Best method to wipe an ssd drive?


  1. Hazel123
    Posts : 423
    Windows 10
       New #1

    Best method to wipe an ssd drive?


    Any tips? I've used secure erase in parted magic (the option for enhanced secure erase was blanked out) but then read somewhere that there is no secure way to wipe an ssd? Planning to reinstall and then sell the machine on. It's only a small 80gb drive and not new to me or I'd swap it for something but the machine would be too slow without it.

    I am also confused. Secure erase says it writes 0s to the drive. Standard wiping writes 0s to the drive! I thought secure erase was something other than wiping 0s to the drive!
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  3. Clintlgm
    Posts : 1,099
    Win 10 pro Upgraded from 8.1
       New #2

    No there are other methods, but writing Zero's is good enough. As any data that had been in that sector has been overwritten by the 000's. If you have data more sensitive than that destroy the SSD.
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  4. Caledon Ken
    Posts : 30,196
    Windows 11 Pro x64 Version 23H2
       New #3

    Hi Hazel123

    Have a read of this article. What I'm taking away from this is secure erase, in a well execute implementation, overrides the SSD's tendency to load level cells. In a well written implementation it writes to every cell, even the ones that it has reserved.

    This article says two secure erases should be sufficient.

    https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/ssd-secure-delete-data/

    This article say using Parted is all you need.

    https://hetmanrecovery.com/recovery_...ate-drives.htm

    Others will have a different opinion but two secure erases unless you are selling to GCHQ or the NSA is likely way more than sufficient. Most people have a hard time restoring files that have been simply deleted let alone a drive where a user has deliberately taken measures to prevent restoration as you are doing with secure erase.


    Ken
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  6. Hazel123
    Posts : 423
    Windows 10
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    Thanks I think it worked because the second secure erase only took 10 minutes or so (the first took about 45 minutes).
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