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sdelete is a tool for secure deletion, and the -c flag "cleans free space".

I ran this command sdelete -c C on a Windows 10 machine in an attempt to clean up free space on the C drive, but the command fills up that drive.

How do I undo that command and reclaim lost disk space?

Winfetch screenshot: enter image description here

Only 90 GB of C drive was occupied before running this command, now it's 469 GB.

Teddy C
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    From your own link please read and understand "How SDelete Works" at least from the paragraph starting with *"The second approach, and the one SDelete takes (...)"* – ChanganAuto Jul 18 '22 at 04:36
  • I didn't realise how destructive the command is when running it, and I do regret it. @ChanganAuto – Teddy C Jul 18 '22 at 04:55
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    Sounds like you didn't run the command to completion. You should be able to find the temporary file(s) it creates and remove them. – Daniel B Jul 18 '22 at 05:01
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    Use WinDirStat to find the huge file(s). Then delete them manually. https://windirstat.net/ – Gantendo Jul 18 '22 at 05:04

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Like what @Daniel B suggested, sdelete did not fill up 100% of my C drive.

The OS is still functional and I managed to find the 380GB SDELTEMP file and delete it with remove-item -Force, and got my disk space back. :)

Teddy C
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