1NTFSWIPE(8) System Manager's Manual NTFSWIPE(8)
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6 ntfswipe - overwrite unused space on an NTFS volume
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9 ntfswipe [options] device
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12 ntfswipe clears all or part of unused space on an NTFS volume by over‐
13 writing with zeroes or random bytes.
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16 Below is a summary of all the options that ntfswipe accepts. Nearly
17 all options have two equivalent names. The short name is preceded by -
18 and the long name is preceded by --. Any single letter options, that
19 don't take an argument, can be combined into a single command, e.g.
20 -fv is equivalent to -f -v. Long named options can be abbreviated to
21 any unique prefix of their name.
22 -a, --all
24 Wipe all unused space. This may take significant time. If the
25 option --unused-fast (or -U) is also present, the faster wiping
26 method is used.
27 -b, --bytes BYTE-LIST
29 Define the allowed replacement bytes which are drawn randomly to
30 overwrite the unused space. BYTE-LIST is a comma-separated list
31 of values in range 0-255 expressed in octal, decimal or hexadec‐
32 imal base.
33 -c, --count NUM
35 Define the number of times the unused space is to be overwrit‐
36 ten. If both options --bytes and --count are set, the space is
37 repeatedly overwritten this number of times by each of the val‐
38 ues in the list.
39 -d, --directory
41 Wipe all the directory indexes, which may contain names of
42 deleted files.
43 -f, --force
45 This will override some sensible defaults, such as not using a
46 mounted volume. Use this option with caution.
47 -h, --help
49 Show a list of options with a brief description of each one.
50 -i, --info
52 Display details about unused space, without wiping anything.
53 -l, --logfile
55 Overwrite the logfile (update journal).
56 -m, --mft
58 Overwrite the unused space in the MFT (main file table, which
59 contains the file names, and the contents of short files).
60 -n, --no-action
62 Executes the wiping process without writing to device.
63 -p, --pagefile
65 Overwrite the Windows swap space.
66 -q, --quiet
68 Suppress some debug/warning/error messages.
69 -s, --undel
71 Overwrite the space which had been allocated to a file which has
72 been deleted recently and is still undeletable. This option is
73 not compatible with --bytes and the replacement bytes are random
74 ones or taken from a standard list.
75 -t, --tails
77 Overwrite the space at the end of files which is unused, but al‐
78 located because the allocations are always done by full clus‐
79 ters.
80 -u, --unused
82 Overwrite the space which is currently not allocated to any file
83 (but may have been used in the past).
84 -U, --unused-fast
86 Overwrite the space which is currently not allocated to any
87 file, trying not to overwrite the space not written to since the
88 previous wiping.
89 -v, --verbose
91 Display more debug/warning/error messages. This option may be
92 used twice to display even more messages.
93 -V, --version
95 Show the version number, copyright and license of ntfswipe.
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98 Wipe out all unused space in an NTFS volume.
99 ntfswipe -a /dev/sda1
101 Wipe out all deleted file names from an NTFS volume.
103 ntfswipe -dms /dev/sda1
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108 There are no known problems with ntfswipe. If you find a bug please
109 send an email describing the problem to the development team:
110 ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net
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113 ntfswipe was written by Richard Russon, Anton Altaparmakov and Yura
114 Pakhuchiy. It was ported to ntfs-3g by Erik Larsson.
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117 ntfswipe is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:
118 https://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g/wiki/
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121 ntfs-3g(8), ntfsls(8), ntfsprogs(8)
122ntfs-3g 2022.10.3 June 2014 NTFSWIPE(8)