165
votes
Accepted
Wiping an SSD with Parted Magic seemed too quick
Modern SSDs use a technology called SED which allows instant erasure. It works by transparently encrypting the entire drive and keeping the key on the drive. ATA Secure Erase is then implemented by ...
- 67.1k
13
votes
Accepted
Should a secure ATA erase be performed on a non-SSD drive?
Given that the device is not a solid state drive, should a secure ATA erase still be performed?
If you want to erase the data, you can use ATA Secure Erase. It is not meant only for solid state ...
- 67.1k
10
votes
How to erase as much as possible an SSD without ATA Secure Erase?
I don't know why you say that SSDs implement ATA Security Erase improperly. Modern ones implement it using SED (which uses an encryption key known to the drive and stored in non-volatile memory for ...
- 246
10
votes
Accepted
Is GNU shred relevant for SSDs?
The Gutmann method is not useful for any modern device, whether a hard drive or a solid state drive. The fact that you cannot safely wipe a solid state drive due to wear leveling is irrelevant. For ...
- 67.1k
4
votes
Is corrupting the ciphertext corruption a good erasure?
Normally when you wipe a drive there are still ghost remains of the data even after overwriting the disk multiple times.
I'll save you some work. This isn't true, and hasn't ever been true as far as ...
- 136k
3
votes
How to erase as much as possible an SSD without ATA Secure Erase?
Short answer: Disabling the HPA and resetting the DCO only unhides previously reserved sectors on the drive, and does not involve any secure erasure itself. It only makes these sectors available to ...
- 31
3
votes
Are deleted offline calendar events in Android actually deleted?
Maybe not an answer to the question, but useful info for those who find this question while having this problem:
For people who use offline/local calendars, and notice their .ics export contains ...
- 131
3
votes
Overwriting hard drive to securely delete a file?
Windows have a tool called cipher which can be use to fully overwrite empty disk space with 0x00 and 0xFF
Just simply run in cmd: cipher /w:c: (c: is the drive letter you wanted to run on)
- 131
2
votes
How to securely sanitize data tapes, and audit the results?
Regarding the reuse of recycled tape; the business may appear sound but the technical parts are not. Even apart from the issue of securely wiping data, it is hard to determine if tapes were properly ...
- 2,407
2
votes
Accepted
Wipe data from many storage devices
The quick answer is that an HDD, or a modern SSD that supports SED, will be the easiest to remove data from. USB flash drives and SD cards are very difficult to remove data from. Note that product ...
- 67.1k
1
vote
Shred, cut, melt, smash, grind, then flush, is it secure disposal of a security access id card?
Physical destruction of a card like that is likely unnecessary.
Assuming this is a simple magnetic stripe or RFID card it will just hold an access code (probably in addition to the same info printed ...
- 470
1
vote
Wipe data from many storage devices
Reliably wiping SSDs is very difficulty. They are a different type of technology. Wear-leveling and onboard controllers will make results unreliable. The only approved erasure method is an ATA-...
- 5,185
1
vote
How to erase as much as possible an SSD without ATA Secure Erase?
Assuming you can set up encryption before first use (and then lose the key to effect a wipe) it doesn't matter if you delete everything. It's completely irrelevant.
If you already have data on the ...
- 61.5k
1
vote
What is the current EU standard for data destruction?
ENISA is probably your friend here, taking a look at the ENISA report on Securing personal data in the context of data retention, there is a specific quote:
there are no norms and standards in ...
- 1,910
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