2

I don't want to erase the SSD itself, only a specific folder and the files that are in from the SSD. How do I securely erase that? is there a free software or CMD Windows command? Thanks

user1261995
  • 21

1 Answers1

3

Due to wear levelling and other features that are outside the operating system control you cannot simply overwrite files on an SSD. Trying to "secure erase" a file on an SSD by overwriting it will simply write to other blocks on an SSD.

The only way to erase a block would be to delete the file, then immediately issue a TRIM for the blocks it occupied.

You can TRIM free space in Windows using the "Defragment and Optimise Drives" tool (use the Windows start menu search to find it). For HDDs the tool will defragment a disk but SSDs will be TRIMed instead. Select the disk the file was on and then click Optimise.

The only downside is that you have no way to know when exactly the data will be gone. It could be minutes or even hours or days, but it will eventually be gone. How long it takes is down to disk activity and the drive controller itself.

If you absolutely have to have the data gone now, then deleting it, sending TRIM, and then rewriting all of the free space might clear it, but it depends on the SSD itself. There is no guarantee about what blocks are erased and rewritten or in what order on an SSD. Doing this will definitely waste write cycles on a lot of space though.

Mokubai
  • 95,412