*Secure Erase feature not working and/or erasing large files too quickly?

Question

Hi everyone,

I am trialing the most recent version of Webroot I S Complete and had a question about the Secure Erase feature.

I noticed when I put it on 3 or even 7 (max # of overwrite) Webroot seems almost waaay too quick to shred the file. I noticed this especially on say files around 1gb in size (even video)

If talking specifically about the max overwrite of 7 passes, is this normal for it to be so quick?? I’ve had a few other file shredders that I sometimes use too, and if I chose either 3 to 7 wipes they take significantly longer (maybe minute or two)

Anyway, just wondering if anyone else has noticed this and if I need to put a support ticket in?

Btw, here is a link that someone else brought this up longer ago for more details:

Thanks all of you for being great help and take care today!

Jeff

TylerM · Accepted Answer

@magrittianIt really does depend on the write speed of the drive. If you have SSD or even M.2 Sata drive that newer computers have it will be lightning quick compared to the old days of 5400 rpm drives. However, if you are concerned and wish to have us check that everything is working correctly you can definitely open a ticket or call our support.https://www.webroot.com/us/en/support/contact

magrittian · Answer

Hi TylerM,

Hey, Thank You so much for the quick reply!

I have just used the Secure Erase feature on my desktop internal drive and two external regular hard drives which are 5400rpm and no SSD drives, and so it seemed unusual that it could erase large files so quickly--3 passes vs 7 passes are roughly same in amount of time it takes (around a few seconds)

Something else I noticed also--if I go into a folder and select a number of high res photos (300dpi for example) to delete then Secure Erase does take longer to delete every one of them.

- Jeff :)

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