Is Data Permanently Deleted

[somchai69]

There have been several discussions about the possible recovery of deleted data on hard disks,

despite sw techniques to overwrite the data.

Apparently ghost of the data remain in the magentic surface.

Is the same true of data on usb stick?

[Mario2008]

Yes, if you didn't overwrite or use a special deletion program there are several free programs on the internet that can recover your data form a USB stick.

[pieter73]

Yes, if you didn't overwrite or use a special deletion program there are several free programs on the internet that can recover your data form a USB stick.

also from memory cards like sd cards etc.

it only gets overwritten when you put something new on it.

If you really want to delete something there are also some programs to do that

Pieter

[somchai69]

I don't want to recover any data.

I want to be sure that others cannot.

[Wolfie]

Format the disk and then fill it up with other files... if im worried about data privacy i would usually do this several times to minimise the risk of deleted data being recovered

and no, not p0rn - im talking work files

[bino]

If you're truly concerned about sensitive data- take the hard disk out and destroy it. A big hammer works well and is extremely satisfying to do.

Hard drives are cheap enough to buy a new one and replace the destroyed unit.

Edit - just realized that the OP is about USB sicks. Same advice applies, and USB sticks are even cheaper!

[bendejo]

When you delete a file it just removes the name from the directory, it's as if you took your name off the mailbox but haven't moved out of the house yet. Adding files to the drive overwrites the file data area, and then it's gone forever. There is no digital palimpsest.

Reformat and re-fill. There are programs that will write zeros until the drive is full. Myself, I like to get a big file and keep writing it to the disk. I used to get something like a long book from gutenberg.org and use that, now I'll get a large movie file, intentionally corrupt it, and use that for the fill. The only difference is that if someone is snooping and looking for clues all they see is the zeros they'll know you've scrubbed it, but when they see the data it will give them the false hope that they are on to something

[mca]

I use the Auslogics Disc Wiper on their Boostspeed programme.

It's got a variety of "wipe" options up to a Gutmann 35 times overpass. Takes forever though. Not sure if data can be recovered from it that easily.

[thaimite]

If I understand the OP's question correctly it is that even writing data on a hard disk or using specialist programs that write random combinations of 1s and 0s many times to a hard disk is insufficient to destroy all traces of the original data. It is claimed a good forensic laboratory can still read the residiual magnetism of the data and thus recostuct it albeit with some difficulty. My understand is this is due in part to the fact that the heads read and write slightly differently each time due to the mechanical tollerences of the drive.

Whether the same is due of a solid state memory sticks and flash drives is a good question and I too would be interested in the answer from an academic point of view.

My guess would be that as the technology is very different it would not be the case, but I do not know. Certainly simply deleting the data or formatting a memory stick will not stop the information from being recovered, but whether completely filling the drive woth random data is sufficient to cover all traces is another question.

As another poster siad if you are that worried about data on an old drive then physically destroy it.

[Cuban]

The question to ask is who is likely to attempt to recover the data, the average IT aware person will be able to recover things that are deleted by using the GUI of a typical OS and then cleared from the waste bin, by using various recovery 'tools'. If the drive (HDD or USB) has been formated a few times and filled with data, random or otherwise (lots of small JPG and GIFs is my choice) then data recovery before that is difficult.

If the NSA are likely to be on the case - you should know that you should break up the drive in to small pieces, then burn the remains and shoot anyone that is watching you.

But the NSA are already snooping on your data with the code built into your computer and the ISP routers.