SanDisk Ultra Fit 512G USB and Linux

📅 September 25, 2021
It’s tiny! It’s 512G! It becomes hot to the touch!

It’s the SanDisk Ultra Fit 512G USB 3.1 stick!

Well, stick might be a stretch since this small USB 3.1 storage device is about the size of a thumbnail. While this has been available for some time, I had the opportunity to use it for myself to see how it performs with Linux.

Here are my results in Linux Mint and Ubuntu Cinnamon.

How to Create a VLAN on the TRENDnet TEG-30284 Switch

📅 September 23, 2021
The TRENDnet TEG-30284 managed switch supports the VLAN (Virtual LAN) feature. Even though this is turning out to be a reliable switch, its documentation is sparse and the user interface requires trial and error  — especially when setting up a VLAN.

Let’s create a simple VLAN!

Here are some tips from my experience using this switch.

Erase a Device with dd

📅 September 22, 2021
Secure remove (srm) from the secure-delete set of tools can take an incredibly long time to complete in order to wipe data from a hard drive, USB stick, or SD card.

Sometimes, we want to clear a device, like a USB stick, in order to start fresh. Maybe security is an issue, maybe not. Either way, there may be times when we cannot wait for srm to complete even on its least secure but quickest setting.

“Is there a way to erase a device faster?”

Yes. We can use the dd command (built into Linux) to write nothing but zeroes or random data to a device in order to clear it.

Secure Delete a File

📅 September 20, 2021
Merely deleting a file will not physically remove it from your hard drive. If you toss, loan, or sell that hard drive later, savvy computer users can recover your files in whole or in part by using forensics software.

To remove a file, and this means to really remove a file from its existence on a hard drive, so it cannot be recovered in any way, that file must be wiped, which is the process of physically overwriting all sectors/data blocks the file occupies with random data.

Linux provides a nifty program called srm, which is part of a suite of a security tools from the secure-delete package, available for free from the Ubuntu repository.

Does it really work? Absolutely! Here is how to wipe a file using srm.