I'm getting ready to sell my desktop PC, which exclusively runs Linux. Before I hand it off, I want to make sure I completely erase the SSD. I was thinking about using the `dd` command to fill the drive with zeroes, but I'm not sure if that's a good idea. Since the PC uses UEFI for booting, will the buyer have trouble installing Windows 10 if I just zero out the drive? Also, how many passes of zeroing should I do to ensure the data is unrecoverable?
1 Answer
It's not ideal to just overwrite your SSD with zeroes because it doesn't guarantee that all data is erased. SSDs have wear-leveling, which means some data could still be left behind. Instead, it’s best to use the manufacturer's secure erase tool for a complete wipe.
If you want to be thorough, you can zero out individual partitions. For example, if your root partition is `/dev/sda1`, run this command from a live USB session: `dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sda1`. But remember, using a secure erase tool is still the way to go!