Flash drives dangerously hard to purge of sensitive data

[seth500]

I'm not worried about it.....

http://www.overclockers.com/forums/showthread.php?t=649711

 

[Golden]

Actually.....is it possible to run memtest86+ on a SSD? Wouldn't that "shred" the data on the drive?

 

[lehnerus2000]

Wear Levelling

This problem must be a result of the wear levelling process.

I chatted to my friend who designs/prototypes electronic equipment for a living (we worked together as technicians years ago).
As long as you delete the original files and then write a single file, which writes to every memory location, you should be safe.

I can't see how it is possible for a solid state memory to (simultaneously) remember two bits of data in a location that only holds one bit.
There is no head wobble (or magnetic spread) in Flash memory.

 

[pacinitaly]

not even a heavy duty magnet to erase data?

 

[Klaw117]

not even a heavy duty magnet to erase data?

I don't think that works on SSDs. For HDDs, it will probably work, although a lot of modern drives are designed to sustain some heavy abuse before failing. I still think your safest bet is to grab a hammer and go all out on your drive.

 

[seekermeister]

not even a heavy duty magnet to erase data?

I don't think that works on SSDs. For HDDs, it will probably work, although a lot of modern drives are designed to sustain some heavy abuse before failing. I still think your safest bet is to grab a hammer and go all out on your drive.

The hammer may provide a means of venting, but there are a lot of ways to use old hard drives, without totally destroying them. You can make bookends, chimes, etc. out of them, which at least gives them some residual value.

 

[Windows 911]

I'm sure a sledgehammer or a strong chemical would do the job I wonder, since that info is out, that companies might be a little apprehensive of switching to SSD's... Who knows, maybe hard drives are here to stay for a while, at least until they figure out an efficient way of wiping SSD's.

 

[bobtran]

Simply run a command line format (not the GUI format) on the flash-drive, run it multiple times if you are paranoid.

"FORMAT volume [U:label] [/P: passes]"
where passes = Zero every sector on the volume passes times.

Do NOT use the /Q flag as quick format only eliminates the pointers and not the data.

 

[pacinitaly]

Simply run a command line format (not the GUI format) on the flash-drive, run it multiple times if you are paranoid.

"FORMAT volume [U:label] [/P: passes]"
where passes = Zero every sector on the volume passes times.

Do NOT use the /Q flag as quick format only eliminates the pointers and not the data.

very good!

 

[wilywombat]

Try using truecrypt (free) and selecting AES + Twofish encryption algorithm and whirlpool hash algorithm with a long password for the entire drive. When you dont need it anymore re-encrypt the whole drive as above with a different long password.