How to Erase SSD? Read the Answer Here

Imagine this: If You are selling your old laptop and you are cleared the files and even formatted the drive to make sure no one would steal your identity. However, what if I said that with few simple actions, a stranger can get all your details including your accounts, your chats and others. When it comes to the management of SSDs simply deleting files will not suffice. Since these drives differ from the conventional HDDs (Hard Disk Drives), erasing your data securely requires more than that. This article shall therefore highlight how to erase SSD with some of the good practices that you ought to follow in order to thoroughly clean your SSD so that none of your information is revealed to anyone due to anyhow negligence.

Users Queries

“Hello friends. I am facing a strange problem for the last few days. While opening my system I keep getting the notification, need to format SSD for Windows. I have no idea why I am getting this message. I got tired of seeing this message each and every time. Seems like I have to wipe my Solid State Drive anyway. But the question is how to erase SSD? I am not aware of any good method. If anyone from this forum know how do i wipe my SSD and aware of any technique, please let me know. Thanks in advance.”

“Being the Chief Executive of Admin section of a hospital, I have been asked to erase SSD disk of our system. Since our department deals with all the sensitive data of the patients, the hospital has to wipe all the patient data annually from the system in order to ensure patient confidentiality. This is the first time I am doing it. Kindly tell me how do i erase my SSD in a foolproof way so that its data become non-retrievable. Thanks.”

Do you also wish to know how to erase data from SSD with a view of eradicating its data safely? At the moment there is a rising trend in the use of disks that are referred to as Solid State Drive disks only they are a little costly than the disks that we usually incorporate in our computers systems. Due to various reasons, users have to clear SSD data. However, most of them are not aware of the process. Therefore, this write-up will discuss the process of securely format SSD. Before that, we will learn what reasons may lead to the need to wipe Solid State Drives.

Why Do Users Have to Securely Wipe SSD Data

Solid State Drive is an alternative to traditional hard drives used for file storage. There are multiple reasons why an SSD has to be formatted. The main reason could be getting the error message Need to Format. If the SSD has become highly corrupt, the system will ask users to format the drive. Apart from this, users have to wipe the SSD data for compliance issues. In cases of health and finance sectors, SSD drives have to be erased for security reasons after a particular time interval. Legal obligations can also force users to wipe their files locate in an SSD disk drive.

Warning: SSD is not a tradition Hard Disk Drive, and technically you should never have to format your SSD. So, before taking the decision to erase SSD data, make sure that you really have to do it. The Read-Write cycle of an SSD is limited, so it is better not to erase SSD unnecessarily to avoid degrading performance.

#1. How to Erase SSD? By Using Disk Management Tool

Users can take the help of a common manual technique to format their drive. Follow the instructional steps that we are going to add now to perform the SSD erasure.

For Windows 11 

• Right Click on the Windows Start button of your system and Search Disk management.

• open the Disk Management window.
• Select your SSD disk from the list and right-click on it.
• From the list of options, select Format.

• Format selection can be made under the File system selection in the context of the project.a. NTFS has the features of being used with Windows devices using a drive. Select this format if you are going to be using in a Windows computer as the drive will be compatible with windows operating system.ċ. Finally, exFAT is useful for the application of a drive with Windows and PC OS devices. Select this format in case you are going to use the drive with other computers that run on different operating systems.c. FAT is used for those drives which comprise 4GB or less and it is not popular in use as before. Select this format if it has been ordered by some device’s manual, for instance, a 3D printer manual.

• If you wish you can change the Allocation unit size or you can just leave it with the default option which would be an automatically generated drop down list. In most of the cases, it is advisable to leave it as the program defaults which is 4096 bytes.

• Perform a quick format
  
  “This one disables ‘Automatically manage paging file size’. If you clear this option, the system will start searching for the bad area on the disk and this will prolong the process of formatting. It is suggested to unselect this option in case your drive has damaged some of your data, because afterwards the drive will be able to search for bad sections on the disk and will not be able to write data to them.”

• Go ahead and press OK, then if you’re asked to press ok again, then do it.

For Windows 10

• To do this, simply click the Start button of your system then start typing Computer management.

• Select the link to open Disk Management window which gives information about the local computer disks.

• Locate the SSD disk you have in the list and then right click it.

• So from the provided options there is one that interest me most, so I clicked on Format.

• Choose Volume label and File system. Then, place a check mark in the ‘Quick format’ box and click OK.

#2. How to Wipe an SSD in Windows 10 & 11 – Using “Reset This PC” Feature

In this method, you will know how do i wipe my drive using this inbuilt feature to wipe your SSD drive:

Windows 10

• Press “Windows + I” to Open the Setting.

• View to Settings > Update & Security > Recovery.

 

• Here, you will find the section Reset This PC. Under this click on Get Started.

• After that, select Remove Everything to delete all your files and settings.

• Local reinstall allows you to use the files that are already available on the PC while Cloud download lets you reinstall Windows from the files stored on the cloud.

• When you are to be asked to do so, please click on Change settings.

• Check the box Clean data (This will deeply clean the drive)

• Next to select Reset option you should click Next.

• Wait for the Process to Complete:Wait for the Process to Complete:

For Windows 11

• If you are logged-in to your user profile, click the Start menu and choose Settings.

• In the left panel of the Website, click on System and move down the list to select Recovery.

• Click on Reset PC.

• Select Remove everything.

• Select the option you prefer to use to reinstall Windows and then click on the option Change settings.

• Switch the Clean data? turn it to On then press Ok.

• Then click on next and then click on reset if you want to erase the hard drive.

 

#3. How to Erase SSD? Using Diskpart Clean Command

This is the method in which you will be using command prompt to wipe your SSD:

•  By going on the Windows search bar, search for Command Prompt and Run it as Administrator.

• Type “Diskpart” and press on Enter.

• Now, type ‘list disk‘ and ‘Select disk X’ and (replace X with the number of your SSD)
• Press on Enter to see all your disk present there.

• Now, type Clean and Press Enter.

How to Clear SSD Drive? Benefits

• When you permanently delete your files, it ensures that your sensitive data cannot be recovered.
• Using the above manual methods, optimized for SSDs, it ensures that the drive overall performance is not negatively impacted.
• It helps to properly delete all your data in order to meet regulatory compliance like GDPR, HIPAA etc.
• It aims and focuses on protecting your data privacy and security to avoid daily scams and frauds.

How to Erase SSD? Limitations

• After following these manual methods, data is permanently erased. it is important to ensure that you have taken backup of you data before proceedings.
• Also, some method may require technical knowledge to do the process.
• It can also reduce the lifespan of an SSD, when you do frequent overwriting of data.

How to Wipe an SSD in Windows 11 & 10 – Using Professional Approach

Users who are simply looking for how to erase SSD drive. So, deleting your files or formatting an SSD is not be enough to securely wipe all your data. To, make sure that your data is irrecoverable, you can use a reliable tool like SysTools Data Wipe Software that all your data is completely erased and are beyond recovery.

Features of Using this Automated Tool of How to Erase SSD

• It removes all data residue or classified data spills.
• It cleans up caches, logs, temporary files and other application traces.
• It generates data destruction reports after the completion of audit trails.
• It comply with more than 20+ global standards including NIST 800-88, US DoD 5220.22-M and many more.

How to Get Back Data from A Wiped SSD

Sometimes, users are forced to wipe all the data from the SSD and did not have any backup. If they want that how to erase SSD drive to retrieve the files from a formatted SSD drive, they can take the help of SSD Drive Recovery Tool. In order to get back data from an erased SSD, use the Formatted Scan feature of this application. It will restore all the deleted files and allow users to save those files in any chosen location. This program is compatible with both m.2 and NVMe type SSD, so users of both types of SSD can run this utility.

Final Words

Different reasons give rise to situations when users encounter the requirement of erasing data from their SSDs. Since the SSDs are different than HDDs, people feel confused about the process of formatting Solid State Drives. For this reason, how to erase SSD drive is one of the most common queries found in the tech forums these days. In order to solve this problem, this post discussed the simple and easy manual method to perform this formatting. Users can follow these steps and successfully wipe the data from the SSD.

Also Read- Wipe SSD from BIOS?