Patent ID: 7246209

Claim:
A system for secure erasing of data files while bypassing the file system of an operating system comprising: means adapted to receive a secure erase signal representative of a desired erasure of a selected electronic file stored in a non-volatile memory; means adapted to communicate data to an associated data storage, the data storage including, means adapted to store data in a selected plurality of data storage segments, means adapted to receive data for storage in the data storage segments, file system means, the file system means including means for storing tracking data representative of at least one data storage segment which is used to store data associated with each of a plurality of data records, means adapted to receive a tracking data query representative of tracking data associated with the selected electronic file, and means adapted to output tracking data associated with the selected electronic file in accordance with the received tracking data query; means adapted to communicate a tracking data query to the data storage in accordance with a received, secure erase signal; means adapted to receive tracking data representative of each data segment from the file system means; and secure erase initiation means adapted for initiating a high-priority data write operation of selected overwrite data to each data storage segment associated with the selected electronic file.