Wiping an SSD

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ErikJan
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Wiping an SSD

Post by ErikJan »

I know that simply attempting to write all sectors on an SSD will not guarantee that information cannot be recovered later (as firmware is acting behind the scenes to optimize degradation of cells). The only feasible way I know of is to use an erasure option as provided in SSD tools by the manufacturers. This triggers a low level call that erases the entire contents of the SSD.
AFAIK, the problem with this is that if one connects the SSD not via PCI Express or SATA, but external via USB (as in an external HD), the manufacturer software no longer recognizes the SSD and therefore the Erase option is not available.
Again, until here all is only the way I think it works more or less. Please feel free to let me know if this is incorrect.

Assuming the above is correct, I saw no easy way to fully erase an external USB-connected SSD.
But I think I have a way now and I'm posting to see if that makes sense. What if one would apply full-disk BitLocker encryption first and then format the drive afterwards? The former will encrypt the entire surface (or will it suffer from the same problem with firmware interfering above??). The latter format would reset the drive leaving an empty drive (but with encrypted bits in all empty sectors). Could this work?
And if none of these above is true: how DO I fully erase an SSD connected via USB then?

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stuck
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Re: Wiping an SSD

Post by stuck »

According to post #5 on this page:
    https://www.tenforums.com/drivers-hardw ... e-app.html
your idea is "...should be adequate-ish." However, I have no personal experience of doing that.

Ken