US Patent 7349118 Confirmation of secure data file erasure

A process that provides a status report following a request for the destruction of data files a user wishes to completely erase from a storage medium, such as a hard drive or removable disk. A system administrator can select a quantity of and pattern to be used in overwrites of the data file so that no one can recover the data from the storage medium. In embodiments, a graphical user interface (GUI) can be provided to allow user triggering of and parameter setting for the process. The GUI can be implemented at a device in which the storage medium is a component or can be implemented in a device driver GUI on a personal computer in communication with the device.