sys-shred

sys-shred is a multi-threaded, forensic-grade Rust library and CLI for the irreversible destruction of sensitive files.

Caution

IRREVERSIBLE DATA DESTRUCTION NOTICE

Data processed by sys-shred is physically overwritten at the hardware level. Please verify your target paths carefully before execution. Once processed, data cannot be recovered by forensic software.

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Disclaimer

This project is not affiliated with any government or military entity. It is provided for legitimate data sanitization, privacy protection, and compliance purposes. Users are responsible for using this tool legally and ethically. The maintainers discourage any malicious or unauthorized usage and are not liable for any misuse.

Key Features

• Hardware-Level Sync: Uses fsync and sync_all to bypass volatile OS caches and ensure data is written to physical media.
• True Streaming Parallelism: A major v1.2.0 upgrade that parallelizes file discovery and destruction, maintaining a constant RAM footprint even when processing millions of files.
• Aggressive Cache Bypassing: Utilizes platform-specific hints (F_NOCACHE on macOS, posix_fadvise on Linux) to ensure data bypasses the OS page cache for maximum forensic reliability.
• SSD Optimization: Supports hardware TRIM commands to mitigate wear-leveling artifacts on modern flash storage.
• Parallel Performance: Powered by rayon and par_bridge for high-throughput execution.

Important

This is the official repository for sys-shred. Please report bugs and request features via GitHub Issues.

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Quick Start

For a detailed list of options, run sys-shred --help.

To perform a standard cryptographic overwrite on a file:

sys-shred target_file.txt

Installation

Via Cargo (Recommended):

cargo install sys-shred

Via AUR (Arch Linux):

yay -S sys-shred

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Documentation Index

• Erasure Algorithms
  • Standard Cryptographic
  • Military Grade (DoD)
  • Maximum Security (Gutmann)
• Advanced Targeting
  • Recursive Destruction
  • Glob Exclusions
  • Dry-Run Simulation
• Enterprise Features
  • SSD TRIM / Discard
  • JSON Audit Logging
  • Hardware Read-Back Verification
• Safety Guards

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Erasure Algorithms

Standard Cryptographic

Overwrites data using three passes of cryptographically secure random entropy (default).

sys-shred confidential.pdf

Military Grade (DoD)

Implements the US Department of Defense 5220.22-M standard (Pass 1: Zeros, Pass 2: Ones, Pass 3: Random).

sys-shred sensitive_data.bin --method dod

Maximum Security (Gutmann)

The rigorous 35-pass Gutmann algorithm, designed for older magnetic media.

sys-shred classified_archive.tar.gz --method gutmann

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Advanced Targeting

Recursive Destruction

Destroy entire directory trees using a highly optimized, lock-free parallel execution engine.

sys-shred ./project_folder --recursive

Glob Exclusions

Exclude specific files or directories using wildcard patterns.

sys-shred ./server_logs --recursive --exclude "*.git/*"

Dry-Run Simulation

Preview which files will be targeted without modifying the filesystem.

sys-shred ./directory --recursive --dry-run

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Enterprise Features

SSD TRIM / Discard

Dispatches hardware-level block deallocation commands (FALLOC_FL_PUNCH_HOLE on Linux, FSCTL_SET_ZERO_DATA on Windows) to handle SSD wear-leveling.

sys-shred ./nvme_drive --method zero --trim

JSON Audit Logging

Generate verifiable destruction reports for GDPR/HIPAA compliance.

sys-shred ./financials -r --audit-log ./report.json --audit-format json

Hardware Verification

Validates destruction by reading physical blocks back into memory to ensure they were correctly overwritten.

sys-shred ./target --verify

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Safety Guards

• Symlink Protection: Isolates symbolic links, unlinking the reference without traversing or destroying the external target.
• Interactive Prompts: Confirmation prompts help prevent accidental recursive destruction. Use --force to bypass.

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Links

• GitHub Repository
• Crates.io
• AUR Package

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License

Copyright (c) 2026 V1lleneuve. Licensed under the MIT License.