Hello.
I think some things are important to notice.
shred is not secure in EXT3 file system, or any system using journaling for
that matter. Also it is a command line only tool.
A more secure and easy way to securely wipe a file is this:
install nautilus-wipe (in the reps). It will install secure-delete and add a
"wipe" option to right click menu.
Now, right click the file you wish to securely erase. Click options and
choose 2 passes, last pass with 0s. Click wipe. It will destroy the file.
Since, as lembas mentioned, flash drives are not easy to securely erase a
file, if you don't want to delete other files you have in that drive, right
click the drive you had the file on, and choose "wipe available space".
Again, 2 passes, 0s in the last one. This rewrite the entire free space in
the drive, which will cause a rewrite of any "remains" of the file you
deleted, and it will also make you have the entire free space filled with
"0". This way, it is impossible for even an "expert" to retrieve your files
using software tools. Keep in mind that many specialized companies have ways
to disassemble your drive, and read "deeper" into it. So, if you fear the NSA
might try to recover a file from your drive, only solution would be to
destroy it ;P lol.
But to make sure that some guy who has a nice recovery software tool won't
get access to your files, the steps I described above are enough, and
probably the best (in terms of user friendliness).
Keep safe =)
