fw-rs
| Crates.io | fw-rs |
| lib.rs | fw-rs |
| version | 0.1.1 |
| created_at | 2025-07-31 23:05:49.70591+00 |
| updated_at | 2025-07-31 23:27:40.919145+00 |
| description | A forensic-grade file destruction utility for securely overwriting and deleting files/directories |
| homepage | https://github.com/amirhosseinghanipour/fw |
| repository | https://github.com/amirhosseinghanipour/fw |
| max_upload_size | |
| id | 1775862 |
| size | 74,278 |
Amirhossein Ghanipour (amirhosseinghanipour)
documentation
README
FileWipe (fw-rs)
fw is a forensic-grade file destruction utility for securely overwriting and deleting files/directories.
⚠️ Critical Security Warning
No software tool can guarantee perfect data erasure on modern hardware. You must understand the limitations:
- SSDs: SSDs use wear-leveling algorithms. When you "overwrite" a file, the drive's controller may write the new data to a different physical location.
- Journaling Filesystems: Filesystems keep metadata logs and may have copies of your file's data stored in the journal.
For wiping data on magnetic media or in controlled environments, fw is a powerful tool. For absolute, guaranteed data destruction on modern drives, the only certain method is physical destruction. For SSDs, consider using firmware-level commands like ATA Secure Erase.
Features
- Multiple Sanitization Methods: Choose your level of paranoia.
default: A strong and fast 3-pass overwrite with cryptographically secure random data.dod-5220.22-m: A 7-pass method compliant with the U.S. Department of Defense standard.gutmann: The legendary 35-pass method designed to defeat even advanced hardware recovery techniques on older magnetic drives.
- Concurrency: Uses a thread pool to wipe multiple files simultaneously using all your CPU cores.
- Security First:
- Refuses to operate on symbolic links to prevent accidental data loss.
- Identifies and refuses to touch special device files.
- Uses
OsRngfor a cryptographically secure source of randomness.
- Anti-Forensics: Obfuscates file size and renames files to random strings before unlinking to erase metadata.
Installation
Install directly from crates.io:
cargo install fw-rs
Make sure ~/.cargo/bin is in your PATH.
Usage
The command is fw.
Wipe a single file with default settings:
fw /path/to/sensitive-document.txt
Wipe multiple files using the DoD method with 8 threads and verbose output:
fw -j 8 --method dod-5220.22-m --verbose report.docx spreadsheet.xlsx plans.pdf
Recursively and forcibly wipe an entire directory: WARNING: This is extremely destructive. Use with extreme caution.
fw --recursive --force /path/to/project-to-be-erased/
See all available options:
fw --help
Wipe Methods Explained
| Method | Passes | Description |
|---|---|---|
default |
3 | A fast and secure 3-pass overwrite with CSPRNG random data. A solid balance of speed and security for most use cases. |
dod-5220.22-m |
7 | Implements the DoD 5220.22-M standard. Uses passes of zeros, ones, and random data with verification. A common choice for compliance. |
gutmann |
35 | The most extreme software-based method. Uses a complex sequence of patterns. Largely overkill for modern drives but a recognized standard. |
License
This project is licensed under the GPL-3.0 License.
Contributing
Contributions, bug reports, and pull requests are welcome. Please open an issue in the repository to discuss any changes.