I need to erase literally everything from my SSD and I mean everything. I'm looking for a method that makes it impossible to recover any files, regardless of what it takes. Just to clarify, I don't have anything criminal or concerning on my computer—I'm serious about wanting to know how to do this properly. What are the recommended methods for achieving a total wipe?
5 Answers
If you're looking for something extreme, you could physically smash the SSD or even use heat to destroy it. That way, there's no way to get any data back! But I wouldn't recommend this unless you're really ready to part with the drive.
For an easier approach, if it’s your boot drive, use a USB tool like DBAN or something similar. If it's a secondary drive, simply formatting it without a quick format can help too. Overwriting with zeroes is another reliable method!
There are lots of programs designed to securely erase a drive. They typically overwrite the existing data with garbage data in multiple passes. This makes it extremely hard, if not impossible, to recover anything afterwards.
If your SSD supports it, I recommend using the secure erase option in the BIOS or through certain software. This method can also completely wipe your drive in a way that keeps your data safe from recovery.
Using a tool like Blancco is a solid choice for securely wiping your SSD. It effectively cleans the drive and helps ensure that data can't be recovered afterwards.
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