sfill
Securely wipe free disk space
TLDR
Securely wipe free space (38 passes)
$ sfill /path/to/mounted_disk
Reduced security wipe with 2 passes$ sfill -l -v /path/to/mounted_disk
Fastest wipe with 1 random pass$ sfill -ll -v /path/to/mounted_disk
Wipe only free space (not inodes)$ sfill -I /path/to/mounted_disk
Wipe only free inodes$ sfill -i /path/to/mounted_disk
SYNOPSIS
sfill [options] directory
DESCRIPTION
sfill securely overwrites the free space and inodes of a partition where the specified directory resides. It uses multiple passes to prevent recovery of previously deleted files.
PARAMETERS
-l
Lessens security. Only two passes are written: one with 0xff and a final one with random values.-ll
Lessens security even further. Only one random pass is written.-v
Verbose mode; show progress-I
Overwrite only free disk space, not inodes-i
Overwrite only free inodes, not disk space-f
Fast and insecure mode. No /dev/urandom, no synchronize mode.-z
Final overwrite with zeros instead of random data
CAVEATS
This operation is time-consuming, especially with the default 38 passes. SSDs may not be effectively wiped due to wear leveling. The target must be a mounted filesystem, not a raw device.
HISTORY
sfill is part of the secure-delete package, providing tools for securely erasing data to prevent forensic recovery.
