Why not just use BitLocker to wipe a drive?

I have some old external and internal hard drives as well as an SSD I need to wipe before giving away.

There's lots of software out there to wipe a drive clean (single or multipass writes, military grade algorithms, etc.). But they can take anywhere from hours to days to run.

Why not just use BitLocker on Windows 10 Pro to encrypt the entire hard drive and then reformat the drive? If any data on the drive is left behind, isn't it all encrypted and unrecoverable anyway?

BitLocker approach is so much faster and easier. Is there a the down side? Am I missing something? I don't see the BitLocker approach mentioned very often.

ComputerGeek said:

I have some old external and internal hard drives as well as an SSD I need to wipe before giving away.

There's lots of software out there to wipe a drive clean (single or multipass writes, military grade algorithms, etc.). But they can take anywhere from hours to days to run.

Why not just use BitLocker on Windows 10 Pro to encrypt the entire hard drive and then reformat the drive? If any data on the drive is left behind, isn't it all encrypted and unrecoverable anyway?

BitLocker approach is so much faster and easier. Is there a the down side? Am I missing something? I don't see the BitLocker approach mentioned very often.

because after turning bit locker off, the data can still be recovered because on a plain format it does not wipe the drive

tomdsr said:

because after turning bit locker off, the data can still be recovered because on a plain format it does not wipe the drive

But I'm not simply turning BitLocker off. I'm essentially (I thought) using BL to encrypt the drive and then throwing away the encryption key.

I've always read there's no way to recover any BitLocker encrypted data if you don't have the key. One is SOL. Are you saying that's incorrect?

ComputerGeek said:

But I'm not simply turning BitLocker off. I'm essentially (I thought) using BL to encrypt the drive and then throwing away the encryption key.

I've always read there's no way to recover any BitLocker encrypted data if you don't have the key. One is SOL. Are you saying that's incorrect?

If you are getting rid of the drive, format it properly and sell, donate, or recycle it. We dont need these things filling up landfills

tomdsr said:

If you are getting rid of the drive, format it properly and sell, donate, or recycle it. We dont need these things filling up landfills

No, we don't. I said I was wiping it to give away. (to Free Geeks, exactly)

But that still begs the question for someone, is encrypting a drive with BL and then reformatting not sufficient for secure wiping? As I understand it, in this scenario, BL isn't being turned off. Isn't any data that might be left behind on the drive after a simple reformat unrecoverable?? Or is BL not that secure?

Hi,

I prefer to use manufacturers tools.

https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/secure...ut-destroying/

ComputerGeek said:

But that still begs the question for someone, is encrypting a drive with BL and then reformatting not sufficient for secure wiping? As I understand it, in this scenario, BL isn't being turned off. Isn't any data that might be left behind on the drive after a simple reformat unrecoverable?? Or is BL not that secure?

1. That does not beg the question at all.

2. Bit Locker will encrypt any existing files. But it will not encrypt the de-allocated storage left behind after files were deleted. Data found in those clusters can be recovered.

margrave55 said:

<snip>2. Bit Locker will encrypt any existing files. But it will not encrypt the de-allocated storage left behind after files were deleted. Data found in those clusters can be recovered.

BitLocker can encrypt the entire drive not just used disk space. It's user choice