Comments for Can I prevent a file from being deleted?

Comment from J's PC Repair on 2009-07-07

2009-07-07T16:34:19Z

Ya know, AL CORTEZ, you are full of it...

"YES YOU CAN PREVENT A FILE FROM BEING DELETED. THERE IS A WAY. THE PROBLEM IS WE DON'T KNOW HOW. TRY PANDA USB VACCINE. IT WILL CREATE AN "AUTORUN" FILE ON YOU FLASHDRIVE WHICH WILL IMMUNIZE IT FROM VIRUSES. YOU KNOW WHAT? ONLY FORMATING YOUR FLASHDRIVE CAN DELETE THAT "AUTORUN" FILE. ALSO BEEN WONDERING HOW THEY DO IT. TRY IT AND YOU'LL BE AMAZED."

If you don't know how, then you obviously don't know much. Also, creating an "Autorun" file on a USB Flash can still be deleted by the simpelist means. I have several USB's that have Autorun files on them and even when hidden and read only, they can be deleted by simply highlighting and deleting the file in the ordinary fashion.

Simply put... there is NO WAY TO PREVENT A FILE FROM BEING DELETED EXCEPT by issuing Administrator Privilages such as they have at Libraries and other Computer Cafe's... in those systems, you cannot delete a file unless you created it, and you cannot download, access or otherwise mess with any system files because the Admin has set them to restricted access to general public users.

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Comment from Ziggie on 2009-05-25

2009-05-26T00:17:56Z

If deleting means making inaccessible, then its simple to destroy whatever drive the data is on.

Formatting a drive can delete it too.

No way to prevent it from being deleted if anyone else has access to it. (best bet is a thumb drive in your pocket, but that's not guaranteed either).

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A comment on: Can I prevent a file from being deleted?

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Comment from AL CORTEZ on 2009-05-24

2009-05-25T03:39:32Z

THIS IS LEO'S ANSWER:

"The short answer is no. You can't prevent it."

YOU ARE WRONG!!!
YES YOU CAN PREVENT A FILE FROM BEING DELETED. THERE IS A WAY. THE PROBLEM IS WE DON'T KNOW HOW. TRY PANDA USB VACCINE. IT WILL CREATE AN "AUTORUN" FILE ON YOU FLASHDRIVE WHICH WILL IMMUNIZE IT FROM VIRUSES. YOU KNOW WHAT? ONLY FORMATING YOUR FLASHDRIVE CAN DELETE THAT "AUTORUN" FILE. ALSO BEEN WONDERING HOW THEY DO IT. TRY IT AND YOU'LL BE AMAZED.

I still disagree. I'm sure there's a way to delete it.

- Leo
25-May-2009

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A comment on: Can I prevent a file from being deleted?

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Comment from Alisa on 2009-03-24

2009-03-24T09:28:42Z

I wanted to put a file(video) in an USB thumbdrive and doesn't want to be deleted. I want it permanently there. I heard from my friend that in order to do this, i must do it in desktop or notebook, can't do it in USB. Once the file became "undeletable" at the computer, we can copy to the USB and the file will be permanently at both computer and USB. Is it true? You have any better way of doing it?
Thanks for your help.

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Comment from Simcha on 2008-07-29

2008-07-30T06:27:01Z

I've often tried to delete a Windows directory and gotten stopped because of a flash??.ocx (?? stands for 8c or 9b or some other version code). Even from another windows installation or Windows PE CD, it can't be deleted, so I know the file isn't in use. I can't figure out how (or why) Adobe makes it undeletable. It would seem there is some technique that might be useful for protecting other files.

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Comment from Dave on 2008-07-23

2008-07-24T00:29:33Z

yeah Diana, it's truecrypt....my bad...you can make a truecrypt container as big or as small as you want or need. When mounted it acts just like another hard drive partition.

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Comment from ShawnPatrick on 2008-07-22

2008-07-23T06:58:14Z

Though I don't have to share my computer/laptop with anyone else I use external USB harddrives to keep a good portion of what is on my main drive (C:) In that way I'm more assured of it's safety and security. The external USB hard drives comes in a variety of compact sizes and are reasonable in price. They are transportable on to other computers.

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Comment from Diana on 2008-07-22

2008-07-23T01:19:07Z

Dave,
I found TruCrypt when I Googled that name, but all the sites pointed to a program called TrueCrypt, so I hope that TrueCrypt was the program about which you were talking. When I went to their web site, it looks like the program is disk encryption software. I didn't see any options for encrypting a single file. Am I not getting the best info from their screenshots? Can you make TrueCrypt hide a file?

TrueCrypt doesn't encrypt individual files. You create a container using TrueCrypt and place files (as many as you like) in to the container and they are encrypted automatically. In a way it's easier than individual encryption since all you need do is mount the container and the files are there to be used normally.

For individual file encryption I have heard things about http://www.axantum.com/AxCrypt/, but I've never used it myself.

-Leo

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Comment from Octav on 2008-07-22

2008-07-22T23:56:35Z

Don't forget the ultimate physical threat to data integrity: a big, powerful magnet.

Actually, I've read that what we think of as big magnets turn out to be much less effective than we might think. Surprising, to me anyway, but apparently so.
-Leo

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A comment on: Can I prevent a file from being deleted?

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Comment from Dave on 2008-07-22

2008-07-22T23:00:25Z

You have to be careful about using apps that promise to hide a file or folder, I know of one that just moves the file to the app's directory and doesn't really hide it at all....easily found using windows explorer. I think the name of the one I'm talking about is "folder lock" I prefer really encryptioning it with trucrypt. With trucrypt you can make a container using any extension like a .dat or .jpg...something no one would expect to be able to read...

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Comment from Diana on 2008-07-22

2008-07-22T17:10:24Z

Hi, Leo,
I'm wondering: there are programs (some free ones) that will actually hide a file or folder so that anyone looking at your computer doesn't even know it exists. Off the top of my head I can't think of the name of one of those programs, but I'm sure you've heard of them. If a file is hidden, and it requires a special password of its own to unhide it, wouldn't that prevent its deletion – barring the reformatting of the hard drive or the actual physical removal of the machine or drive?

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A comment on: Can I prevent a file from being deleted?

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Comment from Deyaa Addeen Fahmy Shedeed on 2008-07-22

2008-07-22T16:22:03Z

Pls, what about Special Permissions ?
How can I control it ?
thanks.

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A comment on: Can I prevent a file from being deleted?

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