News How to Secure Erase an SSD or HDD Before Selling It or Your PC

[TerryLaze]

I'm in a test of this user level data recovery thing right now.

Win 11 Pro
3TB Seagate HDD
USB dock

1.97TB data on it.
Full Format.

Quick and then Full scan with Recuva
0 files recovered.
None.

Currently in a Full scan with Autopsy.
About 18 hours into the scan. nothing so far.

Why waste time and drive hours?
Use a hex editor like hxd and open the formatted drive and search for anything that is not zero.

 

[USAFRet]

There already was zero chance of data recovery using stock drive electronics and firmware even before the PMR days where vertical recording made bits drastically smaller. With GMR-and-beyond HDDs, time travel is the only data erasure recovery you can hope for if you didn't have backups.

Oh, I know.

Just doing a verification test, to quiet the pundits.
"But there's gotta be a way!! My cousins barbers nephew said so!!"

 

[USAFRet]

Why waste time and drive hours?
Use a hex editor like hxd and open the formatted drive and search for anything that is not zero.

Its a 15 year old drive that been sitting on the shelf for over a year.
Little or no time wasted on my part. Let the software run and do its thing.

 

[TerryLaze]

Its a 15 year old drive that been sitting on the shelf for over a year.
Little or no time wasted on my part. Let the software run and do its thing.

I'm just saying, with the hex editor you can actually see the data (or extreme lack thereof) with your own eyes.

 

[USAFRet]

As expected, after a run of almost 36 hours, Autopsy also returns nothing after a simple Full Format in File Explorer.

Out of the hundreds of thousands of files that were on it, zip, zero, nada.

 

[pigsdontfly]

The idea that any usable data (more a few bytes) data can be recovered from a magnetic disk after a single zeroing pass has been completely refuted. In fact deleted (but not erased) files quickly become unrecoverable just by normal use.

Overwriting Hard Drive Data: The Great Wiping Controversy​

• December 2008

DOI:10.1007/978-3-540-89862-7_21

• Source
• DBLP

• Conference: Information Systems Security, 4th International Conference, ICISS 2008, Hyderabad, India, December 16-20, 2008. Proceedings

Authors:

4 Conclusion
The purpose of this paper was a categorical settlement to the controversy surrounding
the misconceptions involving the belief that data can be recovered following a wipe
procedure. This study has demonstrated that correctly wiped data cannot reasonably
be retrieved even if it is of a small size or found only over small parts of the hard
drive. Not even with the use of a MFM or other known methods. The belief that a tool
can be developed to retrieve gigabytes or terabytes of information from a wiped drive
is in error.

Although there is a good chance of recovery for any individual bit from a drive, the
chances of recovery of any amount of data from a drive using an electron microscope
are negligible. Even speculating on the possible recovery of an old drive, there is no
likelihood that any data would be recoverable from the drive. The forensic recovery
of data using electron microscopy is infeasible. This was true both on old drives and
has become more difficult over time. Further, there is a need for the data to have been
written and then wiped on a raw unused drive for there to be any hope of any level of
recovery even at the bit level, which does not reflect real situations. It is unlikely that
a recovered drive will have not been used for a period of time and the interaction of
defragmentation, file copies and general use that overwrites data areas negates any
chance of data recovery. The fallacy that data can be forensically recovered using an
electron microscope or related means needs to be put to rest.

 

[Order 66]

Exactly.

Its like putting an entire novel through a crosscut shredder.
In the resulting confetti, you find a few pieces with a readable character.
One with an a, one with an o, and one with an M.

And then declaring "That shredder is useless!!"

🤣 since we're talking about extreme methods of destroying data,you could always fly to one of the active volcanoes over in Hawaii (or any volcano really) and drop your drive into said volcano, no data recovery possible, not to mention even if it was, who would expect a drive to be inside of a volcano.

 

[Safari0]

Hi. I have a 500 GB Adata SSD that has issues and is write-protected. I tried to format it using Diskpart, but it wasn’t possible. Is there any way I can erase the data before sending it for warranty replacement?

 

[USAFRet]

Hi. I have a 500 GB Adata SSD that has issues and is write-protected. I tried to format it using Diskpart, but it wasn’t possible. Is there any way I can erase the data before sending it for warranty replacement?

Please start a NEW thread for your particular situation.

(but no, from your description, it doesn't look like there is any way to 'erase' it)