Questions tagged [secure-erase]

Secure erase is a command to tell an ATA mass storage device to completely wipe itself.

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Wipe unallocated disk space in Windows and clean or rename file in directory structures

I want a way to clean free space in Windows once I delete the data, so that: The files are no longer recoverable by any disk recovery tools The file names are no longer visible in any disk recovery ...
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Wiping an SSD without ruining pre-installed OS?

I bought a new ASUS laptop with an SSD and Windows 11 pre-installed. Unfortunately, the laptop has some issues and since consumer protection laws in my country allow you to return goods purchased from ...
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How can I tell if my SSD is really secure erased, with a huge $BadClus file on it?

Backstory: almost a year ago, I bought a Silicon Power Ace A56 256GB SATA SP256GBSS3A56B25. After 4 months, it suddenly went into Satafirm S11 mode, which meant I couldn't boot a system from it, ...
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Kingston SSD Secure Erase not working

I have a hard drive that I cannot Secure Erase because there is still partitioning in the drive, but there are not any partitions left shown in disk 2 in the disk management tool, yet its not letting ...
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Securely Delete Files in Windows 11 [duplicate]

I want to give my company notebook to another employee. I don't want to erase the entire filesystem and everything, just my personal folder. How can I safely remove files without anyone being able to ...
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Why DBAN cannot erase data on SSD

As stated in DBAN website, DBAN, which using "DoD 5220.22-M", is not recommended for wiping SSD drives since DBAN was designed for HDD. As I understand, it is because SSD has over ...
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How is secure erase implemented on SSDs? [closed]

I've seen people talk about using it or that it works for erasing SSDs, but I can't find much on how it actually works.
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Is it necessary to secure erase a hardware encrypted Samsung SSD before reinstalling Windows?

I have a Samsung SSD 870 EVO and I have enabled hardware encryption by following the instructions written in Samsung Magician, which is to first secure erase the drive and then doing a fresh Windows ...
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How to securely erase an NVMe SSD that won't boot?

I purchased a Crucial NVMe PCIe m.2 SSD and cloned my old hard drive to it. All of the data is accessible in file explorer, but the SSD has issues (overheats and won't boot) and I need to return it. I'...
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Formatting a failing & write-locked SSD

I have a failing 4 TB 870 Evo SSD. It has lasted less than a year (thanks Samsung). I believe the SSD has entered a read-only mode because it is failing. Any disk enumeration tasks take 30 seconds ...
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Is my SSD broken?

I've tried to delete all partition in my ssd using several method like disk manager, diskpart and 3rd party MiniTool Partition Wizard in windows 10, gparted, zero fill data dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdc ...
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Securely Erase NVME SSD that is connected via USB Converter

Is there a way to securely erase a NVME SSD that is connected via a USB converter? Normally I use parted magic to format an SSD, the M.2 SATA SSDs can be easily connected via a converter into a 2.5&...
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What does Windows's "format X: /P:count" do?

What does format X: /P:count do in Windows? The documentation says: /P:count Zero every sector on the volume. After that, the volume will be overwritten "count" ...
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Giving out printer/scanner for repair replacement and personal data cached

I have a home printer/scanner (Epson XP235) that has malfunction and needs repair. Do the scanner/printers cache any data (from printed/scanned documents) that I should make sure are wiped out before ...
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HDD old deleted data still visible in recovery software [duplicate]

Hi How can i completely wipe old deleted data from hard disk i am trying with ccleaner and cleaning the /w Free Space (35 Pass) after cleaning the free space i scanned my laptop with easeus data ...
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How does Samsung’s secure erase tool actually work?

I’ve seen so much debate surrounding what specifically Samsung magician’s secure erase tool for their consumer ssds actually does. It seems like everyone agrees that using the bootable USB media wipes ...
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What happens technically when a MicroSD (Secure Digital Storage Device) is not formattable, delectable, or reusable [duplicate]

My question detected as a similar question, and the similar answer is to throw your SD in the garbage! I want to update my question by asking, what happens technically when a microSD card happens to ...
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35-pass erase for files; will it recover or not? [duplicate]

OK, I admit it; downloaded raunchy pictures and now want to ensure they're deleted from a MacBook Pro bought in 2018 whenever I decide to gift it to someone. Admittedly, the pictures are nothing ...
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OCZ SSD not working after secure erase failed

I tried to secure erase the 60GB OCZ-VERTEX2 SSD in my HP N40L MicroServer using the Disks GUI tool on the debian-live-10.7.0-amd64-lxde.iso. It failed the first time and unfortunately I don't ...
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Corrupted Files Delete in Windows [duplicate]

I am preparing a file using shell script and while doing some tests, I added the pause> nul line into my sh file. Then I ran the sh file, but there was a file named nul on the desktop and I can't ...
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Can the HPA and DCA contain user data from the filesystem?

The HPA and DCO are hidden areas on some drives that can be used to install firmware-based malware or deliberately hide some files. Tools like hdparm can be used to wipe these areas, as can most ...
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Secure data wipe before laptop sell

I have two SSDs in my laptop (dell xps 15 9550): Toshiba 256gb (PCIe) THNSN5256GPU7 Samsung 1tb (sata 3) EVO860 Both are fully encrypted with VeraCrypt. Is it safe, to simply make a quick-format on ...
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should I secure erase my Samsung SSDs?

I have two SSDs in my laptop, they're a samsung evo 500GB and a samsung evo 1TB. I've noticed that my laptop has become slower these days and I was thinking of helping my SSDs to 'rejuvenate'. I've ...
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Error wiping device: Failed to probe the device 'dev/-sdb' (udisks-error-quark, 0)

My Hard disk was totally fine since I tried to format it using the 'ATA Enhanced Secure Erase' option on gnome disk utility. Now I can not formate or use it. Every time I try to format it this error ...
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HDD failure and format error, shows 4.1 GB instead of 1.86 TB

I have a Seagate 2.0 TB HDD. I had Ubuntu installed on it and grub on my SSD. I removed the cable when trying to change it. After that when I plugged it in grub showed the black error screen with grub&...
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Can I securely erase a HDD larger than 2TB on a laptop without UEFI support?

I would like to securely erase a WD 6TB HDD. The problem is that the only computer I have access to in the house which can run uninterrupted (for the 2.5 days I estimate this will take) is a 2009 ...
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How does writing zeroes to a drive remove data from it?

I know a fair bit about the process of securely wiping drives, including that one wipe is usually sufficient and that no-one has yet (publicly) been able to recover a bit of data from one pass of ...
Hashim Aziz's user avatar
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How to purge deleted file names?

I'm on Windows 10 and we know that the deleted files can be read back by some software. Like this one: If the file hasn't been overwritten, it can even be recovered. Is it possible for me to delete ...
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How to securely erase an SSD that doesn't support secure erase?

I'm selling a laptop that was used to handle my personal data, and want to wipe the SSD before getting rid of it. However, I just realized that my SSD doesn't support any of the Sanitize or Secure ...
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Active @ KillDisk data wipe options

I have been using cCleaner data wipe feature to erase contents on hdds, Now I need boot drive so I use Active @ KillDisk, it has 3 options: Wipe unused clusters Erase areas of the hard drive that are ...
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How to fix SSD Secure erase disabled for Kingston

I noticed that my SSD read/write speed dropped. I googled it most results said that a secure erase could help. I am using Kingston SSD Manager, and it says Secure Erase is disabled for this ...
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How to securely erase ssd?

I want to sell my pc but I want to delete everything on my SSD without being recoverable. How to do that. It's SATA 3 500 MB/S KINGSTON.
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How to erase a locked SSD

I received 2 locked SSDs. I managed to unfreeze them by a power cycle. hdparm reports: supported enalbed locked not frozen not expired: security count supported: enchanced ...
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OCZ agility 4 is not recognized by Toshiba SSD Tool

I have a working OCZ Agility 4 SSD as system drive. It is working. I want to secure erase it and update its firmware (if available). The problem is that Toshiba/OCZ SSD Utility wont detect/...
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How to securely erase an NVMe SSD

It's generally accepted that SSDs cannot be securely wiped by writing patterns to the drive, due to features such as wear leveling and over-provisioning, and that the most secure way to wipe a modern ...
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Securely erase drive by encryption [closed]

According to this article, you can securely erase a disk by following these steps: Perform full drive encryption with BitLocker Format the drive Encrypt the drive again. Further: The second ...
Jam's user avatar
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SSD - What is the difference between Sanitize & Secure Erase?

When I use Parted Magic to secure erase an SSD I get two options. Secure Erase ATA Device Sanitize While I have searched the net, I still do not understand the exact technical different between the ...
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Can't erase external hard drive

I have been trying to wipe my external hard drive (WD My Passport 2626 Media 2TB) using my MacOS Catalina 10.15.2. I have tried each command multiple times, shut my mac off between, changed USB port....
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Why is hdparm not available on Cygwin?

I'm running Cygwin on Windows 7 and have done for several years now. I use kou1okada's brilliant fork of apt-cyg to install packages from the Cygwin repository, and up until now this has suited me ...
Hashim Aziz's user avatar
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1 answer
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If I full format my external drive more than once it will be harder to recovery data?

With Full Format I mean unchecking the Quick Format box from the Windows format option.
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linux shred does not remove traces of filename even after truncate/removal?

I'm testing the coreutils /usr/bin/shred command. It leaves traces of a file's name even though I told shred to "truncate" (remove) the file. I was assuming that shred would remove all the metadata ...
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How to scramble a directory name as part of a secure erase under Linux?

There are many tools available for Linux to securely erase data on a per file basis: shred, wipe, srm, ... you name it. Related instructions and advices typically focus on the contents of the files to ...
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How to securely erase an SSD using the OS on the SSD?

Does anybody know of a way to erase hard drives from the hard drive? Without anything else? EG. I have a windows 10 pc and would like to wipe the hard drive as-is, with no boot key/disk and while ...
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OS X | Impossible to empty my trash

There are four folders in my trash which are resisting any kind of deletion. So far I´ve tried multiple ways but im still stuck. I already searched for the same problem on superuser but so far no ...
Niko's user avatar
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18 votes
1 answer
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hdparm doesn't read SSD? HDIO_DRIVE_CMD(identify) failed: Inappropriate ioctl for device

I'm trying to use hdparm to do secure erase of my 512GB SSD SK Hynix. SSD has Windows 10 installed in it. I boot Ubuntu from a usb flash drive. sudo fdisk -l I get a lot of different disks, turns out ...
Jack's user avatar
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1 answer
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Can I "secure erase" a Samsung SSD without installing it?

I sometimes replace SSDs in our office PCs with bigger and faster ones. A few days after doing that, I want to wipe the old SSDs because they might contain sensitive company data. Back in the old ...
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Purpose of password in SSD Secure Erase - Partedmagic

I used PartedMagic to secure erase my Samsung EVO SATA SSD. I had created a bootable USB pen drive for the same. The process went well and SSD has been erased. It took hardly less than a minute to ...
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Is decrypting BitLocker after deleting files a secure way to erase data?

Consider the task of erasing profiles of previous users from a Windows computer (which is to be given away to other people) without having to fully erase the system. Assuming the computer's hard ...
KT.'s user avatar
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2 votes
2 answers
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Can I wipe a Samsung 850 Evo SSD by plugging it into another computer through an enclosure and using erase software?

I'm soon sending my computer to a repair shop and I want to wipe my SSD first before sending it in. I detatched the 850 Evo SSD from my computer and was wondering if I could connect it to a laptop ...
Adam Lee's user avatar
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1 answer
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I've used hdparm secure erase on a USB SATA drive. Is it beyond recovery now?

Acting on information in an outdated version of the ULSAH, I have tried to wipe out my old backup disk (a USB-connected SATA drive, not an SSD) using hdparm with the following options (rather the way ...
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