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NTFSWIPE(8) System Manager's Manual NTFSWIPE(8)
NAME
ntfswipe - overwrite unused space on an NTFS volume
SYNOPSIS
ntfswipe [options] device
DESCRIPTION
ntfswipe clears all or part of unused space on an NTFS volume by overwriting with zeroes
or random bytes.
OPTIONS
Below is a summary of all the options that ntfswipe accepts. Nearly all options have two
equivalent names. The short name is preceded by - and the long name is preceded by --.
Any single letter options, that don't take an argument, can be combined into a single com-
mand, e.g. -fv is equivalent to -f -v. Long named options can be abbreviated to any
unique prefix of their name.
-a, --all
Wipe all unused space. This may take significant time. If the option --unused-fast
(or -U) is also present, the faster wiping method is used.
-b, --bytes BYTE-LIST
Define the allowed replacement bytes which are drawn randomly to overwrite the un-
used space. BYTE-LIST is a comma-separated list of values in range 0-255 expressed
in octal, decimal or hexadecimal base.
-c, --count NUM
Define the number of times the unused space is to be overwritten. If both options
--bytes and --count are set, the space is repeatedly overwritten this number of
times by each of the values in the list.
-d, --directory
Wipe all the directory indexes, which may contain names of deleted files.
-f, --force
This will override some sensible defaults, such as not using a mounted volume. Use
this option with caution.
-h, --help
Show a list of options with a brief description of each one.
-i, --info
Display details about unused space, without wiping anything.
-l, --logfile
Overwrite the logfile (update journal).
-m, --mft
Overwrite the unused space in the MFT (main file table, which contains the file
names, and the contents of short files).
-n, --no-action
Executes the wiping process without writing to device.
-p, --pagefile
Overwrite the Windows swap space.
-q, --quiet
Suppress some debug/warning/error messages.
-s, --undel
Overwrite the space which had been allocated to a file which has been deleted re-
cently and is still undeletable. This option is not compatible with --bytes and the
replacement bytes are random ones or taken from a standard list.
-t, --tails
Overwrite the space at the end of files which is unused, but allocated because the
allocations are always done by full clusters.
-u, --unused
Overwrite the space which is currently not allocated to any file (but may have been
used in the past).
-U, --unused-fast
Overwrite the space which is currently not allocated to any file, trying not to
overwrite the space not written to since the previous wiping.
-v, --verbose
Display more debug/warning/error messages. This option may be used twice to display
even more messages.
-V, --version
Show the version number, copyright and license of ntfswipe.
EXAMPLES
Wipe out all unused space in an NTFS volume.
ntfswipe -a /dev/sda1
Wipe out all deleted file names from an NTFS volume.
ntfswipe -dms /dev/sda1
BUGS
There are no known problems with ntfswipe. If you find a bug please send an email de-
scribing the problem to the development team:
ntfs-3g-devel AT lists.net
AUTHORS
ntfswipe was written by Richard Russon, Anton Altaparmakov and Yura Pakhuchiy. It was
ported to ntfs-3g by Erik Larsson.
AVAILABILITY
ntfswipe is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:
https://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g/wiki/
SEE ALSO
ntfs-3g(8), ntfsls(8), ntfsprogs(8)
ntfs-3g 2021.8.22 June 2014 NTFSWIPE(8)
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