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From: thricipio on 21 Mar 2010 13:31
Last week I placed some sensitive files on a flash drive for a brief period
(two or three hours) before deleting them. At this point, I'd like to make
sure that these deleted files CANNOT be recovered, and I know there are tools
out there that *can* restore deleted files. I need to make sure that any
such tools will NOT be able to recover the files in question.

So, I'm wondering if a "low-level" format operation would flip all the 1's
to 0's (so to speak), such that these files would be certainly unrecoverable.
Would formatting do the trick? And would different file system parameters
have security advantages over others? For example, I know that /FS:NTFS
seems to take a lot longer than, e.g., /FS:FAT32 and I wonder if that's
because it's doing a more thorough (lower-level?) format.

Any guidance on this will be extremely appreciated. If formatting is not an
adequate means to accomplish my objective, then if there is another means
(some kind of tool or utility) that could be recommended, I'm all ears... or
rather, eyes. ;-)

Many thanks. —Thri
From: VanguardLH on 21 Mar 2010 16:14
thricipio wrote:

> Last week I placed some sensitive files on a flash drive for a brief period
> (two or three hours) before deleting them. At this point, I'd like to make
> sure that these deleted files CANNOT be recovered, and I know there are tools
> out there that *can* restore deleted files. I need to make sure that any
> such tools will NOT be able to recover the files in question.

There is no magnetic residualism for memory devices as for magnetic hard
disks. You can use any utility that will write 1's and 0's to the filespace
originally occupied by the file. Heidi Eraser will do the job but you don't
have to go to the extreme of the Gutmann 35-pass routine. Just use the
1-pass pseudorandom routine.

For hard disks, and if you're only concerned about non-data recovery labs
obtaining access to your device, the pseudorandom routine is sufficient to
protect your data. If this is a company's hard disk which has policies
regarding super secrecy regarding their data then use the 7-pass DOD or
35-pass Gutmann routines (the more passes means the longer to do the erase).

How to Secure Erase USB Data
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYvuqBnXNCo

There are some shortcuts to what the author shows here. For example, you
don't need to define a task to erase the free space of a drive but can
simply right-click on the drive letter in Windows Explorer and select to
Erase Freespace. There are installable and portable versions of Eraser.
From: thricipio on 21 Mar 2010 20:30
Thanks for your resonse. However, I wasn't asking about encrypton software;
rather how to ensure that erased files are *really* erased, etc. But, FWIW,
I've already looked into and installed PGP. Thanks again for your reply.
--Thri

"Pegasus [MVP]" wrote:

> Seriously: If you are concerned about data security then you
> should look at TrueCrypt (http://www.truecrypt.org/downloads.php). It > lets you set up an extra drive that is based on a single TrueCrypt
> file on your flash disk.
From: thricipio on 21 Mar 2010 20:40
Thanks, VLH... Looks like I'll be going with heidi Eraser 5.88 (portable).
Your help is much appreciated. Thanks again. --Thri

"VanguardLH" wrote:

> :
> [snip]
> :
> You can use any utility that will write 1's and 0's to the filespace
> originally occupied by the file. Heidi Eraser will do the job
> :
> [snip]
> :
From: smlunatick on 22 Mar 2010 09:23
On Mar 22, 12:40 am, thricipio <thrici...(a)discussions.microsoft.com>
wrote:
> Thanks, VLH... Looks like I'll be going with heidi Eraser 5.88 (portable)..  
> Your help is much appreciated.  Thanks again.  --Thri
>
> "VanguardLH" wrote:
> > :
> > [snip]
> > :
> > You can use any utility that will write 1's and 0's to the filespace
> > originally occupied by the file.  Heidi Eraser will do the job
> > :
> > [snip]
> > :

You need to also note that the lifespan of most flash drives / media
is "limited." The more times you write to these drives / medias, the
shorter the life of the drive.
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