Timeline for Which Linux shell command can completely remove a file from the system and make it unrecoverable?
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| Feb 18, 2023 at 5:35 | comment | added | Zsigmond Lőrinczy | Also, there might be backups or snapshots that still contain the file. | |
| May 28, 2022 at 20:51 | comment | added | Kamil Maciorowski | On U&L SE: How can I be sure that a directory or file is actually deleted? | |
| May 23, 2022 at 11:26 | comment | added | user1138 | @Mokubai - FDE does have one potentially critical vulnerability... the $5 wrench test! 8-D xkcd.com/538 | |
| May 23, 2022 at 11:24 | comment | added | Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen | why must it be unrecoverable? | |
| May 23, 2022 at 11:17 | answer | added | user1138 | timeline score: 0 | |
| May 23, 2022 at 10:49 | comment | added | Mokubai | Otherwise you should look at attacking the problem from another direction. Full disk encryption will make any disk essentially unrecoverable in the event that the password or key is lost. If you have to handle sensitive data and want to know that it is unrecoverable then all you have to do is to overwrite the key. You'd end up with what appears to be a new blank disk or partition that needs formatting, but the old data is protected by the now lost key and should remain protected until such time as you finally overwrite it with new data. | |
| May 23, 2022 at 10:30 | comment | added | Mokubai | TRIM is an option for SSDs, but there no guarantee of when the data might be truly unrecoverable. The drive controller might return nothing but zeros if you read that block, but you have no idea when the flash cell itself will be erased and a well equipped adversary with plenty of time and resources might be able to recover it (unrealistic but possible). If you 100% must guarantee that the file is not recoverable then your only option is physical destruction. | |
| May 23, 2022 at 10:19 | comment | added | harrymc | If this is an SSD then old data is erased using TRIM, so no need to shred. | |
| May 23, 2022 at 9:57 | comment | added | Adarsh Goyal | Mine is ext4 file system @slhck | |
| May 23, 2022 at 9:53 | comment | added | slhck | What is the file system and what are its options? | |
| May 23, 2022 at 9:53 | history | edited | slhck | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
formatting
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| S May 23, 2022 at 9:47 | review | First questions | |||
| May 23, 2022 at 9:49 | |||||
| S May 23, 2022 at 9:47 | history | asked | Adarsh Goyal | CC BY-SA 4.0 |