no possibility of storing the plain text key in an unencrypted section of the medium. See the section Complications: Data in RAM for further discussion. Other side-channel attacks (such as keyloggers, acquisition of a written note containing the decryption key, or rubber-hose cryptanalysis) may offer a greater chance of success, but do not rely on weaknesses in the cryptographic method employed. As such, their relevance for this article is minor. Media destruction Thorough destruction of the underlying storage media is the most certain way to counter data remanence. However, the process is generally time-consuming, cumbersome, and may require extremely thorough methods, as even a small fragment of the media may contain large amounts of data. Specific destruction techniques include: Physically breaking the media apart (e.g., by grinding or shredding) Chemically altering the media into a non-readable, non-reverse-constructible state (e.g., through incineration or exposure to caustic/corrosive chemicals) Phase transition (e.g., liquefaction or vaporization of a solid disk) For magnetic media, raising its temperature above the Curie point For many electric/electronic volatile and non-volatile storage media, exposure to electromagnetic fields greatly exceeding safe operational specifications (e.g., high-voltage electric current or high-amplitude microwave or ionizing radiation) Complications Inaccessible media areas Storage media may have areas which become inaccessible by normal means. For example, magnetic disks may develop new bad sectors after data has been written, and tapes require inter-record gaps. Modern hard disks often feature reallocation of marginal sectors or tracks, automated in a way that the operating system would not need to work with it. The problem is especially significant in solid-state drives (SSDs) that rely on relatively large relocated bad block tables. Attempts to counter data remanence by overwriting may not be successful in such situations, as data remnants may persist in such nominally inaccessible areas. Advanced storage systems Data storage systems with more sophisticated features may make overwrite ineffective, especially on a per-file basis. For example, journaling file systems increase the integrity of data by recording write operations in multiple locations, and applying transaction-like semantics; on such systems, data remnants may exist in locations “outside” the nominal file storage location. Some file systems also implement copy-on-write or built-in revision control, with the intent that writing to a file never overwrites data in-place. Furthermore, technologies such as RAID and anti-fragmentation techniques may result in file data being written to multiple locations, either by design (for fault tolerance), or as data remnants.