If one uses a FAT32-formatted USB stick on Windows, Linux, or Android, would there be a way to determine on which computer the USB stick was used by examining the USB stick?
I know OS can log which USB sticks were connected. As far as I know, the log is saved locally to OS, not to the USB sticks.
Also, I know about files metadata which may leak system info. Let's not consider that.
Also, Windows leaves "System Volume Information" folder in the file system. Don't know though could it be used to track down the system or not. Don't know do other OS leave something similar.
So is there any other way OS can leave traces on USB sticks?
It may sound silly, but for example by writing some data to USB stick memory directly to some sectors offset without registering it in a file system.
Or by storing something in the USB stick's controller chip firmware memory.
Or by storing something in the file system metadata.