Re: Re-use SSD

[Martin Steigerwald <martin@lichtvoll.de>]

Martin Steigerwald - 14.09.17, 15:21:
> Generic hint for securely erasing SSDs.
> 
> https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase
> 
> You rely on the SSD firmware tough. But I am not aware of another way to 
> securely delete data of an SSD other than ATA Secure Erase. However ATA
> Secure  Erase only is really safe for SSDs that use encryption like Intel
> SSD 320 (and many newer SSDs) as the SSD will overwrite the encryption
> keys. Many SSDs use encryption by default, without change using some

Hmmm, thinking about this: I am not sure about this.

Secure Erase should also safely, securely delete the device on drives that do 
not use encryptions, but it would take much longer as the individual sectors 
need to be wiped. With a drive with encryption by firmware, the firmware will 
just delete the key. With the Intel SSD 320 this took… hmm a few seconds, 
definately less than a minute.

It of course always wipes the complete device.

Thanks,
-- 
Martin