How to securely erase hard drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs)

It's spring cleaning time! I was Googling around today for the latest on drive erasure techniques, and was pleasantly surprised to spot this detailed article:

• ZDNet How to securely erase hard drives (HDDs) and solid state drives (SSDs)

Thank you, Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, for kindly featuring the video I created:

• TinkerTry How to use Parted Magic's Secure Erase to restore performance of your home lab's abused SSDs

Very much appreciated!

ZDNet's article features helpful info, including:

• ways to use a hammer and nail to shatter spinny drive platters
• a unique standalone hardware solution
• details on the unique methods to wipe SSDs

The video features an old laptop I use to refresh abused SSDs, including a strange but automated suspend-and-resume cycle Parted Magic needs to "unlock" before the Secure Erase. Also mentioned is my use the wickedly fast and effective bootable media creator called Rufus that created the bootable Linux-based environment, part of the Parted Magic ISO you download for $10.

If you haven't seen the video already, enjoy!

See also at TinkerTry

• Nice little USB flash drive choice for that ESXi in your home lab

  note that this happens to be the very same drive the preloaded "Parted Magic USB" option uses

• Get those tiny USB flash drives labeled quickly, effectively, and affordably

See also

• Ray Woodcock's extremely detailed Ways to Securely Erase a Solid State Drive (SSD)