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Suppose I copy and paste large files numerous times to fill up the free space. Will doing so actually override data into the HD blocks or will it create "sparse" references into existing data in the HD blocks instead?

I am thinking of using copy and paste as a replacement to shredding free disk space. Is copying/pasting a viable alternative to using file shredders to shred free disk space?

superuser4245
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Most applications are not aware of sparse files and will not create sparse files.

https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/desktop/aa365566(v=vs.85).aspx

If you copy and paste files that are not explicitly sparse files then NTFS sparse functionality will not be used.

misha256
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  • so would you say that copy and pasting is a viable alternative to shredding free disk space using tools such as eraser etc – superuser4245 Apr 12 '17 at 03:11
  • Copy and pasting is not a good alternative to shredding because this does not guarantee that the exact blocks/sectors that were allocated to a deleted file will be overwritten. Only proper system-level file shredding software can do this and I would strongly recommend you use such software if you are concerned about security. Also you should consider full-disk encryption: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disk_encryption – misha256 Apr 12 '17 at 04:29
  • what if you copy and paste until the disk is filled up, then finish it off with file shredding software to shred free disk space to finish off whatever deleted file has not been overridden – superuser4245 Apr 12 '17 at 04:45