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is this absurd or logic way to erase Flash memory?

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(@williamsonn)
Posts: 85
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hello

I am thinking about this issue

If any eraser software what makes is to overwrite the drive with random data, and only a pass is needed to delete any previous stored data, then, would also be similarly effective for wiping, erasing a mp3 player using its voice recording option and filling the device with environment blank noise, or music?

 
Posted : 09/02/2013 2:17 am
Beetle
(@beetle)
Posts: 318
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hello

I am thinking about this issue

If any eraser software what makes is to overwrite the drive with random data, and only a pass is needed to delete any previous stored data, then, would also be similarly effective for wiping, erasing a mp3 player using its voice recording option and filling the device with environment blank noise, or music?

Why would you think it would be any different? The active data would be gone but the file system would be intact, I think this has been covered in other threads.

We used to just write one big random file over areas of drives we wanted to sanitize.

 
Posted : 09/02/2013 4:36 am
(@thepm)
Posts: 253
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Depends if your mp3 player is using HDD or Flash memory.

Flash memory is a bit different than HDDs as most Flash devices have more memory than advertised to be able to do wear levelling. This memory is not user accessible and is used solely by the Flash controller for the wear levelling tasks. During wear leveling, data can be copied and moved around everywhere on the Flash chips.

So, if you do a standard wipe that does 1-pass overwrite on a Flash drive, you might write on the user accessible memory, but not on the system reserved memory used for wear leveling, leaving potentially chunks of data that could be retrieved via JTAG or chip-off.

For example, a 120 GB SSD drive might in fact have 160 GB of Flash memory, but only 120 GB that is user accessible. So, if you do a standard wipe, you might end up wiping some 120 GB, potentially leaving 40 GB of chunks of data.

NIST suggests to wipe Flash and SSD drives with the ATA Secure Erase command, which self-erases all Flash chips on the drive, including system reserved ones. Of course, this works if the manufacturer has implemented the Secure Erase command correctly…

 
Posted : 09/02/2013 6:53 am
(@williamsonn)
Posts: 85
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then, is there any easy way(for non experts) to 100% delete an used flash memory before selling it?, if not, the only way would be to destroy the chips, and of course, the pendrive/mp3 player couldn´t be sold.

 
Posted : 10/02/2013 12:08 am
(@williamsonn)
Posts: 85
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then, is there any easy way(for non experts) to 100% delete an used flash memory before selling it?, if not, the only way would be to destroy the chips, and of course, the pendrive/mp3 player couldn´t be sold.

? For example would a full windows format reach all the flash memory levels?

 
Posted : 10/02/2013 12:10 am
(@williamsonn)
Posts: 85
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IS this article correct?

http//www.wipeyourdata.com/secure-data-wiping/how-to-securely-wipe-data-on-usb-thumb-drive/

 
Posted : 10/02/2013 12:15 am
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
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? For example would a full windows format reach all the flash memory levels?

No.

jaclaz

 
Posted : 10/02/2013 12:15 am
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
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IS this article correct?

http//www.wipeyourdata.com/secure-data-wiping/how-to-securely-wipe-data-on-usb-thumb-drive/

Yes and no.

jaclaz

 
Posted : 10/02/2013 12:22 am
(@williamsonn)
Posts: 85
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Topic starter
 

Then is there something to do for a common user, if he wants to sell some used mp3, sd cards, or pendrives?

 
Posted : 10/02/2013 12:34 am
jaclaz
(@jaclaz)
Posts: 5133
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Then is there something to do for a common user, if he wants to sell some used mp3, sd cards, or pendrives?

Usually e-bay is a good place to sell them. wink

Now, seriously.
Try asking this other question

IF there is no way to be 100% sure that ALL data has been wiped from a device, what are the chances for anyone not being part of a Government Agency to recover *any* data?

A. 0.00001

And what if they are not digital forensic/recovery experts?
A. 0.0000001

And what are the chances to recover meaningful data?
A. 0.00000001

Read, possibly this time attentively, the thread you were ALREADY pointed to
http//www.forensicfocus.com/Forums/viewtopic/p=6564944/#6564944

jaclaz

 
Posted : 10/02/2013 1:44 am
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