SOLVED Wiping an SSD, what is the best cheapest way to make sure it's clean?

[Conumdrum]

Got a 120 GB SSD I want to move as fast storage to my new PC, I want to clean it well. More than just format. Empty it. Nothing on it, multiple wipes etc.

NSA is following me, I'm already wearing a tin hat......

 

[Knufire]

What brand? Just need some way to trigger the devices own Secure Erase command. Exactly how depends on the brand and what utilities the manufacturer offers.

 

[Automata]

Since it may rotate what cells are written to, I'd do multiple writes to the whole disk. My standard rotation for disk wipes for selling is the "DoD 52202.22-M" in DBAN.

EDIT: Or a secure wipe.

 

[DAKz]

http://www.pcworld.com/product/1196693/roadkil-s-disk-wipe.html

 

[myndlessdayz]

I use PartedMagic Secure Erase.

 

[Robert17]

This is what I've used lately:

http://www.harddriveeraser.org/

 

[EarthDog]

Secure Erase from a Parted Magic Disk if your SSD maker doesn't have its own software.

Need moar information n00b! What SSD?

 

[Operant]

Going to agree with what has been said above. The secure erase "function" is your best bet. If not, a pass with random data will definitely do the trick (I think). I know that SSD's were less involved when it came to wiping compared to HDDs.

 

[cw823]

I normally use lysol and a rag. you might try bleach too, depends how clean you want it.

 

[Conumdrum]

OCZ Vertex 3 128 GB, hehe.

 

[EarthDog]

OCZ has.......................the OCZ Toolbox. Use that to SE the drive.

 

[Conumdrum]

Thanks ED!

 

[Knufire]

Unzip and burn this to a disk: http://ocz.com/consumer/download/firmware/OCZ_PC_Bootable_Tools_v4.3.03740.zip

 

[DAKz]

I normally use lysol and a rag. you might try bleach too, depends how clean you want it.

Classic

 

[Culbrelai]

The best/cheapest way would be a hammer, really, that one Lanza guy did that and the FBI was in a fritz

 

[lopgok]

Got a 120 GB SSD I want to move as fast storage to my new PC, I want to clean it well. More than just format. Empty it. Nothing on it, multiple wipes etc.

NSA is following me, I'm already wearing a tin hat......

If you are really worried about the NSA getting your data, physical destruction is the only option. Because SSDs have spare capacity aka overprovisioning, they can decide to put your data pretty much anywhere on all of the flash. Then they can remap the flash whenever they feel like it. This means that doing a secure erase will get rid of all of the date *currently accessible* at the user level, but it won't touch the spare capacity flash. I don't know if secure erase will erase the user accessible data, or all of the flash. I am not sure the manufacturers document exactly what gets erased, and if you are paranoid, how can you trust them?

Melting is likely the best way to physically destroy the data, though grinding the drive to dust may be easier. I recommend using thermite (in a safe environment of course) to melt the drive.

On the other hand, I doubt the NSA is really after you, so this will likely be overkill.

 

[Mr.Scott]

If you are really worried about the NSA getting your data, physical destruction is the only option. Because SSDs have spare capacity aka overprovisioning, they can decide to put your data pretty much anywhere on all of the flash. Then they can remap the flash whenever they feel like it. This means that doing a secure erase will get rid of all of the date *currently accessible* at the user level, but it won't touch the spare capacity flash. I don't know if secure erase will erase the user accessible data, or all of the flash. I am not sure the manufacturers document exactly what gets erased, and if you are paranoid, how can you trust them?

Destructive firmware flash will overcome this.

 

[DAKz]

Originally Posted by lopgok View Post
If you are really worried about the NSA getting your data, physical destruction is the only option. Because SSDs have spare capacity aka overprovisioning, they can decide to put your data pretty much anywhere on all of the flash. Then they can remap the flash whenever they feel like it. This means that doing a secure erase will get rid of all of the date *currently accessible* at the user level, but it won't touch the spare capacity flash. I don't know if secure erase will erase the user accessible data, or all of the flash. I am not sure the manufacturers document exactly what gets erased, and if you are paranoid, how can you trust them?

If I thought the NSA was watching me that close I would be more concerned about my online security then whats on my hard drive, been a lot more people busted for what they post to social sites and forums then from their hard drive. hmmmm maybe I shouldn't have posted that, maybe they are after me to.... Realistically while its fun to think that we are being watched that close the truth is simple it would take one person to watch every action of another person, so at best only half of us are being watched, because the other half is doing the watching.

 

[SPL Tech]

I dont understand why more people dont use encryption. If you use True Crypt and encrypt the entire drive from the day you bought the thing, then no one can access the drive and you never need to worry about overwriting the data. True Crypt uses 256-bit encryption. With a 20+ digit password consisting of a verity of characters, special characters and numbers, there is not enough computing power in the world to crack the encryption in any reasonable amount of time. If you encrypt the drive from the beginning, the only data that will ever have resided on the drive will have been encrypted so there is nothing to find.

 

[DAKz]

I gots to wonder how much money is really made on paranoia each year? Between this thread and the silly lifelock ad I just saw there has to be big money into the fears. Honestly I would not worry about it unless you have something really good to hide then use what the old hackers used to call "The Panic Button"