As most of the readers of these documents are aware, when we delete a file on a windows system the file is not truly deleted until the drive is in need of the space the file occupies and writes over it with new data. And as explored in the previous section how simple it is for data to be recovered by anyone who has access to the affected drive volumes.
It is absolutely critical that important information be destroyed effectively and so that it cannot be retrieved later. On a Linux platform or a windows platform this is very simple however due to lack of forensics testing it is unclear what happens when we try to destroy information on the Novell platform.
However we can safely say that the following is the best practice for destroying data from a NetWare server, the Novell command purge is a lot like a windows empty the recycle bin command however much more through in destroying the data then the windows function.
To delete a NetWare file simply delete it using the windows delete command from any network connected client. The file is then marked for overwrite by the NetWare server and follows the same process as deleting a file from a windows or Linux system.
In order to delete the files completely we must simply call the Novell purge command or use the extensively useful filer command found in the public directory
Choose the Purge Deleted files option from the main filer window
Select the purge method (for best results use the second option)
Wait while the purge program deletes all the files and then return to the main menu and exit the program knowing that the data has been successfully deleted
