Selective purge of confidential data from a non-volatile memory

摘要

Method and apparatus for the non-destructive, selective purging of data from a non-volatile memory. In accordance with various embodiments, multiple copies of a selected set of confidential user data having a common logical address are stored to a confidential data portion of a non-volatile memory so that each copy is in a different location within the confidential data portion. A nondestructive purge of all said copies from the confidential data portion is carried out responsive to an externally supplied selective purge command so that all said copies are erased and other, non-purged confidential user data remain stored in the confidential data portion.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
dividing a non-volatile memory into a confidential data portion and a standard data portion; storing multiple copies of a selected set of confidential user data having a common logical address in the confidential data portion, the multiple copies of the selected set of confidential data comprising an older version of the selected set of confidential information written to a first physical location and a different, newer version of the selected set of confidential data written to a different, second physical location, each of the multiple copies restricted to the confidential data portion to limit the multiple copies to a subset of a total available data space of the memory; receiving a data purge command from a host device that requests a purge of the selected set from the confidential portion, the host device having access to the standard data portion; and non-destructively purging each said copy of the selected data set from the confidential data portion responsive to the received data purge command so that the older version and the newer version of the selected set are concurrently removed from the memory and other confidential user data stored in the confidential data portion are retained.