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Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 11th, 2023

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  • OK there are 2 completely opposite thoughts on shredding SSDs

    1. All SSDs have a trim functionality so any unused data gets set to 0 automatically by the os or in some cases by ssd controller

    2. Even if trim sets it to zero there is always some deviation from the original zero and a very very sophisticated attacker can find the actual data. And simply using shred or /dev/zero doesn’t help because SSD controller always writes to different physical location even for same file. And the only real way to ensure data can’t be recovered is to smash it

    Pick and choose depending on your threat model. If you’re just selling it to someone or you know that no nation state actors are after your data then just do normal delete and then do the trim. If you think someone with capabilities is after your data and that they are willing to spend few hundred thousand dollars or even few million for whatever data is in your SSD then just microwave it and then smash with hammer. No need to shred or zero.