Paragraph Number

277

In another embodiment, the secure erase module 1320 overwrites the existing data during a storage space recovery operation. For example, if the storage device 150 is a solid-state storage device 102, as described above, the storage space recovery operation may be related to the garbage collection describe in relation to the apparatus 800 depicted in FIG. 8. However, a storage space recovery operation involving a request to overwrite the existing data would typically be expedited so that the storage location where the existing data is stored is necessarily recovered prior to any confirmation message is sent by the erase confirmation module 1322. In one embodiment, the existing data is marked or otherwise identified to indicate that a secure erase has been requested. The confirmation message would typically not be sent until the existing data marked for erasure has been overwritten and made non-recoverable. In another embodiment, the secure erase module 1320 merely marks the existing data as invalid for later storage space recovery. In another embodiment, the secure erase updates an index to indicate that the existing data is invalid and prevents access to this data until the data is overwritten during later storage space recovery.

Added by DJM 3 2021