10 Best Permanent File Erasers and Shredders

Normally, a deleted file is only removed from the directory entry of the file system and still can be easily recovered back from a file recovery software. If you want to completely wipe out any trace of a file, a file shredder or permanent file shredder can do the trick. It completely overwrites junk characters in the space occupied by the original file and makes it unrecoverable. Generally, users working on shared computers are not aware of this fact and may risk of losing vital information even after deleting the file. To get rid of this problem, always shred your file through a specialized software so that it is impossible to recover even bits of original information. All these applications are free-to-use and require no technical expertise to use them properly. All it requires is a click on a shredding button to delete the files or folders. Remember, if the file is really huge in size, it may take some time before the secure deletion process is complete. So, let's get started and quickly check out these awesome and useful file shredders.

1 . Permanent Eraser: It is one of the best file erasing utilities for Mac OS X. This excellent software not just deletes the files from hard drives, but also permanently erases the files from CD/DVD too.

2. File Shredder: It is a powerful file deleting software for Windows platform. It is a freeware and is very light on system resources. This file shredder fills the file space with random binary junk making it completely unrecoverable.

3. Heidi Eraser: This file shredder runs on almost every variant of Windows platform. It is completely free and is quite light on system resources. Its file shredding system is highly customizable and can be used to easily delete a large volume of data on Windows servers.

4. Easy Shred File Shredder: This is one of my favorite file shredding applications. It has a drag-n-drop support feature which comes with shell integration. Simply right-click on a file and delete it forever. It is free and works with all major Windows versions.

5. Free File Shredder: This is yet another excellent option of securely delete your sensitive files on the computer. It is best suited for completely shredding junk files present on your system which unnecessarily takes up space on your hard drive.

6. Easy File Shredder: The free version of this powerful file shredding software is good enough for home users. It shreds large files quite fast when compared to other solutions. The premium version gives you additional flexibility and power.

7. Remo File Eraser: This permanent file eraser is made for Windows platform and is completely free-to-use. It has a nice and user-friendly interface and works like charm on low-end systems too. It can also be used to completely wipe hard drive partitions.

8. PCMate Free File Shredder: This handy file shredding program has an excellent interface which enables you to customize the options before attempting shredding process on a file. Users can drag files or the entire folders into the program to easily instruct shredding of bulk amount of data.

9. Securely File Shredder: This free and powerful file erasing program works seamlessly on Windows platform. Its user-friendly data shredding wizard has simple steps to permanently delete your sensitive data stored in files and folders.

10. PCTuneUp Free File Shredder: Apart from shredding regular files and folders, this powerful application can also wipe out recycle bin content in a secure way. A user can also specify the custom erasing method through a helpful interface.