HDShredder vs Strix Disk Cleaner

HDShredder erases hard disks and other mass-storage contents at the physical level, independently of partition layout, file system, and operating system. It can wipe a whole drive, individual partitions, or selected areas, and supports SSDs and removable media. Each package includes a Windows program and a self-booting version with the same interface. SCSI, FireWire, and USB 3.0 are supported in Windows and in the bootable version. The Free Edition securely erases media at up to 6 GB/min and can display supported and recognized drives, though some drives require a higher edition. Standard Edition supports 15 international data-deletion standards, while Professional Edition and higher create detailed deletion reports. A pattern editor allows custom deletion procedures. Professional Edition Portable targets service providers and IT departments using arbitrary PCs, and Enterprise editions offer parallel mass deletion. Prices range from free for Free Edition to €799, paid once for Enterprise Edition 16x. Free-version users are directed to the forum; commercial-product users can open technical-support tickets.

Strix Disk Cleaner is a free tool for permanently wiping whole drives on Windows and Linux. It uses hardware sanitize where possible or multi-pass overwriting, and detects SSDs to recommend hardware sanitization because wear-levelling can make overwriting unreliable. The Windows edition provides a graphical interface and a printable destruction certificate; the Linux edition is a unit-tested command-line eraser. It cannot target individual files: its scope is whole drives. To reduce accidental selection, the system disk and mounted disks are unavailable, and destructive actions require typed confirmation. The tool makes no network calls and requires no account. SHA-256 checksums are published with each release for download verification. Builds are not yet code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen may warn on first run. The Free plan costs nothing and is open-source under the MIT license. The product page links to source code, documentation, and a security guide.