AndroShredder

Description

Deleting a file or directory does not remove the contents.
Recovery tools can be used to restore the previous content.
AndroShredder allows you to destroy the file contents prior to deleting files and directories.

AndroShredder also allows you to clean the existing free space of a storage device,
where old file content may still exist.


Get it on Google Play

You can choose out of a variety of standard cleaning algorithms, like U.S DoD 5220.22-M, British HMG IS5 (Enhanced),
Russian GOST P50739-95, German VSITR or just do a quick shred,
which should be enough for most SSD based storage devices and USB flash drives.

Features

  • Select multiple files and directories to shred
  • Cleans nested folders and their content
  • Save selections for later re-use
  • U.S DoD 5220.22-M, British HMG IS5 (Enhanced), Russian GOST P50739-95, German VSITR and quick shred algorithms
  • Clean (wipe) free space on any writable storage device (SSD cards, Hard Disks, USB flash drives etc.)

The start screen

The start screen lets you choose the desired task:

  • Wipe free space
  • Shred files and folders

Simply click on the cartoon picture to go to the next screen.

Wipe Files

This action allows you to clean the free storage space on a device.

Free space may still contain old data that was deleted previously.
Advanced recovery and spyware tools can read this old data and recover the original files.

Wiping the free space will not delete or modify any existing files.
It will clean your storage device with a special algorithm around the existing data, removing only the old data.

1. Select the device

On this page, there is a list of all the storage devices that are connected to your Android device.

For each item the type and name, along with the information about the free and used space is displayed.

Select the device you want to clean. If you want to reload the list, simply press the back button and come back again to this screen.
The list will be reloaded each time the wipe screen is opened.

2. Choose algorithm

After you selected a device or folder, you can choose the algorithm (method) that will be used for cleaning.
A short description of the algorithm is displayed at the bottom of the list, when you select one.

The default is the “Quick” algorithm, which should be suitable for most use cases. The default algorithm can be changed in the App settings.

3. Start wiping

Finally, to start the wipe process, simply click on the cartoon image.
After a confirmation dialog, the wipe process will start and display a progress bar.

The speed and total time of the wipe process depends on a lot of factors.
Depending on your processor, device type and other hardware constraints, the speed may vary.
The average speed is displayed in the progress bar in MB/s (Mega Bytes per second).
From this, the remaining time is calculated and displayed in hours:minutes:seconds.
Of course, algorithms with more passes take longer to complete than algorithms with less passes.

You can cancel the wipe process at any time, but this may leave parts of the device with your old data. You can re-run the wipe process again later.

A message will be displayed when the wipe process is finished and the wipe file will be deleted automatically.

Great effort has been made to make sure that the App does not crash during the wipe process and leave a wipe file on the device. In case such a crash happens (or if you kill the App manually), you can delete the wipe file by hand, using e.g. the shredder.
The file is named “AndroShredder.wipefile”.

Shred files and folders

This action allows you to shred files and directory trees.

Deleting files and directories in the normal way does not destroy the contents, only the reference to the storage data is removed.
Advanced recovery and spyware tools can read this old data and recover the original files.

Shredding a file will overwrite the file data with a special algorithm before deleting it, therefore making a recovery of the original content impossible.

1. Select files & folders

On the top of the page, you find some buttons that allow you to add and remove files and folders to the list of items to shred.

Add …: This allows you to add one or more files or folders to the list of items.
A file picker will be opened, where you can browse for and select the files and/or folders.
Your selected files will be added to the list, once you pressed OK in the file picker.

Clear: This will clear the selected entries or all, if no entries are selected after a confirmation dialog).

Selection box: This allows you to select a previously saved selection. You can save a selection by pressing the “Save selection …” button at the bottom of the screen. To delete a selection, clear the selected list and save the selection again.

Next step: This will take you to the next step, the method selection.

2. Choose algorithm

After you selected a device or folder, you can choose the algorithm (method) that will be used for shredding data.
A short description of the algorithm is displayed at the bottom of the list, when you select one.

The default is the “Quick” algorithm, which should be suitable for most use cases. The default algorithm can be changed in the App settings.

3. Start shredder

Finally, to start the shredding process, simply click on the cartoon image.
After a confirmation dialog, the shredding process will start and display a progress bar.
The speed and total time of the process depends on a lot of factors.
Depending on your processor, device type and other hardware constraints, the speed may vary.
Of course, algorithms with more passes take longer to complete than algorithms with less passes.

You can cancel the shredding process at any time, but this may leave parts of the selected files totally or only partly shred. Items that have been shred completely will be removed from the list, so you can easily re-run the shredding process later. Only the files not already shredded will be shredded then.

A message will be displayed when the wipe process is finished and the shredded items will be removed.

The algorithms

  • Quick: This is a 1 pass algorithm, the fastest. It will wipe with random bytes. This is suitable for SSD based storage devices like SD-Cards, SSD Disks or USB Flash Drives.
  • Russian GOST P50739-95: This is a 2 pass algorithm, it wipes first with zeroes and then again with ones (Hex 0xff). This is suitable for most magnetic storage devices.
  • U.S. DoD 5220.22-M (E): This is a 3 pass algorithm, it wipes first with zeroes, then with ones (Hex 0xff) and finally with random data. Suitable for advanced wiping of magnetic storage devices.
  • British HMG IS5 (E): This is a 3 pass algorithm, similar to DoD 5220.22-M (E), it wipes first with zeroes, then with ones (Hex 0xff) and finally with random data. Suitable for advanced wiping of magnetic storage devices.
  • U.S. DoD 5220.22-M (ECE): This is a 7 pass algorithm, it wipes with alternating patterns of zeroes, ones and random data. This is suitable for removing thoroughly old data on a magnetic storage device (e.g. a hard disk).
  • German BSI VSITR: This is a 7 pass algorithm, it wipes first with an alternating pattern of zeroes and ones and finally with random data. This is suitable for removing thoroughly old data on a magnetic storage device (e.g. a hard disk).

For questions and suggestions, please use the contact form. Thank you!

Privacy Statement

  • AndroShredder does not collect or store or share any personal information.
  • AndroShredder does not show any ads.
  • AndroShredder does not use any social networking functions.
  • AndroShredder does not link to external web sites, except to the Apparillos.com support pages: https://apparillos.com/.
  • AndroShredder does not have in-app purchases.
  • AndroShredder does not store or share your location.
  • AndroShredder uses Google Analytics to track (anonymously) how the app is used, to give guidance on where improvements should be concentrated. This is is why Internet permission is required.

Latest update: December 28, 2013