Thumb Drive and Secure Empty Trash?

[riley5108]

I have some files on a thumb drive I want to erase completely from that drive. I don't want to erase the whole thumb drive and reformat it again. So if I drag the files off the thumb drive into the trash and select Secure Empty Trash will that totally erase the files from the thumb drive?

[Chakravartin]

riley5108 wrote:
if I drag the files off the thumb drive into the trash and select Secure Empty Trash will that totally erase the files from the thumb drive?

Kind of.

...Within the bounds of ordinary measures to recover the files.

The problem with flash-based storage (including SSDs) is that the data on the drive can be shuffled around periodically to minimize the impact of redundant write-cycles on short-lived memory-registers. This is less of a problem with USB flash drives than with SSDs, but it is still an issue.

Securely-erasing a file overwrites the file in its present location, but since portions of the file may have been rewritten several times across many places on the drive, there's a good chance that much of the file is still present and readable with the appropriate software. It take more than a simple undelete app to do the job, but the data's not impossible to get.

The best way to securely erase a file from a flash-based drive is to securely erase (overwrite) the whole drive.

[riley5108]

Thanks ChaK,

That's kind of what I was afraid would be the answer. Appreciate the very complete and informative answer.

I accidently dropped some tax files on a USB Thumb or Flash drive then I dropped them in the computers Trash and used the Secure Empty Trash. When I get the other files off I guess erasing using DU and reformat will be the safest thing to do.

I had searched and found different answers, some said yes using Secure Empty Trash would overwrite the drives .trash file on the thumb drive and others said to erase the drive using DU and reformat.

[Racer X]

Other than smashing it with a hammer, copy the data off, do an 7/8 way erase/reformat, then copy back. If you are that paranoid.

[riley5108]

Racer X wrote:
Other than smashing it with a hammer, copy the data off, do an 7/8 way erase/reformat, then copy back. If you are that paranoid.

Thanks Racer,

I knew that and I'm not so paranoid to run a 7 way erase. That thumb drive goes everywhere with me and just want to be certain those files won't be easily recovered if lost. I think Secure Empty Trash, erase and reformat will do just fine ... no hammer needed.

[yeoman]

Not wishing to highjack this thread but can someone educate me on thumb drives that have built-in hardware encryption.

[Racer X]

Actually, another way would be to copy off the good data, fill the drive ALL the way up, THEN do a secure empty trash. It will erase and overwrite everything. Then reformat and reload the software.