Patent ID: 8364955

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for effectively removing access to individual files on magnetic tape media, at least a portion of the method being performed by a computing device comprising at least one processor, the method comprising: encrypting both a file and at least one additional file; storing both the encrypted file and the additional encrypted file on a tape medium, wherein the additional encrypted file is stored in a physical location on the tape medium that immediately follows a physical location of the encrypted file on the tape medium; storing both a cryptographic key for accessing the encrypted file and an additional cryptographic key for accessing the additional encrypted file within a cryptographic key block located at the end of the tape medium; at a subsequent point in time, removing access to the encrypted file stored on the tape medium without also removing access to the additional encrypted file that is stored in the physical location on the tape medium that immediately follows the physical location of the encrypted file on the tape medium by: writing the cryptographic key block from the tape medium to a secondary medium; after writing the cryptographic key block from the tape medium to the secondary medium, creating a modified version of the cryptographic key block on the secondary medium by deleting the cryptographic key for the encrypted file from the cryptographic key block without also deleting the additional cryptographic key for the additional encrypted file from the cryptographic key block; after creating the modified version of the cryptographic key block on the secondary medium, writing the modified version of the cryptographic key block from the secondary medium to the end of the tape medium to overwrite the cryptographic key block located at the end of the tape medium with the modified version of the cryptographic key block.