Argente Data Shredder is an application designed to securely shred all types of files and sensitive data, preventing them from being recovered.
How does data shredding work?
The following operations are performed to prevent data recovery
- The file's metadata (timestamps, attributes) is changed to random values
- The file name and extension are changed to random values
- The file's alternate data streams are overwritten
- The file data is overwritten
- The file's slack space is overwritten
- Deleted records in the drive's file allocation structures are overwritten
- Unused clusters on the drive are overwritten
Install the application
Read the
Installation Guide
Using the application
Once installed, the application starts automatically. If you have closed it, you can reopen it by double-clicking the desktop shortcut.
Read the following user guides
About and Updates Guide to learn how to register the application and check for updates
Global Settings Guide to learn how to configure the application
The default tab is
Files
You can select folders or files by clicking the corresponding button to add them to the list. Each item in the list has a three-dot
More options button on the right. Clicking it opens a menu with the option to
Delete the item from the list
The
Drives tab displays a list of available drives. Simply select the drive you want to process
The system drive, usually C:, cannot be selected for security reasons. Shredding free space on a drive that is currently in use is a potentially dangerous operation and is not recommended. To process that drive safely, you must boot Windows from a different drive
The
Shred type options are
- Free space shreds the free space on the drive
- All content shreds all used and free space on the drive
Once you have selected a folder, file, or drive, click
Shred elements.
A confirmation window will appear
Select the desired
shredding algorithm
- Simple 1 overwrite pass using the Zero-Fill pattern
- Recommended 5 overwrite passes based on the DoD 5220.22-M pattern
- Advanced 35 overwrite passes based on the Gutmann pattern
On SSD drives, the Simple algorithm is used.
TRIM commands are used to request that the drive release the blocks containing deleted data. However, due to the internal management of flash memory by the drive's controller, direct overwriting of the original data and its permanent, irrecoverable deletion cannot be guaranteed
Click
Accept to start the shredding process
If the process completes successfully, a confirmation message will be displayed
Otherwise, the selected drive or file may be in use.
Close all applications that may be accessing the selected file or drive before trying again
