How to format a USB drive safely?

[seventrad]

[SOLVED] How to format a USB drive safely?

Hi,

I searched in many web pages and I learned that secure formatting (DoD, NSA, Gutman, etc...) doesn't works with USB drives. Is it true?

So, how can I secure delete a USB drive preventing a recovery data? What software I need?

 

[theog]

Try a full clean & full format in command prompt.
http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/52129-disk-clean-clean-all-diskpart-command.html


Type in command line

DISKPART
LIST DISK
SELECT DISK # (USB HD)
CLEAN ALL
CREATE PARTITION PRIMARY
SELECT PARTITION 1
FORMAT
EXIT
EXIT

 

[seventrad]

The correct way

I searched in web and I found the correct way:

1º) Install Eraser 6 or above:
Link: Eraser :: Downloads

2º) VERY IMPORTANT STEP: Delete all data in USB device with DELETE key or FORMAT it with the Windows Explorer! The USB device need to be completely empty.

3º) Run Eraser 6 as Administrator (very important for Windows Vista/7 users). Right-click mouse and choose "Run as administrator".


4º) Choose the options below:

1 - Create a "New Task"


2 - Choose "Run immediately" and click in "Add Data"


3 - Choose the "Erasure Method" (the correct option is "Pseudorandom Data 1 Pass" - only 1 pass. For more detail see reference (*)) and check "Unused disk space", then select the USB drive. Check "Erase cluster tips".


4 - Click "Ok" and the erase will be run immediately!


5 - During the task, all unused bytes in USB device will be overwritten by random data! Only 1 pass is necessary (*).


(*) Reference: Heidi Computers Ltd Support - View topic - Erasing USB key Drives (for understand I recommend the read all topics)

 

[Britton30]

CCleaner also has the option of a secure wipe of a drive. You can choose only free space or wipe the entire drive.
Did Eraser6 wipe the entire drive or only free space? Your snip shows only unused space being overwritten.

 

[seventrad]

CCleaner also has the option of a secure wipe of a drive. You can choose only free space or wipe the entire drive.
Did Eraser6 wipe the entire drive or only free space? Your snip shows only unused space being overwritten.

1º) In Eraser 6 the only available option is "Unused disk space"! But, deleting all data in USB device before or formatting it, entire drive will be overwritten!

2º) CCleaner Driver Wiper is very, very slow! Example for one USB device with only 1GB!

 

[Britton30]

In CCLeaner Options/settings where do you have the overwrite settings? It has the options od 1,3,7, or 35 passes. for A USB flash drive, 1 pass should be enough.

 

[rbeldua]

In CCLeaner Options/settings where do you have the overwrite settings? It has the options od 1,3,7, or 35 passes. for A USB flash drive, 1 pass should be enough.

i agree with britton, i done that probably hundred times already. in the office we had to secure our files as not to be retrieved by any undelete/recovery software. 1 pass is enough.

 

[seventrad]

In CCLeaner Options/settings where do you have the overwrite settings? It has the options od 1,3,7, or 35 passes. for A USB flash drive, 1 pass should be enough.

i agree with britton, i done that probably hundred times already. in the office we had to secure our files as not to be retrieved by any undelete/recovery software. 1 pass is enough.

I use CC's Drive Wiper with only 1 pass, see:
View attachment 158030

 

[Britton30]

How long did CCleaner take in actuality? Many program give an estimate which is high then completes in a much shorter time. I trust CCleaner to do a good job, if a program says it wipes and takes a few seconds, not so trustworthy. A wipe is CPU-intensive too and will be slower with other programs running at the same time.

 

[seventrad]

How long did CCleaner take in actuality? Many program give an estimate which is high then completes in a much shorter time. I trust CCleaner to do a good job, if a program says it wipes and takes a few seconds, not so trustworthy. A wipe is CPU-intensive too and will be slower with other programs running at the same time.

Eraser spends only 6 minutes to do the same job. See:
View attachment 158032

 

[Britton30]

You didn't answer my question.

 

[seventrad]

You didn't answer my question.

I will do the test. When I saw the time remaining I canceled the task.

 

[seventrad]

How long did CCleaner take in actuality? Many program give an estimate which is high then completes in a much shorter time. I trust CCleaner to do a good job, if a program says it wipes and takes a few seconds, not so trustworthy. A wipe is CPU-intensive too and will be slower with other programs running at the same time.

1h 8min

Started : 17:44
Finished: 18:52

The question is: why CCleaner spends 1 hour and Eraser spends 6 minutes? Eraser not is a good software?

 

[Britton30]

Not neccessarily bad software. It may be how each reads the USB drive and the"speed" of the USB. Personally I would put more trust in software that takes the longer time giving the confidence it has done its job.
But since you've run both the drive is certainly wiped clean.
I don't know why CCleaner takes so much longer, I used it to wipe a 8GB drive, 7 passes, in under 20 minutes.

 

[seventrad]

Not neccessarily bad software. It may be how each reads the USB drive and the"speed" of the USB. Personally I would put more trust in software that takes the longer time giving the confidence it has done its job.
But since you've run both the drive is certainly wiped clean.
I don't know why CCleaner takes so much longer, I used it to wipe a 8GB drive, 7 passes, in under 20 minutes.

The problem was my USB drive. It is very slow and very old. I used other USB drive 2.0 with 4GB and CC's Disk Wiper can cleaned it in few minutes.

Thank you for your help?

 

[lehnerus2000]

Wildly Overstated Performance?

The only thing that I can think of is that USB Flash stick manufacturers wildly overstate the performance of their devices.

Copying files to my USB stick takes stupid amounts of time.
I'd swear that my USB HDDs are actually faster.

 

[Britton30]

I have an old PNY 8GB which has very slow write speeds. I have a new AData S102 in 8 and 32GB which flies on write. They are USB 3.0, in the USB 3.0 port they are very fast, copying I have seen around 180-220 MBs.
The Patriot XT XPorter is almost as fast with its USB 2.0 interface.

 

[seventrad]

I have an old PNY 8GB which has very slow write speeds. I have a new AData S102 in 8 and 32GB which flies on write. They are USB 3.0, in the USB 3.0 port they are very fast, copying I have seen around 180-220 MBs.
The Patriot XT XPorter is almost as fast with its USB 2.0 interface.

My old USB is a MP3 Player (with many years of use). I guess it is an USB 1.1. Very slow to write. My new USB is a Kingston Black Jack 4GB USB 2.0, very fast for write and read, with one week of use.