Before you mark this post as duplicate, please note that I have reviewed several posts on Superuser Stack Exchange and the answers seem to be conflicting. Hence I ask for clarification in this question.
I was looking for ways to delete files (while preserving the OS) on my PC that has a 2.5 inch SSD.
Microsoft's SDelete utility seems to be an easy and reliable solution. But I am confused due to a lot of posts on the internet saying the secure delete function may not work on an SSD.
Camp 1: The description page for SDelete describes several scenarios in which SDelete makes sure the actual data is overwritten. However, it doesn't mention the issue with SSDs. I wouldn't expect Microsoft to be unaware that even overwriting a file may result in the new data in a different location on the SSD from the old data, and the old data may persist. Unless some API or low level functionality is used to override the wear leveling feature. This answer says SDelete works for all types of storage. This makes me think it might be overriding the wear-leveling feature it it's an SSD.
Camp 2: The most upvoted answers on this and this post describe the wear-leveling phenomena in detail and imply that secure delete doesn't work on SSDs. These answers seem logical.
Clarification: Which of these camps are correct? Or are both correct in their own rights and there is some caveat I am missing?
My Question: If I delete a single file (or a folder full of files) on my 2.5 inch SATA SSD, using SDelete, will the original file contents persist on the disk?
