Have a USB flash drive with delicate recordsdata on it? Do you propose on giving it away to a member of the family or pal, however need to securely erase it first? We will help! Observe alongside and we’ll present you the way to securely erase a USB flash drive on Linux.
Possibility 1 – Erase USB flash drive with KDE Partition Supervisor
In case you’re a newbie Linux person, one of the simplest ways to erase a USB flash drive securely is with the KDE Partition Supervisor. Why? It has a built-in “Shred” perform that may safely delete any partition on any gadget, together with USB ones.
To start out the method of erasing your USB flash drive securely, the KDE Partition Supervisor have to be put in. Open up a terminal window on your Linux PC by urgent Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, observe command-line directions outlined beneath that correspond to your Linux distribution.
Ubuntu
sudo apt set up partitionmanager
Debian
sudo apt-get set up partitionmanager
Arch Linux
sudo pacman -S partitionmanager
Fedora
sudo dnf set up kde-partitionmanager
OpenSUSE
The KDE Partition Supervisor app is out there to all OpenSUSE Linux customers operating 15.1 LEAP or Tumbleweed. If you’re nonetheless utilizing 15.0 LEAP, you could improve, or KDE Partition Supervisor won’t set up from the software program repositories.
sudo zypper set up partitionmanager
As soon as the KDE Partition Supervisor is put in on your Linux PC, observe the step-by-step directions beneath to learn the way to erase your USB flash drive securely.
Step 1: Launch the KDE Partition Supervisor on your Linux desktop. To do that, open up the app menu by urgent Win. Then, sort “Partition Manager” and launch it.
Step 2: Once you launch the KDE Partition Supervisor, a password field will seem. Enter the password to your person account, as root privileges are required to use this system.
Step 3: With KDE Partition Supervisor open, plug within the USB flash drive you are attempting to securely erase into the USB port (if it’s not plugged in already).
Step 4: Press the F5 key on the keyboard to refresh the KDE Partition Supervisor. Refreshing the app will drive it to re-scan your gadgets, which is able to permit it to detect the newly plugged in USB flash drive.
Step 5: When the KDE Partition Supervisor app has efficiently detected your USB flash drive, look to the “Devices” column and click on on it with the mouse to choose it.
Not sure about what gadget is your USB Flash Drive? Have a look at the field it comes with (or the gadget itself) and decide the brand-name of the gadget. For instance, in case you have a Sandisk Cruzer Glide, “Sandisk Cruzer Glide” will seem within the gadget listing.
Step 6: Upon choosing the USB Flash drive from the “Devices” listing, you’ll be proven the USB flash drive’s partitions. Choose every partition on the gadget with the mouse and right-click on it to reveal the right-click menu.
Within the right-click menu, find the “Shred” possibility, and choose it to inform KDE Partition Supervisor you’d like to shred the partition (AKA erase it securely).
Step 7: Discover the “Apply” button on the top-left part of the app and click on it. Clicking “Apply” will provoke the shredding course of.
Be affected person and anticipate KDE Partition Supervisor to erase your USB flash drive securely. When the share within the pop-up window “reads 100%”, the method is full!
Possibility 2 – Erase USB flash drive within the command-line
Not a fan of utilizing GUI instruments just like the KDE Partition Supervisor however nonetheless need to erase your USB flash drive securely? Excellent news! It’s potential to securely erase your drive with the Linux command-line.
To start out the erasing course of, open up a terminal window by urgent Ctrl + Alt + T or Ctrl + Shift + T on the keyboard. Then, as soon as the terminal window is open, plug within the USB flash drive into the USB port and run the lsblk command.
lsblk
Look via the lsblk output and take a look at to discover the identify of your USB flash drive. The identify needs to be /dev/sdLETTER. For extra assist discovering out your USB flash drive’s ID, observe our information on how to discover exhausting drive information on Linux, as it might probably exhibit how to use the lsblk command.
When you’ve discovered the USB flash drive’s identify, pay attention to it and unmount it from the system utilizing the umount command.
Be aware: /dev/sdLETTER is an instance. Your USB flash drive’s identify will probably be totally different. Be certain to change /dev/sdLETTER within the command instance beneath, or it won’t work!
sudo umount /dev/sdLETTER
If the USB flash drive refuses to unmount, run the command with the -l swap.
sudo umount /dev/sdLETTER -l
With the USB flash drive unmounted, use the DD device to erase it securely. As soon as once more, ensure to change /dev/sdLETTER within the command beneath to the precise identify of your USB flash drive discovered within the lsblk command output.
sudo sudo dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdLETTER bs=10M
The DD device takes a very long time, so be affected person. When the method is full, your USB flash drive will probably be securely erased.
