NTFSWIPE(8)

✨ ntfswipe — the NTFS glow-up page ✨

okay bestie, welcome to ntfswipe(8) 💅 this is a System Manager's Manual moment and honestly? iconic.

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🎀 NAME 🎀

ntfswipe — overwrite unused space on an NTFS volume. like, literally scrubbing the leftover vibe out of your disk 🧹✨

💖 SYNOPSIS 💖

ntfswipe [options] device

🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so ntfswipe clears all or part of the unused space on an NTFS volume, and it does it by overwriting that space with zeroes or with random bytes. that's the whole gig. no cap 🔥

👑 OPTIONS 👑

below is a summary of all the options ntfswipe accepts. nearly all options have two equivalent names — the short name is preceded by - and the long name is preceded by --. any single letter options that don't take an argument can be combined into a single command, e.g. -fv is equivalent to -f -v. long named options can be abbreviated to any unique prefix of their name. iykyk 💫

• -a, --all — wipe all unused space. this may take significant time (like, significant significant 😭). if the option --unused-fast (or -U) is also present, the faster wiping method is used instead 🏃‍♀️
• -b, --bytes BYTE-LIST — define the allowed replacement bytes which are drawn randomly to overwrite the unused space. BYTE-LIST is a comma-separated list of values in range 0-255 expressed in octal, decimal or hexadecimal base. mix and match, it's giving custom palette 🎨
• -c, --count NUM — define the number of times the unused space is to be overwritten. if both options --bytes and --count are set, the space is repeatedly overwritten this number of times by each of the values in the list. so like, one pass per value per round, bestie 🔁
• -d, --directory — wipe all the directory indexes, which may contain names of deleted files. bye-bye receipts of your past files 👋
• -f, --force — this will override some sensible defaults, such as not using a mounted volume. use this option with caution ⚠️ like, for real. this is your main character energy option and main character energy has consequences 💀
• -h, --help — show a list of options with a brief description of each one 🫶
• -i, --info — display details about unused space, without wiping anything. a little look-see, no commitment 🙈
• -l, --logfile — overwrite the logfile (update journal) 📓
• -m, --mft — overwrite the unused space in the MFT (main file table, which contains the file names, and the contents of short files) 🗂️
• -n, --no-action — executes the wiping process without writing to device. rehearsal era 🎭
• -p, --pagefile — overwrite the Windows swap space 🪟
• -q, --quiet — suppress some debug/warning/error messages. inner peace 🤫
• -s, --undel — overwrite the space which had been allocated to a file which has been deleted recently and is still undeletable. this option is not compatible with --bytes, and the replacement bytes are random ones or taken from a standard list ⭐
• -t, --tails — overwrite the space at the end of files which is unused, but allocated because the allocations are always done by full clusters. tail-end cleanup, the way that it should be 🎀
• -u, --unused — overwrite the space which is currently not allocated to any file (but may have been used in the past) 👻
• -U, --unused-fast — overwrite the space which is currently not allocated to any file, trying not to overwrite the space not written to since the previous wiping. speedrun mode, lowkey 🏎️
• -v, --verbose — display more debug/warning/error messages. this option may be used twice to display even more messages. double it and give it to the next person 📢
• -V, --version — show the version number, copyright and license of ntfswipe. the credentials, periodt 💅

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🌸 EXAMPLES 🌸

wipe out all unused space in an NTFS volume:

ntfswipe -a /dev/sda1

wipe out all deleted file names from an NTFS volume:

ntfswipe -dms /dev/sda1

🍓 BUGS 🍓

there are no known problems with ntfswipe ✨ (slay). if you find a bug please send an email describing the problem to the development team:

ntfs-3g-devel@lists.sf.net

🌈 AUTHORS 🌈

ntfswipe was written by Richard Russon, Anton Altaparmakov and Yura Pakhuchiy. it was ported to ntfs-3g by Erik Larson. legends, all of them 👑

🧚 AVAILABILITY 🧚

ntfswipe is part of the ntfs-3g package and is available from:

https://github.com/tuxera/ntfs-3g/wiki/

⭐ SEE ALSO ⭐

ntfs-3g(8), ntfsls(8), ntfsprogs(8) — go read the whole squad, bestie 📚

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and that's the page!! this one's from the ntfs-3g 2026.9.28 era, dated June 2014, and it's the official NTFSWIPE(8) manual page. mwah 💋 stay safe out there and don't -f a mounted volume unless you mean it 😭🫶