Open-source data erasers

5 data erasers whose code is public under an OSI-approved license, rated for privacy with evidence. Picks first, then by score.

1. Eraser Grade B

   Windows tool that removes sensitive data from a hard drive by overwriting it several times with selected patterns.

   GPL-3.0. Source code

2. nwipe Grade B

   Command-line disk eraser for Linux written in C, with a text-based interface. It is a fork of the dwipe engine from DBAN and is used by ShredOS.

   GPL-2.0. Source code

3. Secure Remove Grade B

   Command-line tool that securely removes files, directories and whole disks by overwriting them, for Linux, BSD, macOS and Windows. It has not been updated for several years.

   MIT. Source code

4. shred Grade B

   A CLI utility that overwrites files and devices so their contents are difficult to recover.

   Part of GNU coreutils, GPL-3.0 or later. Source code

5. DBAN Grade D

   Darik's Boot and Nuke is a bootable disk image that wipes hard disk drives. It is owned by Blancco, has not been developed since its last release, and does not support SSDs.

   GPL-2.0; the source archive of the last release is published on SourceForge. Source code

Compare all 8 data erasers, open source or not.