9 Best Free Open Source File Shredder Software For Windows

Here is a list of best free Open Source File Shredder Software for Windows. These open source file shredder software work exactly like file shredder software listed here > Free File Shredders. The only difference is that these software are open source and you can easily access and manipulate their source code without any restriction.

The main task of file shredders is to delete files in a way that no one can ever recover back the deleted files, even by using file recovery software. These software use many deleting algorithms or methods to delete files like Gutmann, US Air Force 5020, Filecutter, etc. These methods basically overwrite garbage data over the original data multiple times to make original data unrecoverable. You can select any one of the shredding methods to shred files. In some software, you can also select the number of overwriting iterations. Overwriting iterations mean the number of times a selected shredding method overwrites garbage data over the original data. The number of overwriting iterations directly affect the file shredding time, so carefully select the number of overwriting iterations. Apart from files and data, you can also shred empty disk space and disk drives with some software.

My Favorite Open Source File Shredder Software For Windows:

Eraser is my favorite software because it cannot only shred files but disk partition, directories, empty disk space, etc. can also be shredded with it. Plus, the simple shredding process and its ability to integrate with Windows Explorer is quite impressive.

You can also check out lists of best free File Splitter, Data Recovery, and Force File Deleter software for Windows.

Eraser

Eraser is a free open source file shredder software for Windows. Using this software, you can permanently remove files, folders, recycle bin data, unused disk space, and drive/partition data. Files removed by it will be permanently removed from the system and cannot be recovered even with the use of data recovering software. To remove files, folder, etc., it uses various methods like Gutmann (35 passes), US Air Force 5020 (3 passes), German VSITR (7 passes), and more. These methods basically overwrite the original data multiple times with garbage data to make it unrecoverable.

How to shred file or files using this file shredder software:

• First, right-click on the interface and select New Task Option to open the Task Properties.
• In the Task Properties, you get two tabs namely Task and Schedule. From the Task Tab, you need to select file or files that you want to permanently delete. From the Schedule Tab, you can schedule the shredding task for later dates. After setting up the new task, press the OK Button to save the task.
• The new shredding task will automatically add to the main interface from where you can manually run the shredding process.

You can also add this software with Windows Explorer by going to the Settings Menu, to quickly shred files.

Alternate File Shredder

Alternate File Shredder is another free open source file shredder software for Windows. Using this software, you can shred files, folders, and free space of the disk. It cannot only shred files and folders, but it can also shred names of files and folders. In it, you also get the option to choose whether you want the random data to overwrite the deleted files or not. Before file shredding, you can also select the number of overwriting iterations that can be varied between 1 to 100 iterations. The number of iteration directly impact the time of file shredding process, so I recommend to not select a high iteration number especially if you have a large file to delete.

How to shred files using Alternate File Shredder:

• Launch this software and add files or folders that you want to shred using Add File or Folder Buttons, respectively.
• After that, specify the Number Of Iterations, Enable or Disable Random Data Writing, and Shred File Name Options. You can also select one After Processing Tasks (do nothing, shutdown program, and shutdown window) that will automatically execute as file shredding process ends.
• Lastly, press the Shred Files Button to start the file shredding process.

TurboShredder

TurboShredder is another completely free open source file shredder software for Windows. Using this software, you can shred multiple files at a time. To shred files, you can use any one of the given shredding methods namely Gutmann, Secure Random, Zero, One, and Random. Along with a selected shredding method, you can also select the number of passes or overwrite using Passes Slider. A minimum of 1 pass and maximum of 100 passes or iterations can be selected for file shredding. There is one more option named Add Zero Pass is available, and by enabling it, you can overwrite the deleted data with Zeroes after the completion of shredding process.

To shred files, first, add one or more files by pressing the Add Button. After that, select the number of passes, shredding method, etc. Finally, press the Shred! Button to start file shredding process. During the shredding process, you can view the shredding progress of an individual file along with the overall shredding progress.

xShredder

xShredder is yet another free open source file shredder software for Windows. This file shredder can Shred Files, Folders, Directories, etc. along with Locked Files which are pretty to hard delete. However, it deletes locked files during the system reboot, unlike normal files which are deleted immediately without a reboot. To permanently delete files, this file shredder software uses various methods like US_Air_Force_5020, Filecutter, Russian_GOST_P507369, Peter_Gutmann, etc. Each of these methods uses a different number of iterations or passes to overwrite the deleted data with some garbage values.

Let’s take a look at the process of permanently deleting files through xShredder:

• Launch this software and open the create a new erase job window by pressing the New Button.
• In the Create new job window, you basically get two sections namely Erase Job Options (to select file shredding method and to enable or disable options like erase in all directories, destroy locked files, remove all empty directories, etc.) and File Contents Of Erase Job Options (to browse and select files and folders that you want to permanently delete). After that, save the newly create erase job and exit the erase job window.
• The saved erase job will automatically add to the main interface from where you can start the file shredding process by pressing the Execute All Button.

Overall, it is another handy open source file shredding software that you can use to shred sensitive data and files.

Secure Shredder Console

Secure Shredder Console is the next free and open source file shredding software for Windows. It is a console based software that allows you to shred both files and folders of various types. Plus, it also gives you a lot of file shredding methods to shred files such as Zero Data 1 Pass, British HMG IS5-Baseline 1 Pass, Russian GOST P50739-95 2 Passes, British HMG IS5-Enhanced 3 Passes, Peter Gutmann 35 Passes, and more. Using this software is slightly difficult because of the lack of interface. Still, you can follow below steps to shred files through this software.

How to shred files using this command line open source file shredder:

• Firstly, launch this software in Command prompt and write SecureShredder -help to view all commands to use shredding methods, such as: -gvistr command to use German VSITR 7 Passes shredding method.
• After that, write SecureShredder again, then put a space and enter one of shredding method commands and put one more space and enter the path of file or folder within double quotes.
• Lastly, press Enter to initiate the shredding process.

The whole shredding command would look similar to this: SecureShredder -bhmg "LISTOFFREEWARE 1"

Tiny Secure Suite

Tiny Secure Suite is a free, portable, open source file shredder software for Windows. As the name implies, it is actually a software suite that comes with various modules. One of its modules named as SimplyShred is used to shred files. It is a very simple module in which you only need to provide the path of a file that you want to shred. After specifying the file path, press the Shred Button to start file shredding process. This software does not disclose which shredding method it uses or how many overwrite iterations it performs to shred files. So, consider this aspect of this software before shredding some sensitive data through it.

Besides SimplyShred Module, it provides four more modules namely, ClamWin Free Antivirus, Firewall PAPI, Yet Another Secure Folder, and AES crypto Modules. Overall, if you want a simple and quick file shredder software, then go with this one.

Open Shredder

Open Shredder is another free portable and open source file shredder software for Windows. It is a straightforward file shredder software through which you can easily shred all types of files and folders. It gives you two shredding or wiping methods to shred files and folders namely Zero Pass and DoD 3 Pass. By using any one of these wiping methods, you can permanently erase the files and folders from your system.

How to shred files using Open Shredder:

• Launch this software and add one or more files by pressing the Add Files Button.
• After that, go to the Shred Files Menu and press the Start Button to start file shredding.

This software also keeps a record of all file shredding process in an OpenShredder.log file. You can access this file from the native folder of this software.

File Nuke

File Nuke is yet another portable, open source file shredder software for Windows. It is a simple and straightforward file shredder software. Through this software, you can select and shred one file at a time. However, this software does not disclose which shredding method it uses or how many passes or iterations it performed to shred files. So, keep that in mind before shredding a file with it.

In order to shred files through this software, launch this and select a file for shredding. After that, this software asks you for confirmation to shred file because once a file gets deleted, then it cannot be recovered back. Press Yes button on the confirmation message window to permanently delete the file. Overall, it is another simple file shredding software that you can use to shred sensitive files.

Permadelete

Permadelete is a free open source File Shredder app for Windows 10. It is a beautifully designed app that allows you to permanently delete files and folders in a very quick manner. In it, you only get Shred File (to select and shred files), Shred Folder (to select and shred folders), and Cancel option (to cancel the shredding process). Besides this, it also supports drag and drop functionality and because of it, you can directly drop files and folders to its interface for permanent deletion. As soon as you add or drop files or folder to its interface, the shredding process will start. In order to permanently delete files, this freeware also uses an overwriting method that overwrites the data with some garbage data to remove the possibility of data recovery. However, this app does not overwrite the data multiple times like other similar software, instead, it only overwrites data once. Overall, it is a very simple and easy to use File shredding app that you can use without much hassle.