nwipe vs Strix Disk Cleaner
nwipe
github.comStrix Disk Cleaner
strix-tool.github.ioSide by side
| Figure | nwipe | Strix Disk Cleaner |
|---|---|---|
| Price from | Free | Free |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Open source | — | Yes |
| Windows | — | Yes |
| Linux | Yes | Yes |
| Self-hosted | Yes | — |
| Plans published | 1 | 1 |
| Spec score · Data Erasure Software | 7.9 (#6) | 7.9 (#7) |
| Spec score · Disk Wiping Software | 7.9 (#13) | 8.0 (#11) |
| Erase methods | Available methods include zero and one fills, DoD and Gutmann wipes, HMG IS5 Enhanced, Schneier, BMB21-2019, and verification passes. | It uses hardware sanitize where possible or multi-pass overwrite. |
| License | The project is licensed under GNU General Public License v2.0. | Source code is released under the MIT license. |
| Purpose | nwipe securely erases block devices and can wipe one drive or multiple disks in parallel. | Strix Disk Cleaner permanently wipes entire drives to NIST SP 800-88 and DoD 5220.22-M standards. |
Plans
In their own words
nwipe
nwipe is a free Linux utility for securely erasing block devices, either one drive at a time or multiple disks in parallel. It runs from the command line or through an ncurses-based graphical interface. Erase methods include zero and one fills, DoD and Gutmann wipes, verification passes, and BMB21-2019. For supported drives, the GUI also offers ATA and NVMe hardware-native block erase, cryptographic scramble, and pattern overwrite. Random-pattern methods can use selectable pseudorandom generators, including AES-256-CTR and ChaCha20. I/O modes include automatic, direct, and cached; automatic mode falls back to cached I/O if direct I/O is unsupported. hdparm is required at runtime, while smartmontools and dmidecode are optional recommended tools for features such as SMART certificate data and HPA/DCO detection. nwipe can generate a three-page PDF certificate. Hardware-sanitize options are interactive in the GUI and cannot be batched with automated multi-drive commands such as autonuke. Legacy ATA Secure Erase and freeze-lock handling are not supported.
Strix Disk Cleaner
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.