# Open-source data erasers

5 open-source data erasers rated against public privacy criteria.

1. [Eraser](https://privacyratings.com/data-erasers/eraser/): B (80/100). Windows tool that removes sensitive data from a hard drive by overwriting it several times with selected patterns.
2. [nwipe](https://privacyratings.com/data-erasers/nwipe/): B (80/100). 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.
3. [Secure Remove](https://privacyratings.com/data-erasers/secure-remove/): B (80/100). 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.
4. [shred](https://privacyratings.com/data-erasers/shred/): B (80/100). A CLI utility that overwrites files and devices so their contents are difficult to recover.
5. [DBAN](https://privacyratings.com/data-erasers/dban/): D (50/100). 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.

Source: https://privacyratings.com/open-source/data-erasers/