SDELTEMP file appeared in my 1Password 4 Windows folder.

Bunburyite

SDELTEMP file appeared in my 1Password 4 Windows folder. Now 54GB and growing. where is this coming from? Can I delete it?
Have tried to attach an image file, but not accepting it.

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1Password Version: 4.3.1.560
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: Windows 7
Sync Type: Not Provided

AGAlumB

@Bunburyite: Thanks for contacting us. I'm sorry for the trouble!

Are you by any chance running Windows in a virtual machine? I know that I've heard of this happening during a Secure Delete operation in VirtualBox specifically. It sounds like this is the file you're referring to:

C:\Program Files (x86)\1Password 4\SDELTEMP

The file should eventually be removed when the disk runs out of space (as it is attempting to clear free space securely). Please let me know what you find. I look forward to hearing back from you!

Bunburyite

Thanks for the reply. Yes, you have the right file. I am running Windows 7 Pro on a Toshiba laptop, so it is not a virtual machine. Windows 7 is all up to date. I have noticed my C:/ drive memory filling up, and have just tracked down the reason to this file. Obviously this is hardly normal behaviour? Thanks for your help.

AGAlumB

@Bunburyite: Actually this is (relatively) normal for the Secure Delete process, which cleans up after temp files.

It can seem a little weird (especially on SSDs) since it sometimes has to go to extreme lengths to ensure that unencrypted temporary copies of your 1Password attachments are not left on disk. Given the way that the NTFS filesystem moves files around, it can be difficult to properly overwrite data; so Secure Delete takes a 'better safe than sorry' approach when it comes to removing all traces of data you've elected to secure.

As I mentioned above, once it finishes the temporary file will be removed. I hope this helps! :)

Bunburyite

Thanks Brenty, will keep an eye on it. It was a bit of a surprise to see my file filling up wondering what sort of virus activity going on! Never had anything like this happen in the 5 years this machine been ticking along, still going fine.

AGAlumB

@Bunburyite: Understood! Sorry to cause any alarm.

It isn't ideal, but we're just not comfortable leaving your data on disk, unencrypted. Be sure to let us know how it turns out!

Bunburyite

The SDELTEMP file seems to have stalled at 54 026 240kB and nothing more happening at the present. However, It does mean that I have 54 GB of file storage that seems to be out of my reach at present? If I need this space, what do I do?

svondutch

@Bunburyite SDELTEMP should clean itself up eventually. Have you tried restarting your computer? Thanks!

likeskyline

If you don't what is it exactly, you'd better delete it, after all it appears suddenly ...

AGAlumB

@likeskyline: I'm not sure exactly what you mean. But sdelete should...well, delete its temporary files itself when it's done. After all that's what Secure Delete is for! :)

Bunburyite

Yes, I have tried rebooting my computer, no change there. Will keep an eye on it. However I have a C: drive showing I only have 5GB of storage left. 54GB of my free storage space has been swallowed up by the SDELTEMP file in the 1 Password 4 folder. I'm not conversant with what these files should be doing...

MikeT

Hi @Bunburyite,

Do you have any cleaning tool on your computer that could interfere with this, a tool that promises to optimize your computer?

Can you also check the anti-virus tool's logs to see if they said anything about it.

If you start to run out of space, just trash the temp file and reboot, you should be okay.

One more thing, do you have any large attachments stored within 1Password that exceed 10mb in size? There's no reason the temp file should be that large in the first place unless you're opening up a lot of large attachments.

likeskyline

why delete??

AGAlumB

why delete??

@likeskyline: The SDELTEMP file is just, well... a TEMPorary file created by the Secure DELete process; it isn't anything anyone needs. Its purpose is to fill free space with random noise to obliterate any traces of decrypted data. :)

MikeT

Hi @likeskyline,

Just to expand on what brenty said, 1Password has to decrypt your attachments in order for you to see the usable data and to open it in other application. It does this by decrypting the attachment and places a temporary copy of it on your drive.

Once you're done with the attachment and lock 1Password, it will perform a security cleanup to remove any traces of that decrypted file. We use seldelete to remove the traces securely, so other apps cannot attempt to recover it.

Bunburyite

Thanks for your help. The SDELETE file did eventually sort itself out. But it did leave me with very little room on the C Drive for a couple of weeks. I notice it is sitting on 18GB of info at present... By the way, I don't have any cleaning tools on the computer

MikeT

Hi @bunburite,

The SDELETE file did eventually sort itself out. But it did leave me with very little room on the C Drive for a couple of weeks. I notice it is sitting on 18GB of info at present...

When you say it did sort itself out, do you mean it stopped getting bigger or did it remove itself but created a new 18GB one? We're investigating to see what else we can do to improve this.

As mentioned before, you can delete the 18GB temp file if you need the space.

By the way, I don't have any cleaning tools on the computer

Thanks for answering one of the questions, can you answer the question about the size of attachments you're opening, are you storing big files in 1Password and if yes, what is the size?

If you're not sure, we can get a general idea by looking at your 1Password folder's size. To do this, first find the path to your 1Password folder;

1. Open the main 1Password program, unlock, and click on the Preferences button on the toolbar
2. Go to the General section to look at the folder path next to 1Password Vault
3. Open Windows Explorer and head to that folder, right-click on 1Password.agilekeychain to select Properties and look at Size on disk