File Deletion system

Question

I understand that for instance on a Windows system that when you delete a file that in fact it is not deleted as such immediately, but that the file is just marked meaning that other files can override it. This means then that some deleted files can then be recovered after their deletion.

Is there a similar system on Ubuntu? And if so is there a way to get it so that the deleted files, before their actual deletion, are encrypted or something so that if they are recovered then they cannot be read?

I am running Ubuntu 14.10.

score 4 · Answer 1 · answered Feb 08 '15 at 16:29

4

You're looking for wipe. I'm not sure if there's a way to make that the default delete handler though.

answered Feb 08 '15 at 16:29

RobotHumans

29,530

or scrub or sdelete or dd or .... any number of tools – Panther Feb 08 '15 at 16:35
Yes, bodhi, there are many things that try to do the same thing. – RobotHumans Feb 08 '15 at 16:36
Wipe recovers data, I need something which permanently gets rid of it. – Feb 08 '15 at 16:40
@bodhi.zazen - you would probably know better than me... is there a way to make something a default deletion handler? – RobotHumans Feb 08 '15 at 16:40
Reading the second paragraph again, yep, this is what the OP asked for. – muru Feb 08 '15 at 16:49
1

@hbdgaf all you need is an alias on "rm" I would assume. – Rinzwind Feb 08 '15 at 17:41
Yes, but how would you get that to apply to graphical file managers? That's more what I was asking about... @Rinzwind – RobotHumans Feb 08 '15 at 20:58
1

@hbdgaf USC "secure-delete" command "srm" and create a nautilus action for deleting – Rinzwind Feb 09 '15 at 08:31

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered Feb 08 '15 at 16:47

This is actually a property of the filesystem, not the OS. Most filesystems don't delete the contents since it more efficient not do so. This is true for ext4 as well. Recovering file data is, therefore, possible; metadata, on the other hand, is more difficult.

File Deletion system

2 Answers2