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How to securely recycle or dispose of your SSD

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Re: How to securely recycle or dispose of your SSD

#11

Post by feelix »

writing random data on it, rather than zeroing it out, will avoid block de-duplication and successfully completely fill it up.

Here is a tool written for exactly that (although not intended for securely erasing a drive, it will have that effect too): https://github.com/rentzsch/stressdrive

Re: How to securely recycle or dispose of your SSD

#13

Post by kijin »

cperciva wrote: post #2

One option they don't mention: Thermite. Seriously, if you physically melt the chips, they're not going to retain any information.

Thermite sounds a bit excessive for a typical home or office. How about baking in an oven or roasting on a grill? Is modern flash memory fragile enough to be destroyed irreversibly at 230C/450F?

Re: How to securely recycle or dispose of your SSD

#14

Post by kalleboo »

feelix wrote: post #11

writing random data on it, rather than zeroing it out, will avoid block de-duplication and successfully completely fill it up. Here is a tool written for exactly that (although not intended for securely erasing a drive, it will have that effect too): https://github.com/rentzsch/stressdrive

Do modern SSDs not contain slack space for garbage collection? How can you guarantee that that also gets cleared out aside from "fill the drive with more data than it will fit and pray"

Re: How to securely recycle or dispose of your SSD

#15

Post by masklinn »

kalleboo wrote: post #12

They missed "blend it". Looks pretty effective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fXGVAadp5k

> They missed "blend it".

No.

> Shred It

> Physically destroying the SSD by shredding it into small particles is the absolutely safest, most foolproof method for safe and secure disposal.

A blender is just a homebrew variant, the important part is

> make sure the shred size is small enough to actually destroy the memory chips on your SSD, however. The shred width should be 1/2 inch or less if you want to make sure the chips get properly mashed up.

which a blender doesn't exactly guarantee so you can't use it for "mass" destruction as you'll have to inspect the results and possibly re-blend it until you've ensured sub-half-inch pieces.

Re: How to securely recycle or dispose of your SSD

#16

Post by nagvx »

feelix wrote: post #11

writing random data on it, rather than zeroing it out, will avoid block de-duplication and successfully completely fill it up. Here is a tool written for exactly that (although not intended for securely erasing a drive, it will have that effect too): https://github.com/rentzsch/stressdrive

Excuse my ignorance, but couldn't a cell that had exceeded its write limit be cycled out for a spare, thus permanently storing a portion of your data in a way unaccessible to any further writes, random-filled or not?

Re: How to securely recycle or dispose of your SSD

#17

Post by raverbashing »

djaychela wrote: post #9

I'm constantly amazed at the waste that happens when people decide they are going to destroy an old (serviceable) hard drive because they want to protect their old data on it. I don't see a need in 99% of cases, when there are perfectly good ways to permanently delete the data and make it unrecoverable, albeit taking a longer time. No doubt I'll get shot to bits for this with various edge cases where it's important t…

I agree

Unless you're dealing with top-secret material, losing the encryption key is the best way

Or just dd around 5x - 50x (or more if you're paranoid) its size to the disk - if you want to further reuse it. No, you won't have a meaningful amount of data remaining on the disk and extracting it requires special software/hardware. Unless you're dealing with data that makes the disk price irrelevant, you can follow this procedure.

But if you're in the mood for vulgar displays of power, microwave the board or use a Tesla coil

Re: How to securely recycle or dispose of your SSD

#18

Post by rdl »

My policy is:

First: 1) use encryption from day one. As long as you can be assured the encryption never failed (somehow repartitioning and writing bare data to the drive), it is a viable option to treat the drive as non-sensitive, depending on what it was used for.

Then: 2) use ATA secure erase to wipe it. This command, if you believe it was implemented correctly, should wipe the entire drive, including reserved space.

Then: 3a) re-use or re-sell the drives, if you're in a moderate security environment and all of the above have executed correctly. (or send back to a manufacturer if failed in moderate ways which still allow ata secure erase to execute...or if you really trust the disk encryption and it wasn't used for anything sensitive)

or

3b) If the security steps above have failed, or if you've screwed up somehow, or if the drive was used in a policy environment which requires or, or if it was used for the most sensitive of data and you need to convince outsiders of security, or if there's any chance the host the drive was attached to was hacked while in operation (in which case the drive security may have been defeated with new formatting or new firmware), physically destroy the drives in rotary disintegrator. You want to do the above even if you plan to shred them because it reduces security risks and requirements while in transit.

Re: How to securely recycle or dispose of your SSD

#19

Post by rdl »

kalleboo wrote: post #12

They missed "blend it". Looks pretty effective. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fXGVAadp5k

Blending (specifically in a dedicated blender jar, not one you ever use for food) is the best way to destroy SD cards I've found, and apparently a major fruit company has done this in the past.

It's also a solid excuse to buy a blendtec 800 with sound enclosure for the office -- way quieter than any shredder. And good for making drinks.

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