The FlexTk file management toolkit provides the user with a large number of flexible file delete capabilities
allowing one to delete huge amounts of files very fast and effectively. In addition, power computer users and
IT professionals are provided with the ability to optimize performance of delete operations for user-specific
storage configurations and performance requirements. Finally, users required to physically destroy confidential
or classified information are provided with numerous multi-pass data wiping capabilities ranging from a simple
single-pass wipe to a powerful, 7-Pass DOD 5220.22-M compliant (FlexTk Ultimate Only) data wiping algorithm.
For more information about expected performance refer to:
Performance Review
Frequently used file delete operations may be customized for user-specific needs, pre-configured as user-defined
commands and executed in a single mouse click using FlexTk's main GUI application or direct desktop shortcuts.
In addition, FlexTk Professional and FlexTk Ultimate provide a command line tool allowing one to execute
user-defined file delete commands from batch files and shell scripts or schedule periodic file delete operations
using a general purpose command scheduler. For more details about user-defined commands refer to the
User-Defined Commands page.
In order to start a simple file delete operation, select one or more files or directories and press the 'Delete' key.
If you wish to perform a regular delete operation using default parameters, just press the 'Delete' button and wait
for the operation to complete. During the delete process, FlexTk will display the delete progress dialog showing
the total number of deleted files, the total amount of deleted storage space and the performance of the delete process.
Deleting vast amounts of files may require a significant amount of time. Sometimes, in order to perform an urgent operation,
one may need to temporary pause a long-running delete operation. Press the 'Pause' button to temporary suspend an ongoing
operation and press the 'Continue' button to resume the operation. Press the 'Stop' button to cancel an ongoing file delete
operation.
When deleting files from protected operating system directories or running production systems, some delete operations may
fail due to one or more files locked by the operating system or other running applications. By default, FlexTk logs
non-critical errors in the operation log and continues the file delete operation. Press the 'Errors' button to see all failed
delete operations.
Advanced File Delete and Data Wiping Options
In order to open the advanced delete and data wiping options dialog, press the 'Advanced Options' button located on the delete
dialog. The options dialog consists of the 'General' tab, the 'Rules' tab and the 'Performance' tab.
The 'General' tab allows one to control the following parameters:
- Show Delete Progress - this parameter allows one to enable/disable the progress bar on the delete process dialog. Disabling the progress bar when deleting large amounts of files will result in better performance and significantly shorter delete times.
- Wipe Data From Disk - check this option and select an appropriate data wiping algorithm to physically wipe data from the disk. Complex, multi-pass data wiping algorithms are overwriting files multiple times using specially designed data patterns. Take into account that deleting files with data wiping, especially using complex, multi-pass algorithms, will result in a significantly lower performance and will require significant amounts of time.
- File Scanning Mode - FlexTk is capable of deleting files located in multiple directories/disks in parallel thus improving the speed of the delete process on multi-CPU/multi-core systems. Select the 'Parallel' file scanning mode if you wish to delete files in all input directories simultaneously.
- File Scanning Filter - Sometimes, users need to delete a subset of files meeting one or more user-specific requirements. For example, one may need to delete documents only. In this case, set the file scanning filter to '*.doc' (MS Word Documents) and FlexTk will delete document files only.
The 'Rules' tab (FlexTk Ultimate Only) provides the user with the ability to delete files matching one or more user-defined
criteria. For example, one may wish to delete all types of documents that were not accessed during the last year. In order to add
one or more file matching rules, press the 'Add' button. Select an existing file matching rule and press the 'Delete' button to
remove the selected file matching rule. If no rules are specified, FlexTk will delete all the specified input files and directories.
The 'Performance' tab (FlexTk Professional and FlexTk Ultimate) provides the user with the ability to optimize file
delete operations for user-specific storage configurations and performance requirements. FlexTk is optimized for
multi-core/multi-CPU computers and advanced RAID storage systems and capable of deleting or wiping multiple files
simultaneously. In order to speed up the file delete process, use multiple delete threads when deleting files located
on multiple physical hard disks or a RAID disk array.
Users needing to delete large amounts of files from a running production server or an enterprise storage system should take into
account a number of additional factors. A full-speed file delete or data wiping operation may have a significant impact on the
performance of the running system. In order to minimize the potential performance degradation, FlexTk provides flexible
performance optimization options allowing one to control the speed of the delete or data wiping process. According to your
specific needs, select the 'Full Speed', 'Medium Speed', 'Low Speed' or 'Manual Control' performance mode.
