libc.so.6 (glibc >= 2.34)
• libcom_err.so.2 (usually from a "e2fsprogs" / "libext2fs-devel" package)
• libext2fs.so.2 (usually from a "e2fsprogs" / "libext2fs-devel" package)
• libcap.so.2
• libntfs-3g.so.885 (ntfsprogs / ntfs-3g_ntfsprogs / libntfs-3g-devel package)
• libuuid.so.1 (UUID_1.0) (e2fsprogs / e2fsprogs-libs / libuuid-devel)
• libaal-1.0.so.5 (libaal)
• libreiser4-1.0.so.7 (reiser4progs / libreiser4progs)
• xfsprogs
• libhfsp.so.0

Building the software

The most up-to-date instructions can be found in the package itself, a generated copy is available here, in the docs directory.

Requirements for compiling the full version:

• a working C compiler. XFS, ReiserFS and NTFS support require the 'long long' data type.
  
  
• the make program
  
  
• development package for the C library (like glibc-devel and glibc-headers).
  XFS support reuires the following headers: unistd.h, fcntl.h, mntent.h (but sys/wait.h, sched.h and paths.h can be useful, too) and the following functions: fork(), execvp(), dup2(), close(), pipe() and one of waitpid(), wait() or kill() (sleep() can be useful, too). Both ReiserFS require mntent.h to work (but will compile without it).
  
  
• Ext2/3/4: development package for the ext2 file system library, libext2fs (usually included in something like e2fsprogs-devel). If you don't have anything like this installed or available (check twice), then go to e2fsprogs.sf.net. Then compile and install that package. Ext4 support requires new enough versions, like 1.41.
  
  
• NTFS: the development package for the NTFS file system library, ntfs3g-ntfsprogs. If you don't have anything like this installed or available (check twice), then go to www.tuxera.com/community/ntfs-3g-download/. Then compile and install that package. You can also use libntfs (usually included in something like ntfsprogs-devel).
  
  
• XFS: xfsprogs installed and in your PATH variable, if you want XFS support. Get these at kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/fs/xfs/xfsprogs/ (previous address: http://oss.sgi.com/projects/xfs/).
  The following utilities should be available: xfs_db, xfs_freeze, xfs_unfreeze. The xfs_db program should support the following command-line options: -i, -c and the following interactive mode commands: quit, freesp -d, blockget -n, ncheck, sb 0, print. Version 2.7.11 is enough, earlier versions will probably also work.
  
  
• ReiserFSv3: development package for reiserfsprogs (header files and compiled static *.a libraries from the package). ReiserFS requires the fork() function (unistd.h) and one of the waitpid(), wait() functions (sys/wait.h), the mntent.h header file (with at least one of its functions - getmntent() or getmntent_r()).
  
  If you're having trouble compiling, try to apply the patch first:

  	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/reiser-3.6.XX-compile-fix.diff

  See below for other patches that may be necessary.
  
  
• Reiser4: development package for reiser4progs, libuuid (e2fsprogs or e2fsprogs-libs) and libaal. Go to www.kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/fs/reiser4/ and e2fsprogs.sf.net to get the libraries. After installing, libmisc.a needs to be copied in the same place as libreiser4.a, but under a different name - libreiser4misc.a:

  	cp libmisc/.libs/libmisc.a /usr/lib/libreiser4misc.a

  Libmisc.a is in reiser4progs, of course. Nobody thought it would be needed, but libreiser4.a is useless without it. Substitute the correct destination path for your system in the above command.
  
  
• FAT12/16/32: tffs-lib, the Tiny FAT FS library. Go to github.com/likema/tffs-lib (former address: code.google.com/p/tffs-lib) to get the library. After compiling, install the library and ALL its header files *.h (including the private ones, from the src directory).
  To make WipeFreeSpace work faster, apply the patch that removes synchronising the filesystem from TFFS (WipeFreeSpace does its own synchronising):

  	patch -F10 -p0 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/tffs-speed.diff

  If you experience crashes (especially on x64), you may try to apply more patches:

  	patch -F10 -p0 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/tffs-free-fix.diff

  	patch -F10 -p0 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/tffs-overflow-fix.diff

  	patch -F10 -p0 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/tffs-fat-eof-fix.diff

  	patch -F10 -p0 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/tffs-dir-fix.diff

• MinixFS: "mfstool", the MinixFS tool. Go to mfstool.sf.net to get this program. Before compiling, perform:

  	sed -i 's/opt_squash/0/g' `ls *.c | egrep -v main`

  then compile the program (./configure && make), then perform

  	ar surf libminixfs.a `ls *.o | egrep -v main`

  Then copy the files libminixfs.a, minix_fs.h and protos.h to a directory where the C compiler can find them (or put the correct -I and -L options in the compiler flags). You can use the provided patches to do this instead of the sed command:

  	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/mfstool-0.5.diff

• JFS: jfsutils and libuuid (the <uuid/uuid.h> header file). Go to jfs.sf.net to get jfsutils. Libuuid can be a part of "util-linux-ng", which can be found on the kernel site: kernel.org/pub/linux/utils/util-linux/ or as a part of e2fsprogs available at e2fsprogs.sf.net.
  Compile jfsutils, then copy all the jfs_*.h header files from the "include" subdirectory and the libfs.a file to a directory where the C compiler can find them (or put the correct -I and -L options in the compiler flags).
  If you're having trouble compiling, try to apply the patch first:

  	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/jfsutils-1.1.11-compile-fix.diff

• HFS+: the "hfsplus" package. Go to launchpad.net/ubuntu/+archive/primary/+files/hfsplus_1.0.4.orig.tar.gz to get it. Before compiling, apply the patch:

  	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/hfsplus-1.0.4.diff

  After compiling, install all the libraries and ALL the *.h header files from the libhfsp/src/ directory where the C compiler can find them (or put the correct -I and -L options in the compiler flags).
  
  
• OCFS: the "ocfs2-tools" series 1.6.x package (other versions also work, but disable wiping undelete data in such case). Go to http://oss.oracle.com/projects/ocfs2-tools/ to get it. Then compile and install that package.
  If you're having trouble compiling, try to apply the patch first:

  	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/ocfs2-tools-1.6.4-compile-fix.diff

  
  

WARNING: If both ReiserFSv3 and ReiserFSv4 are enabled, the program may refuse to link if the compiler doesn't support the command line option "-Wl,-z -Wl,muldefs" that makes the linker accept multiple symbol definitions. If you have this problem, disable the support for either of these filesystems (you can compile two versions of the program). Don't complain to me, complain to the guys that made reiserfsprogs and reiser4progs. You can fix either of these libraries yourself, by running

	find . -type f -exec sed -i 's/misc_mntent/new_misc_mntent/g' '{}' \;

in the root directory of either reiserfsprogs or reiser4progs (but NOT both, because this would bring back the same problem, but with a different name). Type the command as above. The command must be run BEFORE compiling the reiserfs programs. You can use the provided patches to do this:

	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/reiser-3.6.XX.diff

	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/reiser4-1.0.7.diff

WARNING: If both ReiserFSv3 and MinixFS are enabled, the program may refuse to link if the compiler doesn't support the command line option "-Wl,-z -Wl,muldefs" that makes the linker accept multiple symbol definitions. If you have this problem, disable the support for either of these filesystems (you can compile two versions of the program). You can fix either of these libraries yourself, by running

	find . -type f -exec sed -i 's/die/new_die/g' '{}' \;

in the root directory of either reiserfsprogs or mfstool (but NOT both, because this would bring back the same problem, but with a different name). Type the command as above. The command must be run BEFORE compiling reiserfs/mfstool. You can use the provided patches to do this:

	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/mfstool-0.5.diff

	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/reiser-3.6.XX.diff

WARNING: If both ReiserFSv3 and JFS are enabled, you MUST either disable the support for either of these filesystems (you can compile two versions of the program) or fix either of these libraries yourself, by running

	find . -type f -exec sed -i 's/bread/reiser3_new_bread/g' '{}' \;

in the root directory of either reiserfsprogs or jfsutils (but NOT both, because this would bring back the same problem, but with a different name). Type the command as above. The command must be run BEFORE compiling reiserfs/jfsutils. You can use the provided patches to do this:

	patch -F10 -p1 < /path/to/wipefreespace-XX/patches/reiser-3.6.XX.diff

Even if your linker/compiler accepts the "-Wl,-z -Wl,muldefs" option, it won't help in this case.

The patches for ntfsprogs are optional. Whether or not they will be included in the official release of ntfsprogs, WipeFreeSpace still will compile.

Type ./configure to configure the program for your system. If you do not wish support for a filesystem, give the --enable-FS=no option to ./configure (FS=EXT234, NTFS, XFS, REISERFS, REISER4, FAT, MINIX, JFS, HFSP, OCFS). Run ./configure --help for details.

Type make to compile the program. Documentation will be compiled, if you have the makeinfo program (texinfo package). Translations will be compiled, if you have the gettext package.

Type make install to install the program.
NOTE: make install is NOT recommended. Create and install an rpm package instead, if possible.

Type info wipefreespace (after installation) or info doc/wipefreespace.info (before installation) to get help.

System compatibility

WipeFreeSpace, in various versions and configurations, has been successfully compiled on the following systems:

• Fedora Core 4 GNU/Linux (i686 CPU)
• Fedora 12 GNU/Linux (i686 CPU)
• Mandriva 2008.1, 2011 (gcc 4.6.1) GNU/Linux (i686 CPU)
• OpenMandriva Lx 3.0, 4.2, 4.3 (gcc 11.2.0) GNU/Linux (amd64 CPU)
• OpenBSD 3.8 (x86 CPU; XFS)
• MyBook WorldEditionII GNU/Linux (ARM CPU; ext2/3/4)
• Debian 5.0 GNU/Linux (x86 CPU)
• CentOS 6.3 (ext2/3/4 + NTFS)
• Archlinux Linux Kernel 4.8.6 (amd64 CPU)
• Debian 9.0 GNU/Linux (amd64 CPU; ext2/3/4 + NTFS + FAT + HFS+)
• Ubuntu (amd64 CPU) (Travis): log
• FreeBSD (Travis): log
• macOS X (Travis): log
• Oracle Solaris 11.4 Build 15 (SunOS 5.11) (gcc 7.3.0) (amd64 CPU)

Additionally, WipeFreeSpace, in various versions, has been packaged in the following repositories or operating systems (information provided for free by Repology):

WipeFreeSpaceGUI2 should compile and run on any system with Java installed.

Reporting issues

Any defects or issues can be reported by e-mail or in the SourceForge project defect manager (in English).

Any improvement suggestions can be reported by e-mail or in the SourceForge project ticket manager (in English).

To report build or installation problems, include:

1. the compiler name and version (e.g. gcc version 10),
2. the C standard library name and version (e.g. glibc version 2.x),
3. the output of the configure script. You can capture it by running ./configure > configure-output.txt 2>&1,
4. the generated config.log file,
5. the generated config.h file, if it exists,
6. the output of the make command. You can capture it by running make > make-output.txt 2>&1,
7. any other error messages,
8. any other information that you think could lead to solving the problem.

To report usage problems, include:

1. all the above things you include when reporting building problems,
2. a description of the problem that the software causes,
3. any error messages that are displayed,
4. information whether you tried other wiping methods and whether they work,
5. information whether you tried wiping just parts (undelete data, free space, partial blocks) of the filesystem and whether it worked,
6. information whether you tried another filesystems, if possible, and whether it worked,
7. (if the problem is with a filesystem) if possible, the whole input filesystem or a minimalistic input file that causes the problem to show (e.g. file of zero length or with a strange name),
8. any other information that you think could lead to solving the problem.

Help in victory, play a game, send regards, or at least stop using some products

My projects on SourceForge

• WipeFreeSpace - a program for cleaning of free space on filesystems
• LibSecRm - a security wrapper library for C library functions which insecurely delete data
• Trinventum - software that helps manage an e-business
• Meqaris - meeting room and equipment booking system using e-mail invitations
• JYMAG - a program for serial-based (AT-based) mobile phones (like Sagem) and a serial port terminal
• IMYplay - a program for playing iMelody ringtones (IMY files) and an IMY-to-MIDI converter
• LibHideIP - a security wrapper library for C library functions which could lead to revealing your local IP address
• LibNetBlock - a security wrapper library that ensures that no program under its control can access the network
• FMSec - a set of extensions to file managers that enable some security-related operations to be easily performed. The operations include:
  • Secure removal of files using shred,
  • Secure removal of directories,
  • Mounting block devices and regular files using VeraCrypt,
  • Unmounting directories using VeraCrypt,
  • Wiping block devices (without removing them) using shred (the filesystem itself is destroyed too)
  • Wiping free space on filesystems on block devices or inside regular files using WipeFreeSpace,
  • Encrypting and decrypting files using OpenSSL,
  • running programs with LibSecRm preloaded,
  • running programs with LibHideIP preloaded,
  • running programs with LibNetBlock preloaded.
  FMSec consists of projects formerly known as KonqSec/Konq4Sec/Konq5Sec.
• Project Asmosis - a set of tools for assembly language programmers:
  • the Asm::X86 Perl module,
  • AsmDoc - a HTML documentation generator for assembly language,
  • assembly source code converters between NASM, fasm and GNU as,
  • C header to assembly header converters (h2fasm, h2gas, h2nasm),
  • Makefile generator for fasm (make4fasm),
  • Linux 2.6 kernel module helpers for fasm and NASM (symvers-nasm, symvers-fasm),
  • Asm4Doxy - Assembly converter for Doxygen,
  • util-macros.* - some utility macros for fasm and NASM,
  • Autoconf macros that check for existence and command-line options of the various assemblers (ax_prog_nasm.m4, ax_prog_nasm_opt.m4, ax_prog_fasm.m4, ax_prog_fasm_opt.m4, ax_prog_yasm.m4, ax_prog_yasm_opt.m4, ax_prog_tasm.m4, ax_prog_tasm_opt.m4, ax_prog_masm.m4, ax_prog_masm_opt.m4, ax_prog_hla.m4, ax_prog_hla_opt.m4),
  • OS parts - sample pieces of code that may be useful for starting developing a simple operating system.
• KeyParaStocX - is an extension for LibreOffice, Apache OpenOffice and the old OpenOffice.org that searches for keywords in a text, changes their style and builds a Table of Contents for them (formerly: "PozeraczUstaw").
• Fronsetia - a web application that allows testing webservices (formerly: SOAPServiceTester).

The always-up-to-date list of my SourceForge projects is on my profile page on SourceForge.

My other software

• primary site - rudy.mif.pg.gda.pl/~bogdro/soft - down
• first backup site - bogdro.ciki.me/soft - down
• second backup site - bogdro.fulba.com/soft - down
• third backup site (also available over HTTPS)
• fourth backup site (also available over HTTPS)

1. Certificate and key generators
2. E-mail address verifiers
3. LastMod - a script that inserts or updates a META element with the Last-Modified HTTP header
4. Atom2Rss - a script that converts an Atom (RFC 4287) channel XML file to an RSS 2.0 XML file
5. List2Atom - a script that generates an Atom (RFC 4287) channel XML file from a list of files
6. InSyTrack - telemetry software to track program flow (calls) across libraries, threads, programming languages or even different systems on different machines

• primary site with assembly tools - rudy.mif.pg.gda.pl/~bogdro/inne - down
• first backup site with assembly tools - bogdro.ciki.me/inne - down
• second backup site with assembly tools - bogdro.fulba.com/inne - down
• third backup site with assembly tools (also available over HTTPS)
• fourth backup site with assembly tools (also available over HTTPS)

1. Kate/KWrite syntax highlighting for NASM/fasm

Contact information

Contact me: bogdro AT users . sourceforge . net (English accepted, just say '[SOFT]' in the title).

The certificate of the timestamping server which confirms the signature time, can be found on freeTSA.org.

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