File Eraser

Myths about Disk Wiping and Solid State Drives

Written By Oliver Powell
Approved By Rohit Arora
Updated on 14 Oct, 2021
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Data sanitization is an integral part of secure data management, which is typically required when you need to dispose of your hard drive to throw away an old system. This is done by overwriting the drive multiple times to remove all the evidences of data remanence in your system, i.e. making data completely unrecoverable. This helps to secure you against cases of data thefts.

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A range of disk wipe software is on the market, which use different overwriting algorithms to perform multiple-pass wipes. They erase your hard drive by overwriting it with all 0’s, 1’s, or random data. In fact, a majority of users believe that the level of security provided by these tools depends on the number of passes performed during the wiping task. The reality is that you only need to wipe once (or perform only one pass) to securely erase everything present on the drive. The one recommended such tool is Stellar File Eraser which permanently shreds all your confidential data from hard drive files and folders.

When a file gets deleted in Windows, Linux, or any other operating system, the operating system does not erase the contents of the file. Instead, the space occupied by that file on the hard drive is marked as ‘unused’. This space can be reused by writing data on the unused sectors. A file recovery software can easily recover data from the unused sectors until they get overwritten by new data. This is exactly what a disk wiping utility does (i.e. overwriting the data) to make information on your drive beyond the scope of recovery by any commercial tool.

Comparing Solid State Drives (SSDs) with Hard Disk Drives (HDDs)

The SSDs use a different mechanism to store data than mechanical hard drives, and thus function differently. When you delete a file on your SSD, a TRIM command is issued to the drive by the operating system. This results in permanent erasure of the file contents from the SSD. Hence, a simple delete operation will clean data off your SSD. You do not require wiping the SSD using disk wipe utilities. Furthermore, SSDs use a technology that makes it easy to write data to a used sector rather than to overwrite an unused sector. So, a normal deletion would increase the performance of your SSD. On the other hand, modern SSDs also have a fixed number of write cycles. A wiping operation would lead to several reads/writes on your SSD, making it prone to damage and reducing its lifespan.

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About The Author

Oliver Powell

Oliver Powell is a Data Recovery Expert at Stellar®. He is a passionate technology blogger & content creator, He explores new applications and has deep understanding of data recovery. He has experience in Windows & Mac data recovery domain.

30 comments

Bruce says:

April 13, 2023 at 12:39 pm

If a solid state drive fails, is data still on the drive and if so how does one remove it?

Reply
1. Vishal says:
  
  April 14, 2023 at 12:06 pm
  
  If a solid-state drive (SSD) fails, there is a possibility that data is still on the drive. However, it may be difficult to access or remove the data because SSDs use a different technology than traditional hard disk drives (HDDs). To remove data from a failed SSD, you can try BitRaser File Eraser software.
  
  Hope it helps!
  
  Reply
  1. Mike McCreedy says:
    
    June 24, 2023 at 12:42 am
    
    When I use erase functions with Eastec eraser of similar apps, it will ask I want to use an SSD Wipe or Non SSD Wipe. I currently use an NVMe drive so I’m not sure it that makes a difference?
  2. Vishal says:
    
    June 26, 2023 at 9:46 am
    
    Hi Mike,
    Thanks for your query. When using erase functions with tools like Eastec Eraser or similar apps, you may come across options for SSD Wipe or Non-SSD Wipe. These options refer to the different methods of wiping data on storage drives, and they are particularly relevant when it comes to solid-state drives (SSDs) like NVMe drives. Since you are using an NVMe drive, which is a type of SSD, it is generally recommended to use the SSD Wipe option to ensure the most effective and secure data wiping process for your specific drive.
    Cheers!
Dustin da Ponte says:

October 30, 2017 at 10:35 am

Is their any free version of BitRaser software. If available please share the link.

Reply
1. Manish Bhickta says:
  
  October 30, 2017 at 11:09 am
  
  Hello Dustin,
  
  Sorry, currently no free version is available. You need to purchase the software from the official website.
  
  Buy Page Link – Read More
  
  Reply
John Sean says:

September 29, 2017 at 10:09 am

Is there any advanced forensic software which recover data after wiping with data erasure tools?

Reply
1. Manish Bhickta says:
  
  September 29, 2017 at 10:15 am
  
  Hello John,
  
  No, there is no such utility available which can reverse the data after erasing process.
  
  Reply
2. flaming turtle says:
  
  September 11, 2019 at 1:08 am
  
  Yes, there are a ton of options for people to recover deleted/wiped data, and the number of passes is extremely relevant to how easily the data can be recovered. A quick google search will turn up these answers.
  
  Reply
Christopher Herald says:

August 29, 2017 at 10:02 am

Can we erase system traces and application traces using BitRaser disk wiping tools?

Reply
1. Jyoti Prakash says:
  
  August 29, 2017 at 10:51 am
  
  Hello Christopher,
  
  Apart from permanent deletion of hard drive data. The above-mentioned data wiping tool also erases application and system traces permanently.
  
  Reply
John Hogan says:

July 28, 2017 at 11:31 am

Dear Author,

Do you clear out my confusion? Can data be recovered after using data erasing software? Hopefully to hear back from you soon.

Reply
1. Jyoti Prakash says:
  
  July 31, 2017 at 4:42 am
  
  Hello John,
  
  No, it was not possible for any data recovery software/expert to recover data after erasing process.
  
  Reply
Alexander Tobar says:

June 20, 2017 at 12:52 pm

Recently I erased all the sensitive data from SSD’s. The software also produced certificate after erasing process. So it’s a common myth that hard drive wiping is not possible with SSD’s.

Reply
1. Jyoti Prakash says:
  
  June 21, 2017 at 4:44 am
  
  Hello Alexander,
  
  Thanks for sharing the knowledge with other readers.
  
  Reply
Mark Cameron says:

May 30, 2017 at 5:54 am

Is data recovery possible after disk wiping? Common myths always heard in many forums and discussion panels.

Reply
1. Jyoti Prakash says:
  
  May 30, 2017 at 11:33 am
  
  Hi Mark,
  
  No Never, Till date, there is any software which can recover data after overwriting process.
  .
  
  Reply
  1. cvx says:
    
    October 12, 2017 at 10:49 pm
    
    if thats true, then why are there different passes? (1 pass, 3 pass.. and so on)
  2. Jyoti Prakash says:
    
    November 6, 2017 at 10:56 am
    
    Hello CVX,
    
    The number of passes denotes, how many times the algorithm wipes the data. The higher the passes, lesser are the chances of data recovery.
    Although, even a single pass is enough for permanent data deletion.
    Due to various audit compliance, business needs to erase with 3 passes (like dod 5220.22 M) or 7 passes erasure algorithm.

Myths about Disk Wiping and Solid State Drives

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