Deleting copies of retrieved data.

To delete copies of retrieved data from your Western Digital backup hard drive without doing it manually, you can use the Windows Disk Cleanup utility or a command-line tool like Cipher.exe to overwrite deleted data. However, these methods may not specifically target only the copies of the files you retrieved; they will generally clean up temporary files or free space on the drive.

1. Disk Cleanup Utility: This built-in tool helps you free up space by removing temporary files and system files. You can access it by searching for "Disk Cleanup" in the Start menu. Select the drive you want to clean, and it will show you options for files to delete.
2. Using Cipher.exe: If you want to ensure that deleted data cannot be recovered, you can use the Cipher.exe command with the /w switch to overwrite deleted data. Open Command Prompt and type cipher /w:<directory> where <directory> is the folder you want to clean. This will overwrite all deallocated space on that volume, effectively removing any traces of deleted files.

These methods will help you manage your storage without having to manually delete each copy of the retrieved data.