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MBP Retina SSD Secure Erase

Re: Secure Erase

likegadgets said:
I was able to secure erase my SSD in my MBP 2011 (apple branded SSD)

The instructions on the link below worked on my 2011 MBP (Option 2 - Parted Magic)
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20115106-285/how-to-securely-erase-an-ssd-drive/

I downloaded the Parted Magic ISO (June 2012 version) from here: http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

Create a CD from the ISO image.

Follow the instructions. The 2011 MBP booted find into the Linux OS with the PARTED MAGIC utility. (Takes a couple of minutes to boot - Hold option when turning on so you get to select the CD as the boot drive).

As expected - the state of the SSD upon issuing the secure erase command was frozen, but the utility took care of setting the "sleep". Upon pressing the power and awakening the MBP you can run the erase command again and it worked. Took 4 minutes for the 512 GB Apple SSD (A toshiba, I believe) to be erased.

BE READY with either your original installation disk or create one before erasing. Also back up (Just in case I had a "super duper" exact image). While some MBP that came with Lion can do an Internet recovery, this is a lengthy process.

A great utility to create a Lion Installation disk (without the need for the MAC to connect to the internet for an internet recovery) is here:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/39701/lion-diskmaker/

I do not know if the new retina MBP will boot from the Parted Magic (I have it on CD, but you can make a USB).

Read all the disclaimers in all the utilities - Backup data, etc.

It worked perfectly here. I hope that on new OSX version Apple incorporated the ability to secure erase the SSD.

Good luck - I now have listed my MBP in the marketplace
Click to expand...


Thank you for your advice : ) I was not aware of that method. Unfortunately it did not work on my MBPr due to what i suspect is video driver incompatibility. The screen was all garbled and I could not proceed. However the Parted magic booted properly and I am optimistic, that future versions will be compatible with the MBPr. Either that or one will be able use Ubuntu when they find a way to fix its inability to wake from sleep properly.
 
likegadgets said:
I was able to secure erase my SSD in my MBP 2011 (apple branded SSD)

The instructions on the link below worked on my 2011 MBP (Option 2 - Parted Magic)
http://howto.cnet.com/8301-11310_39-20115106-285/how-to-securely-erase-an-ssd-drive/

I downloaded the Parted Magic ISO (June 2012 version) from here: http://partedmagic.com/doku.php

Create a CD from the ISO image.

Follow the instructions. The 2011 MBP booted find into the Linux OS with the PARTED MAGIC utility. (Takes a couple of minutes to boot - Hold option when turning on so you get to select the CD as the boot drive).

As expected - the state of the SSD upon issuing the secure erase command was frozen, but the utility took care of setting the "sleep". Upon pressing the power and awakening the MBP you can run the erase command again and it worked. Took 4 minutes for the 512 GB Apple SSD (A toshiba, I believe) to be erased.

BE READY with either your original installation disk or create one before erasing. Also back up (Just in case I had a "super duper" exact image). While some MBP that came with Lion can do an Internet recovery, this is a lengthy process.

A great utility to create a Lion Installation disk (without the need for the MAC to connect to the internet for an internet recovery) is here:

http://www.macupdate.com/app/mac/39701/lion-diskmaker/

I do not know if the new retina MBP will boot from the Parted Magic (I have it on CD, but you can make a USB).

Read all the disclaimers in all the utilities - Backup data, etc.

It worked perfectly here. I hope that on new OSX version Apple incorporated the ability to secure erase the SSD.

Good luck - I now have listed my MBP in the marketplace
Click to expand...

Hi, thanks for the advice - it almost worked - except my macbook did not awake from sleep. Upon pressing the power button it rebooted to OS X.
 
likegadgets said:
Any further on this?

I will be selling my 2011 MBP that has the Apple 512 GB SSD and want to secure erase it. Also had not found a way to do so. That Drive (as opposed to the Retina's is removable).

Can I erase that one in a Windows Machine (connected via a USB Dock) abd then replace it on the MBP before reloading the OS?
Click to expand...

Here are some effective ways of removing data on a SSD/Flash Storage:

1) Secure ATA erase (does not come with Mac OSX :(
2) Physical destruction
3) Use FileVault 2 to make encryption key and erase the SSD


Things you can't do:

1) Disk utility has "Erase Free Space" and "Secure Erase" off
2) Secure Empty Trash
3) Magnetic sanitation

Since SSDs have wear-level technology built in (to evenly write across all cells), there is no need to secure delete anything.
 
Anyone able to Ata secure erase their Rmbp ssd yet? Surely some people's drives are getting fragged and would benefit from it... (the name is deceiving, it's not the same thing as writing over the disc with 1's and 0's like how a hdd is securely erased)

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

"When a Secure Erase is issued against a SSD drive all its cells will be marked as empty, restoring it to factory default write performance."

It did wonders for the agility 3 I had in my old mbp, after about a year of use it started to slow, did a secure ata erase with the ocz provided linux boot disc and it was like new again.
 
katmeef said:
Anyone able to Ata secure erase their Rmbp ssd yet? Surely some people's drives are getting fragged and would benefit from it... (the name is deceiving, it's not the same thing as writing over the disc with 1's and 0's like how a hdd is securely erased)

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

"When a Secure Erase is issued against a SSD drive all its cells will be marked as empty, restoring it to factory default write performance."

It did wonders for the agility 3 I had in my old mbp, after about a year of use it started to slow, did a secure ata erase with the ocz provided linux boot disc and it was like new again.
Click to expand...
yeah, that helps a lot when you don't have TRIM... but with modern drive tech, its just not that much of a need.
 
toniokroger21 said:
Hi, I have tried every possible Linux distro to initiate Secure Erase ATA on my new Macbook Pro Retina, but to no avail. Closing the lid to put the computer to sleep doesn't work I just get a black screen... and nothing happens. I am unable to unfreeze the drive and pass the proper Hdparm command - closing the lid used to work just fine on my older MBP. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated (please don't suggest methods other than ATA Secure Erase - they do not work). Thanks!
Click to expand...

The solution to unfreeze the mbp was to unplug the drive and plug it back in while the utility was running... a pita

Heres the link to my thread

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/1060617/

Too bad your ssd is non removable
 
steviewhy said:
Why not use dd from the terminal?

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dd_(Unix)
Click to expand...

We're not trying to write 1s and 0s onto the drive.

----------
doh123 said:
yeah, that helps a lot when you don't have TRIM... but with modern drive tech, its just not that much of a need.
Click to expand...

I did have trim enabled, (its not that difficult to do with a third party ssd...) Regardless of the benefits of TRIM, a fragmented drive will not perform as well as a non fragmented drive. The ata secure erase unquestionably improved performance and I'm looking forward to having a tool to do so in about a year of usage on the Rmbp.
 
Do we know if Disk Utility for OS 10.8 will secure erase an SSD? I have an external SSD that I'd like to erase before selling...
 
toniokroger21 said:
Thank you for your advice : ) I was not aware of that method. Unfortunately it did not work on my MBPr due to what i suspect is video driver incompatibility. The screen was all garbled and I could not proceed. However the Parted magic booted properly and I am optimistic, that future versions will be compatible with the MBPr. Either that or one will be able use Ubuntu when they find a way to fix its inability to wake from sleep properly.
Click to expand...
HEY TELL ME BOY!
how did you get to boot PARTED MAGIC ISO from a USB in rMBP
confused.gif
confused.gif
confused.gif
???

On Parted Magic website it says YOU SHOULD USE UNETBOOTIN!

BUT! UNetbootin DOESNT support USB booting on Macs! That's what UNETBOOTIN WEBSITE says. I tested it and IT IS TRUE
eek.gif
(GOD!!!).

So!!! MY QUESTIONS
confused.gif
:

#1. How do you boot Parted Magic ISO (or any Linux ISO) from USB on MAC (spec. rMBP)???
#2. Have YOU tried LATEST Parted Magic ISO VERSION from website??? Does GRAPHICS BUG appear as well in latest version???
#3. I FORGOT!!!

Please LET ME KNOW
icon12.gif
icon12.gif
icon12.gif
!!!

:apple::apple::apple: Misha Kurlov :apple::apple::apple:
R:(I:(P:( STEVE JOBS
 
Option 1: You can use thunderbolt to thunderbolt, put rMBP in target disk mode then boot other Mac to run secure erase command. You need 2 Mac's with thunderbolt, not sure if you have access to one.

Option 2: Did you try this: http://sourceforge.net/projects/dban/

Option 3: Ubuntu 11.10 amd64 intell & Mac version sleep both worked from live DVD. refit & reFind are able to boot DVD on my MBP early 2011. You will need external optical drive with rMBP.

Good Luck...
 
Is it a question of secure erase or just having a "clean" drive to work with ?

I am in a similar boat.

I made a bootable flash drive and can use it as my start-up device , but when I get to DU , I can not fully erase the SSD.

Reformatting it does not work , there are still fragments of data , as evident by the Safari bookmarks still being in the same place after a fresh install.

IMO --- OS-X.8.2 is royally messed up , I sure hope 8.3 has some fixes.

Plus , all the secure erase options are grayed out , so no way to Zero the data.

Much more later , I`m still waiting for Game Center help , thanks.

Gary 

PS:

Just in the past 2 days , I have been on the phone with a second tier Apple Tech for over 4 hours ( total / 2 days ) and countless numbers of fresh installs , both with my bootable drive and the network download.


Geez , I need a break , and to top it all off , my Mac Mini is still going into the occasional "Safe Boot" mode all by-it-self ( without me holding down the "shift key" :confused:

I need an iPad 9 !!! LOL

________________________________________

2010 Mac Mini + 2012 MBP-R / 256GB
 
What I did with my SSD is install it into a PS3... I then used the secure erase feature on the PS3... I wiped it clean, removed it, then did a fresh OS install. Pretty slick but cumbersome :)

Jedi said:
Is it a question of secure erase or just having a "clean" drive to work with ?

I am in a similar boat.

I made a bootable flash drive and can use it as my start-up device , but when I get to DU , I can not fully erase the SSD.

Reformatting it does not work , there are still fragments of data , as evident by the Safari bookmarks still being in the same place after a fresh install.

IMO --- OS-X.8.2 is royally messed up , I sure hope 8.3 has some fixes.

Plus , all the secure erase options are grayed out , so no way to Zero the data.

Much more later , I`m still waiting for Game Center help , thanks.

Gary 

PS:

Just in the past 2 days , I have been on the phone with a second tier Apple Tech for over 4 hours ( total / 2 days ) and countless numbers of fresh installs , both with my bootable drive and the network download.


Geez , I need a break , and to top it all off , my Mac Mini is still going into the occasional "Safe Boot" mode all by-it-self ( without me holding down the "shift key" :confused:

I need an iPad 9 !!! LOL

________________________________________

2010 Mac Mini + 2012 MBP-R / 256GB
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for the tip , but I don`t have a PS3 :(

( at least not yet :D )

Later :)

Gary 
 
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