Patent Publication Number: US-2019187926-A1

Title: Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and storage medium

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a storage medium. 
     Description of the Related Art 
     As an information processing apparatus capable of accumulating information with use of an external storage device such as a hard disk drive (hereinafter referred to as an HDD), an information processing apparatus configured to use received information (hereinafter referred to as data) after storing it into the external storage device and delete the data upon completing processing has been known. In such an information processing apparatus, the data and positional information about the data on the HDD (hereinafter referred to as a file allocation table (FAT)) are stored on the HDD. Generally, only the FAT is deleted when normal data is deleted, and the data itself remaining on the HDD is not deleted. In such a state, however, the remaining data may be referred to by detaching the HDD from the information processing apparatus and connecting the HDD to a computer (hereinafter referred to as a personal computer (PC)) or the like and analyzing the inside thereof. For this reason, a function has come to be widely known for not only deleting the FAT but also overwriting a remaining data area with a random value, a fixed value, or the like, thereby guaranteeing that the data does not remain. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-153517 discloses an apparatus that allows the number of times of deletion to be set arbitrarily according to a security level, and carries out the deletion according to the set number of times of deletion. 
     Further, in recent years, semiconductor storage devices using a flash memory, such as a device called a solid state drive (hereinafter referred to as an SSD), have been increasingly widely used as the external storage device. Some of the semiconductor storage devices carry out distributed writing called wear leveling to prolong a lifetime of the flash memory in the storage device. The semiconductor storage devices carrying out the wear leveling are configured to write the data while replacing a block so as to use a block into which the data has been written less frequently whenever possible. It is, therefore, also considered that even if the overwrite processing is performed on the remaining data area like the above-described example, the specified area may not be overwritten and the data may be left undeleted in the block yet to be replaced, depending on a method for controlling the block replacement in the wear leveling. A method of encrypting the stored data is effective as a means for preventing a leak of the data from such an external storage device, 
     The technique discussed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-153517 performs the deletion processing by a method set from a setting screen regardless of the type of the external storage device mounted on the apparatus. In the case of the semiconductor storage device, however, the overwrite deletion may leave the data undeleted in the block as described above. For this reason, if the deletion can be set from the setting screen of the apparatus, the user may misunderstand that the data can be completely deleted without being left in the block, 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     According to an aspect of the present invention, an information processing apparatus includes an acquisition unit configured to acquire type information about a nonvolatile storage device connected to the information processing apparatus, and a display control unit configured to control whether to display a setting screen for deleting data stored in the nonvolatile storage device based on the type information acquired by the acquisition unit. 
     Further features of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of exemplary embodiments with reference to the attached drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates one example of a hardware configuration of a multifunction peripheral (MFP). 
         FIG. 2  illustrates a general concept of an area configuration of a storage device mounted on the MFP. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates a partition configuration management table of the storage device. 
         FIGS. 4A, 4B, 4C, and 4D  illustrate examples of user interface (UI) screens for setting a deletion method. 
         FIG. 5  is a flowchart illustrating one example of information processing when the MFP is started up, 
         FIG. 6  is a flowchart illustrating one example of information processing when the MFP carries out printing. 
         FIG. 7  is a flowchart illustrating one example of information processing for setting data deletion in the MFP. 
         FIG. 8  illustrates one example of a data management setting screen. 
         FIGS. 9A and 9B  each illustrate an example of a screen where initialization of all pieces of data/settings is executed. 
         FIG. 10  is a flowchart illustrating one example of processing for deleting all the pieces of data from the MFP. 
     
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS 
     In the following description, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. 
     (Hardware Configuration) 
       FIG. 1  illustrates one example of a hardware configuration of a multifunction peripheral (MFP)  100 . In a first exemplary embodiment, the MFP is to be described as an example of an information processing apparatus, but an apparatus other than the MFP may be employed as the information processing apparatus. The MFP is one example of an image forming apparatus. 
     The MFP  100  includes therein a controller unit  216 , a printer unit  211 , a scanner unit  213 , an operation unit  207 , and storage devices  217  and  218 . The controller unit  216  is connected to a local area network (LAN), and inputs and outputs image data and device information. 
     The printer unit  211  is a device that prints raster image data onto a sheet. Examples of a printing method of the printer unit  211  include an electrophotographic method that uses a photosensitive drum or a photosensitive belt, and an inkjet method of directly printing an image onto the sheet by ejecting ink from an extremely small nozzle array. The printer unit  211  starts the print processing according to an instruction from the CPU  201 . The printer unit  211  includes a plurality of sheet feeding stages so that a user can select different sheet sizes or different sheet orientations. Further, the printer unit  211  has a finishing function as an additional function thereof. A finishing mechanism is called a finisher or the like. Sonic of finishing mechanisms sort printed print products copy set by copy set, staple the print products, and/or fold the print products. 
     The scanner unit  213  is a device that illuminates an image on a paper document and scans the image by a charge coupled device (CCD) line sensor, thereby converting the image into an electric signal as the raster image data. The scanner unit  213  performs an operation of reading out the document sheet under control by the CPU  201  according to an instruction to start the readout from the user via the operation unit  207 . 
     The operation unit  207  includes a liquid crystal display (LCD), and a touch panel sheet is attached on the LCD. The operation unit  207  displays an operation screen thereon, and, along therewith, when a key in the displayed screen is selected (touched with a finger or the like), notifies the CPU  201  of positional information thereof via an operation unit interface  206 . Further, the operation unit  207  includes, for example, a start key, a stop key, an identification (ID) key, and a reset key as various kinds of operation keys (hardware keys). 
     The storage devices  217  and  218  are each a nonvolatile storage device. For example, storage devices  217  and  218  may be a solid state drive (hereinafter referred to as an SSD) (which is an example of a semiconductor storage device), or a hard disk drive (hereinafter referred to as an HDD) (which is a magnetic disk device). In some examples, storage device  217  may be an SSD and storage device  218  may be a HDD (or vice versa) or they may be the same type of storage device. Image data and system data used by the MFP  100  are stored in the storage device. A plurality of nonvolatile storage devices can be connected, and the storage functionality can be expanded by additionally mounting the storage device (STORAGE)  218  as an option. The storage device  218  is used for mirroring the data stored in the storage device (STORAGE)  217  and/or used as an expanded area. 
     The controller unit  216  is a device that controls the MFP  100 . The controller unit  216  includes a central processing unit (CPU)  201 , a random access memory (RAM)  202 , a read only memory (ROM)  203 , a disk controller (DISK CONTROLLER)  204 , a network interface (Network UT)  205 , the operation unit interface (PANEL I/F)  206 , and an image bus interface (IMAGE BUS I/F)  208 . These units are connected to a system bus  219 . Further, the controller unit  216  includes a raster image processor (RIP)  209 , a printer interface  210 , a scanner interface  212 , and an image processing unit  214 . These units are connected to an image bus  215  that transfers the image data. 
     The CPU  201  is a processor that controls the MFP  100 . The RAM  202  is a system network memory used for the CPU  201  to operate, and is also a program memory for recording a program and an image memory for temporarily recording the image data. A boot program of the system and various kinds of control programs are stored in the ROM  203 . The disk controller  204  controls writing/reading of data from/into the system bus  219  into/from the storage devices  217  and  218 . 
     The operation unit interface  206  is an interface unit with the operation unit (PANEL)  207 , and outputs data to be displayed to the operation unit  207 . The operation unit interface  206  notifies the CPU  201  of information input by the user from the operation unit  207 . 
     The network interface  205  is connected to the LAN, and inputs and outputs data from and to a PC and another external apparatus. 
     The image bus interface  208  is a bus bridge for connecting the system bus  219  and the image bus  215  to each other, and converting a data structure. The image bus  215  is embodied by a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394. The raster image processor  209  rasterizes print data into a bitmap image. The printer interface  210  connects the printer unit  211  and the controller unit  216  to each other, and converts the image data synchronously or asynchronously. The scanner interface  212  connects the scanner unit  213  and the controller unit  216  to each other, and converts the image data synchronously or asynchronously. The image processing unit  214 , for example, corrects the printer and/or converts a resolution with respect to print output image data by correcting, processing, and/or editing the input image data. Further, the image processing unit  214  rotates the image data, and performs compression/decompression processing such as Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) on multivalued image data, and Joint Bi-level Image Experts Group (JBIG), Modified Modified READ (MMR), and Modified Huffman (MH) on binary image data. 
     The CPU  201  performs processing based on the program stored in the ROM  203 , the storage device  217  or  218 , or the like, thereby realizing functions of the MFP  100  and processing according to flowcharts illustrated in  FIGS. 5 to 7 and 10  that will be described below. 
     (Configuration of Storage Device) 
       FIG. 2  illustrates a general concept of an area configuration of the storage device  217  mounted on the MFP  100 . 
     An entire storage area  220  of the storage device  217  is divided into several areas (partitions), and is used individually for each purpose. As an example thereof, the MFP  100  uses the storage device  217  while dividing the storage device  217  into a system area  221 , an application area  222 , a temporary data area  223 , an image data processing area  224 , a box data area  225 , and a log data area  226 . Resource data, such as a program and a language used for the MFP  100  to operate, is stored in the system area  221 . The application area  222  is an area used to store expanded software additionally installed on the MFP  100  and store data generated or acquired by the expanded software. The temporary data area  223  is an area to store temporarily generated data used for the MFP  100  to operate. The image data processing area  224  is an area for temporarily storing a result of the image processing of the data to be printed. The box data area  225  is an area for saving the image data on the scanned document and the image data received via the network interface  205  so that the image data can be reused. The log data area  226  is an area for storing an operation status of the MFP  100  and a log of a result of carrying out the printing or the scanning. 
     The data is stored in the storage device  217  for various purposes as described above. Data is temporarily stored in the image data processing area  224  as a file due to the print operation performed by the MFP  100 , but this file becomes unnecessary and is removed when the print processing is completed. At this time, just performing deletion processing of a file system can only delete management data regarding the file, and keeps the file data remaining in the storage device  217 . In the present exemplary embodiment, a deletion process for overcoming this shortcoming will be described. As will be described in more detail below, this deletion processing advantageously overwrites the data portion in the file with specific data. 
     (Configuration Management Table of Storage Device) 
       FIG. 3  illustrates a partition configuration management table of the storage device  217  illustrated in  FIG. 2 . 
     In  FIG. 3 , a partition configuration management table  300  includes No., CLEARFlag, CLEARLogic, PartitionLabel, PartitionSize, and Usage. The CPU  201  manages the partition configuration management table  300  while storing it in the storage device  217 . Further, the CPU  201  uses the partition configuration management table  300  after reading it from the storage device  217  when the MFP  100  is started up. How to use the partition configuration management table  300  will be described below. The column titled “No.” provides administrative serial numbers for identifying a partition. CLEARFlag is a flag indicating whether the partition is a partition on which the overwrite deletion processing is to be performed when a file on the partition is removed, CLEARFlag set to “0” means that the overwrite deletion is not to be carried out. CLEARFlag set to “1” means that the overwrite deletion is to be carried out. Now, the overwrite deletion refers to deleting the data from the storage device  217  by not only performing the deletion processing on the file system but also overwriting the file data area on the storage device  217  with use of a method that will be described below. The value of CLEARFlag is predetermined according to a purpose of the corresponding partition, and “1” is defined for a partition containing important data such as the image data and the temporary data, and confidential data. In  FIG. 3 , CLEARFlag indicates that the temporary data area  223 , the image data processing area  224 , and the box data area  225  are overwrite deletion targets. CLEARLogic indicates a deletion method for the overwrite deletion, and “0”, “1”, “2”, and “3” mean refraining from the overwrite deletion, writing zero data once, writing random data once, and writing random data three times, respectively. CLEARLogic is set by the user according to a method that will be described below. The deletion method is not limited thereto, and the MFP  100  may be configured to be able to set another number of times of writing and/or data to be written. 
     PartitionLabel is a character string for identifying the partition by name. PartitionSize indicates a size of the corresponding partition by unit of megabyte (MB). Usage is supplementary information, and indicates what kind of data is stored in the partition. 
     The partition configuration management table  300  illustrated in  FIG. 3  is acquired when the CPU  201  deletes the file, and is used to identify the deletion method. More specifically, once the area in which the file is stored is located based on a file descriptor of the file to be deleted, the CPU  201  identifies what kind of deletion method should be used to delete this area with use of the partition configuration management table  300 . 
     As described above, CLEARLogic in the partition configuration management table  300  can be specified by the CPU  201  based on a user operation via the operation unit  207  of the MFP  100 .  FIGS. 4A to 4D  illustrate one example of user interface (UI) screens for setting the deletion method. The UI screens illustrated in  FIGS. 4A to 4D  are displayed on the operation unit  207  by the CPU  201 . The UI screens illustrated in FIGS.  4 A to  4 D are examples in the case where the HDD is mounted on the MFP  100  as the storage device  217 . Upon receiving a setting of a data management menu, the CPU  201  displays a data management setting screen  400  illustrated in  FIG. 4A  on the operation unit  207 . When a data deletion setting is selected in  FIG. 4A , the CPU  201  displays a data deletion setting screen  410  illustrated in  FIG. 4B  on the operation unit  207 . In  FIG. 4B , “set ON/OFF of data deletion”  411  is an item for setting whether to carry out the overwrite deletion of the data.  FIG. 4C  illustrates a UI screen  420  displayed on the operation unit  207  when “set ON/OFF of data deletion”  411  is selected. “ON” or “OFF” can be set on the UI screen  420 , and “ON” means that the overwrite deletion is to be carried out. “Set deletion timing”  412  is an item for setting a timing of carrying out the overwrite deletion of the data, and “during job processing” or “after job processing” can be selected as the deletion timing. “During job processing” means that, when conducting a job such as the printing, the MFP  100  carries out the overwrite deletion on a file that becomes unnecessary in the middle of conducting the job each time such an unnecessary file is generated. “After job processing” means that, when conducting the job such as the printing, the MFP  100  does not remove the file in the middle of conducting the job and carries out the overwrite deletion collectively after completing the job. If “after job processing” is selected, the usage of the CPU  201  for the overwrite deletion processing can be restricted while the job is in progress, and as a result, the processing for conducting the job can be completed quickly. “Set deletion mode”  413  is an item for setting the deletion method when carrying out the overwrite deletion of the data.  FIG. 4D  illustrates a UI screen  430  displayed on the operation unit  207  when “set deletion mode”  413  is selected. Selectable settings on the UI screen  430  are “write  0  data once”, “write random data once”, and “write random data three times”. 
     If “OFF” is set on the UI screen  420 , “0” is set in CLEARLogic in the partition configuration management table  300 . If “write 0 data once”, “write random data once”, and “write random data three times” are set on the UI screen  430  with “ON” set on the UI screen  420 , “1” “2”, and “3” are set, respectively, in CLEARLogic in the partition configuration management table  300 . 
     (Information Processing when MFP  100  is Started Up) 
     Next, information processing when the MFP  100  is started up will be described with reference to  FIG. 5 . 
     In step S 1001 , when the MFP  100  is started up, the CPU  201  acquires information about the storage device  217  via the disk controller  204 . The CPU  201  acquires information such as a name of a manufacturer, a model number, a capacity, and the number of rotations as the information about the storage device  217 . Now, the number of rotations indicates how many times a medium in the storage device rotates per minute. In the case of the HDD, a value such as  7200  is acquired as the number of rotations. The semiconductor storage device such as the SSD does not rotate, and therefore a value indicating that the storage device  217  is a non-rotational medium is acquired. In other words, based on the acquired value of the number of rotations, the CPU  201  can determine which is used as the storage device  217  mounted on the MFP  100 , the HDD or the SSD. The number of rotations is one example of ‘type information’ about the nonvolatile storage device. 
     Next, in step S 1002 , the CPU  201  reads out the partition configuration management table  300  illustrated in  FIG. 3  from the storage device  217 , and performs the setting on a partition-by-partition basis. When setting the partition, the CPU  201  sets CLEARLogic in the read partition configuration management table  300  again according to the configuration of the device. 
     In step S 1003 , the CPU  201  acquires CLEARFlag in the partition configuration management table  300 , and determines whether the present partition is the partition targeted for the deletion. If the CPU  201  determines that the present partition is not the partition targeted for the deletion (NO in step S 1003 ), the processing proceeds to step S 1005 . If the CPU  201  determines that the present partition is the partition targeted for the deletion (YES in step S 1003 ), the processing proceeds to step S 1004 . 
     In step S 1005 , the CPU  201  sets CLEARLogic to “0”. 
     In step S 1004 , the CPU  201  determines whether the device mounted on the MFP  100  is the semiconductor storage device based on the information indicating the number of rotations of the storage device  217  that has been acquired in step S 1001 . If the CPU  201  determines that the device mounted on the MFP  100  is the semiconductor storage device (YES in step S 1004 ), the processing proceeds to step S 1005 . If the CPU  201  determines that the device mounted on the MFP  100  is not the semiconductor storage device (NO in step S 1004 ), the processing proceeds to step S 1003  to move on to a check of the next partition. 
     In step S 1005 , the CPU  201  sets CLEARLogic to “0”. If the CPU  201  determines that the device mounted on the MFP  100  is not the semiconductor storage device (NO in step S 1004 ), the processing proceeds to step S 1003  to move on to the check of the next partition. 
     Upon completing checks of all partitions, the CPU  201  ends the present processing. 
     (Print Processing in MFP  100 ) 
     Next, information processing at the time of the printing will be described with reference to  FIG. 6  in preparation for a description of the data overwrite processing by the MFP  100 . 
     In step S 2001 , the CPU  201  receives print job data via the network interface  205 . 
     Then, in step S 2002 , the CPU  201  stores the received print job data into the temporary data area  223  of the storage device  217 , 
     Further, in step S 2003 , the CPU  201  reads out the temporarily stored print job data from the storage device  217 , and generates the bitmap data by the raster image processor  209 . 
     In step S 2004 , the CPU  201  transmits the generated bitmap data to the printer unit  211  via the printer interface  210 , thereby causing the printer unit  211  to carry out the printing. 
     After the printing is completed, in step S 2005 , the CPU  201  removes the received data stored in the storage device  217  in step S 2002 . 
     In step S 2006 , the CPU  201  identifies the area in which the data is stored from the file descriptor of the data targeted for the removal, and determines whether the identified area is the overwrite deletion target with use of the partition configuration management table  300 . In the present example, the received data is stored in the temporary data area  223 , and therefore the CPU  201  acquires the value of CLEARLogic corresponding to the temporary data area  223 . If the acquired value is “0” (NO in step S 2006 ), the CPU  201  removes only a management area of the file system without carrying out the overwrite, and ends the processing according to the flowchart illustrated in  FIG. 6 . On the other hand, if the acquired value is “1” or a greater value (YES in step S 2006 ), the processing proceeds to step S 2007 . 
     In step S 2007 , the CPU  201  performs the processing for overwriting the target area with use of the preset deletion method. 
     As described in the description of the processing flow at the time of the startup illustrated in  FIG. 5 , if the storage device  217  mounted on the MFP  100  is the semiconductor storage device, the value of CLEARLogic is set to “0” and therefore the overwrite processing is not performed. 
     (Processing for Setting Data Deletion in MFP  100 ) 
     Next, information processing for setting the data deletion in the MFP  100  will be described with reference to  FIG. 7 . 
     First, in step S 3001 , the CPU  201  receives a request to display a data management screen via the operation unit interface  206 . 
     Next, in step S 3002 , the CPU  201  determines whether the mounted device is the semiconductor storage device. The CPU  201  determines whether the mounted device is the semiconductor storage device by acquiring the information indicating the number of rotations of the storage device  217  that has been acquired in step S 1001  illustrated in  FIG. 5 . The CPU  201  may store a result of determining that the mounted device is the semiconductor storage device in the startup processing flow illustrated in  FIG. 5  into the RAM  202  or the like in advance and make the determination based on this information instead of making the determination based on the information indicating the number of rotations each time. If the CPU  201  determines that the mounted device is not the semiconductor storage device (NO in step S 3002 ), the processing proceeds to step S 3003 . If the CPU  201  determines that the mounted device is the semiconductor storage device (YES in step S 3002 ), the processing proceeds to step S 3006 . 
     In step S 3003 , the CPU  201  displays the data management setting screen  400  illustrated in  FIG. 4A  on the operation unit  207 . Further, upon receiving a request to set the data deletion via the data management setting screen  400 , the CPU  201  displays the data deletion setting screen  410  on the operation unit  207 . The processing in step S 3003  is one example of display control. 
     In step S 3004 , the CPU  201  receives a request to change the ON/OFF setting of the data deletion or the setting of the deletion mode via the data deletion setting screen  410 . 
     In step S 3005 , the CPU  201  stores the set value into the partition configuration management table  300  stored in the storage device  217 . 
     In step S 3006 , the CPU  201  displays a data management setting screen  450  illustrated in  FIG. 8  on the operation unit  207 . The “data deletion menu” is not displayed on the data management setting screen  450  illustrated in  FIG. 8 , and the user cannot change the setting of the data deletion here. The processing in step S 3006  is one example of the display control. 
     In this manner, the MFP  100  according to the first exemplary embodiment switches the display of the data management setting screen according to the type of the mounted storage device. Due to this configuration, the MFP  100  can advantageously prevent the user from undesirably erroneously setting the data deletion when the storage device for which the overwrite deletion function is not effective is mounted. Further, the MFP  100  can appropriately exercise the overwrite deletion function by checking the type of the mounted storage device and performing the setting of the overwrite deletion again when the MFP  100  is started up. 
     The first exemplary embodiment has been described addressing the setting of the overwrite processing when removing the data temporarily stored when conducting the job such as the printing. A second exemplary embodiment will be described addressing a setting of processing when all pieces of data stored in the MFP  100  are to be deleted when, for example, the MFP  100  is to be disposed of. 
       FIGS. 9A and 9B  each illustrate a UI screen for setting a deletion method for deleting all the pieces of data stored in the MFP  100 . The UI screen illustrated in each of  FIGS. 9A and 9B  is displayed on the operation unit  207  by the CPU  201 . The UI screen illustrated in each of  FIGS. 9A and 9B  is a screen displayed on the operation unit  207  of the MFP  100  when “initialize all pieces of data/settings” is selected on the data management setting screen  400  illustrated in  FIG. 4A . 
       FIG. 9A  illustrates an execution screen  900  for “initialize all pieces of data/settings” in the case where the HDD is mounted on the MFP  100  as the storage device  217 . The user can select the method for deleting the data from a plurality of methods on the execution screen  900 . The user can select “write  0  data once”, “write random data once”, “write random data three times”, and “write random data nine times” on the execution screen  900 . When one of the deletion methods is selected and “execute” is selected on the execution screen  900  for “initialize all pieces of data/settings”, the CPU  201  deletes the data stored in the storage device  217 . In other words, the CPU  201  overwrites and fills the targeted system area and data area with the predetermined number or the random data. As a result, the existing data becomes practically unreadable. 
       FIG. 9B  illustrates an execution screen  910  for “initialize all pieces of data/settings” in the case where the SSD is mounted on the MFP  100  as the storage device  217 . The user cannot select the method for deleting the data on the execution screen  910 . When “execute” is selected on the execution screen  910  for “initialize all pieces of data/settings”, the CPU  201  deletes the data stored in the storage device  217 . 
     Regarding the screen displayed on the operation unit  207  when the “initialize all pieces of data/settings” is selected on the data management setting screen  400  illustrated in  FIG. 4A , the CPU  201  determines which screen to display, the screen illustrated in  FIG. 9A  or the screen illustrated in  FIG. 9B , based on the determination of whether the storage device  217  mounted on the MFP  100  is the semiconductor storage device, similarly to  FIG. 7 . 
     The processing for deleting all the pieces of data from the MFP  100  will be described with reference to  FIG. 10 . 
     In step S 4001 , the CPU  201  receives a request to delete all the pieces of data via the operation unit interface  206 . At this time, the CPU  201  also acquires the information about the data deletion method illustrated in  FIG. 9A or 9B . 
     Upon receiving the request to delete all the pieces of data, in step S 4002 , the CPU  201  acquires the partition configuration management table  300  and performs the deletion processing on a partition-by-partition basis, 
     First, in step S 4003 , the CPU  201  acquires CLEARFlag in the partition configuration management table  300 , and determines whether the present partition is the partition targeted for the deletion. If the CPU  201  determines that the present partition is not the deletion target (NO in step S 4003 ), the processing proceeds to the check of the next partition. On the other hand, if the CPU  201  determines that the present partition is the deletion target (YES in step S 4003 ), the processing proceeds to step S 4004 . 
     In step S 4004 , the CPU  201  removes all pieces of data in the targeted partition. 
     Next, in step S 4005 , the CPU  201  determines whether the device mounted on the MFP  100  is the semiconductor storage device. If the CPU  201  determines that the device mounted on the MFP  100  is the semiconductor storage device (YES in step S 4005 ), the processing proceeds to the check of the next partition. On the other hand, if the CPU  201  determines that the device mounted on the MFP  100  is not the semiconductor storage device (NO in step S 4005 ), the processing proceeds to step S 4006 . 
     In step S 4006 , the CPU  201  performs the processing for overwriting the data on the entire target partition according to the deletion method acquired in step S 4001 . The present exemplary embodiment has been described as the method that does not carry out the overwrite deletion of the data in the case of the semiconductor storage device. However, the CPU  201  may perform a deletion method suitable for the semiconductor storage device, such as deletion processing according to the “SecureErase” command, on the entire target partition. “SecureErase” is a technique that physically deletes almost all sectors in the SSD. Alternatively, the CPU  201  may perform the deletion processing by executing the TRIM command if both the OS and the SSD support the TRIM command. The TRIM command can specify an entire block that is a physical memory area having a plurality of pages, and physically delete data contained in this block. 
     In this manner, the MFP  100  according to the second exemplary embodiment switches the display of the screen for deleting all the pieces of data according to the type of the mounted storage device. Due to this configuration, the MFP  100  can prevent the user from undesirably erroneously setting the data deletion when the storage device for which the overwrite deletion function is not effective is mounted. Further, the MFP  100  can exercise the appropriate deletion function by also checking the type of the mounted storage device and automatically determining the method for physically deleting the data including the overwrite deletion method at the time of the data deletion. 
     In this manner, according to each of the above-described exemplary embodiments, the information processing apparatus can prevent the user from undesirably erroneously setting the data deletion in a case where the external storage device for which the overwrite deletion function is not effective is mounted. 
     According to one aspect of the present invention, the information processing apparatus can select the appropriate deletion method suitable for the external storage device and safely manage the external storage device. 
     According to another aspect of the present invention, the information processing apparatus can prevent the user from undesirably erroneously setting the data deletion in a case where the external storage device for which the overwrite deletion function is not effective is mounted. 
     Other Embodiments 
     Embodiment(s) of the present invention can also be realized by a computer of a system or apparatus that reads out and executes computer executable instructions (e.g., one or more programs) recorded on a storage medium (which may also be referred to more fully as a ‘non-transitory computer-readable storage medium’) to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or that includes one or more circuits (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC)) for performing the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s), and by a method performed by the computer of the system or apparatus by, for example, reading out and executing the computer executable instructions from the storage medium to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s) and/or controlling the one or more circuits to perform the functions of one or more of the above-described embodiment(s). The computer may comprise one or more processors (e.g., central processing unit (CPU), micro processing unit (MPU)) and may include a network of separate computers or separate processors to read out and execute the computer executable instructions. The computer executable instructions may be provided to the computer, for example, from a network or the storage medium. The storage medium may include, for example, one or more of a hard disk, a random-access memory (RAM), a read only memory (ROM), a storage of distributed computing systems, an optical disk (such as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD)™), a flash memory device, a memory card, and the like. 
     While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. 
     This application claims the benefit of Japanese Patent Application No. 2017-242974, filed Dec. 19, 2017, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in its entirety.