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Complete wipe HD,SSD software

M

maverick100

macrumors regular
Original poster
Current Setup:
Mac min 4 pro
Mac OS Sequoia; fully updated.
Internal SSD 1TB
Need to completely wipe several HD and SSD's

First thanks for any and all suggestions

Trying to find software that will completely and totally wipe all the data one HD, and Ssd.
 
Were the volumes on these disks encrypted, either with APFS or HFS+? If so, just using Disk Utility to quickly Erase the volume should make the previous contents inaccessible due to the encryption.



If they were NOT encrypted, I'd use the 'diskutil' command for the HDDs. (I don't know a guaranteed way to "overwrite" ALL the data on an SSD. Perhaps by filling it *completely* with other data.)

For the HDDs, enter 'man diskutil' and look at the "secureErase" verb. However, that diskutil documentation says:
NOTE: This kind of secure erase is no longer considered safe. Modern devices have wear-leveling, block-sparing, and possibly-persistent cache hardware, which cannot be completely erased by these commands. The modern solution for quickly and securely erasing your data is encryption. Strongly-encrypted data can be instantly "erased" by destroying (or losing) the key (password), because this renders your data irretrievable in practical terms. Consider using APFS encryption (FileVault).
Click to expand...
It's not clear to me whether they are referring to just SSDs, or to modern HDDs as well.

WARNING: if you use diskutil, it is absolutely critical that you specify the correct disk! You could easily wipe out the wrong disk if you make a mistake!

There are probably apps available to make this easier, but I have no experience with them.
 
Brian33 said:
Were the volumes on these disks encrypted, either with APFS or HFS+? If so, just using Disk Utility to quickly Erase the volume should make the previous contents inaccessible due to the encryption.



If they were NOT encrypted, I'd use the 'diskutil' command for the HDDs. (I don't know a guaranteed way to "overwrite" ALL the data on an SSD. Perhaps by filling it *completely* with other data.)

For the HDDs, enter 'man diskutil' and look at the "secureErase" verb. However, that diskutil documentation says:

It's not clear to me whether they are referring to just SSDs, or to modern HDDs as well.

WARNING: if you use diskutil, it is absolutely critical that you specify the correct disk! You could easily wipe out the wrong disk if you make a mistake!

There are probably apps available to make this easier, but I have no experience with them.
Click to expand...
thanks for all the info. I have done exactly as you suggested. I hope it works the way we think it will.
 
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