What does cleaning master file records do in Norton utilities 15?

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1

When bleaching disks, there is an option to clean master file records.  There is no documentation as to exactly what this does.  Anyone know?

 

 

 

Thanks

2

Check this topic and see if it helps.

In post #5 I try to explain how the file name isn't really part of a file and the name is held in the master file table.

So it becomes a 2 step process if you want both the file and the name of the file wiped.

For some people it might not be important to remove the file name as long as the file and data it contains is erased.

 

http://community.norton.com/t5/Other-Norton-Products/Norton-Utilities-question-about-bleaching-feature/m-p/389194/highlight/true#M30792

 

Dave

3

Thanks Dave. After reading the post it appears that the tech I talked to, was misinformed.  They made it sound like you should never click on the Clean MFT option while bleaching your the drive with your OS.  If I understand the posts you directed me to, using the bleach option without selecting the Clean MFT check box results in the files being overwritten, but the pointers to the files with the associated names remaining in the MFT.  If the Clean MFT box is checked, then the filenames/pointers will be scrambled as well as the files being overwritten.  And it also sounds like this NOT SCRAMBLE legitimate active files that have not been bleached. 

 

Do I have all that right?

 

It would be nice if Norton actually put something in their documentation about this.

 

Thanks

4

Yes, you have it correct.

If you overwrite a file and then run the "unerase" wizzard, although you could not recover the file the file name would still be visible unless you removed the entry from the MFT.

 

In some situations the name of the file it'self may be something you would not want found.

So to completely remove the name and the file is a 2 step process.

 

I have no idea why you may have been told something different, it sounds like maybe they also confused the MFT with the MBR.  But it can be safely done on a bootable drive, lots of people have used version 15 and I'm not aware of any problems it has caused.

 

I also agree that it could have better documentation.  When I used the trial I don't think there was any availible yet.

Dave

5

When bleaching disks, there is an option to clean master file records.  There is no documentation as to exactly what this does.  Anyone know?

 

 

 

Thanks