Question Which option should I choose to securely erase my SSD prior to selling?

[Galinho13]

I'll soon sell my laptop.
I checked my BIOS and saw that it has a tool called Media Sanitization.
However, it showed me two options: clear and purge, as shown in the image below:

https://imgur.com/kpxGjug

Which one should I choose before securely erase my laptop prior to selling it?

 

[Avro Arrow]

I just use CCleaner for that.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I wouldn't bother with any of that. Just do a clean install of Windows, choose the Custom option, delete all the existing partitions on the drive and then install to the unpartitioned space that remains. Everything will be wiped out and there will be nothing of your personal information remaining to worry about. Plus, whoever buys it will get a 100% fresh, clean Windows installation. Everybody ends up happy.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[hotaru.hino]

https://www.howtogeek.com/803510/how-to-format-an-ssd-on-windows-10/ suggests that Windows will tell the SSD to clear out pages marked for deletion if you format the drive... which is now all of them because you just formatted the drive. At least that's what I'm getting at with the wording in the Using Format to Wipe Data section. i.e., if given the option between Quick or Full Format, only select Quick.

And even then, installing a new OS on top of freshly formatted drive is usually enough to make any data still on the drive worthless.

 

[fzabkar]

Aptio V Security Features UEFI BIOS FIRMWARE SECURITY DEEP DIVE, REVISION 1.11.1 – APRIL 15, 2021:

https://f.hubspotusercontent10.net/...AMI_Aptio_Security_Features_Deep_Dive_PUB.pdf

AMI's Aptio V MediaSanitization eModule is an implementation of the DOD 5220-22-M and NIST SP800-88 specifications and supports clearing and purging of data on storage devices.

Guidelines for Media Sanitization, NIST Special Publication 800-88 (page 16 of the PDF, page 7 of the document):

https://tsapps.nist.gov/publication/get_pdf.cfm?pub_id=50819

Clearing information is a level of media sanitization that would protect the confidentiality of information against a robust keyboard attack.

Purging information is a media sanitization process that protects the confidentiality of information against a laboratory attack.

 

[MWink64]

I would NOT use CCleaner or do a full format. Both will unnecessarily write a large amount of data to the drive. A (Windows) quick format should be enough to TRIM the drive, though that still wouldn't be my first choice. The best option is to run a Secure Erase/Sanitize operation. Many companies offer utilities that will work with their drives. There are also generic utilities that will work on most drives but can be considerably more complicated to use. hdparm is an option on Linux. That tool built into your BIOS may also be a good (and simple) option. The prior post makes it sound like the "purge" option is ideal.