Ready to get rid of that old flash drive? You might be surprised to learn that simply deleting existing files doesn’t actually destroy them, at least not permanently. Having the right knowledge to do so can easily recover these deleted files.
So, what do you do if you want to delete these files permanently? The safest route is to encrypt your flash drive. To the average consumer, the term encrypt may sound a bit intimidating, but it’s easier to accomplish than you think.
Flash Drives Are Great…Unless You Need to Toss Them
The introduction of flash drives provided a great new solution. Compared to traditional hard drives, flash drives work faster, fit in your pocket, and are virtually immune to damage from a drop. Not to mention, the way they store data (in a solid state memory instead of spinning magnetic plates) makes them last longer.
Of course, flash drives also have drawbacks. While the storage capacity on these devices has grown over the years, there is still limited space. Additionally, their automatic function of moving bits of data to a less-used area of the drive to last longer means overwriting files with random bits of data, a traditional method of securely erasing data. method may not be effective.
Alternative methods of encryption
For Mac users, Apple used to have Secure Empty Trash command. It has since been removed to avoid any assumption that the function will securely erase all data that, when on a flash drive, may not succeed in doing so.
Of course, to wipe the flash drive, the method of dumping random data three times in a row is still an option. Unfortunately, doing so isn’t quite straightforward on a Mac or PC. Not to mention, depending on the quality of your computer and the size of the drive, this method can take longer than our modern-day patience levels can handle (sometimes 20 minutes or more).
While some of the larger flash drive vendors such as Intel, SanDisk or Samsung may offer apps for secure erase, encrypting it is a quick process to ensure that if your old flash drive is owned by a tech-savvy owner with bad intentions. .
How to Encrypt Your Flash Drive on Mac
In most cases, the process of drive encryption on Mac is very simple. Simply right-click on the drive you want to securely erase, and click Encrypt. Then, follow the prompts.
If your drive was specifically formatted for the Windows operating system, you might not see the prompt for encryption pop up. In this case, simply open Disk Utility, select your drive, and click Erase (Use Default Settings). You can then follow the steps above to encrypt.
Finally, after following the prompts for encryption, be sure to erase the drive again in Disk Utility to make sure it’s empty and ready for use by its new owner.
How to Encrypt Your Flash Drive on PC
If you use the Home version of Windows, Microsoft may not support disk encryption on your OS, but of course, there is still a way to work around it.
safe and secure
With the encryption method mentioned above, you can toss or donate your flash drive with confidence without fear of releasing your personal or business files to the world. Even the most knowledgeable will not be able to recover your permanently erased files.
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