[GUIDE] How to securely wipe your whole Laptop/Drives if you want to erase everything(As safe as possible)

So, you want to be sure. To achieve 100% secure deletion on an SSD drive, you will need to use specific SSD techniques :

Easy options for less experienced users:

If available, just use the Secure Erase option available from your BIOS/UEFI (ATA/NVME Secure Erase or Sanitize).

It’s worth noting that this relies on your drive’s firmware. Some drive manufacturers have messed up the implementation, causing data to still be recoverable.

Just re-install a fresh operating system (delete/quick format the drive) and re-encrypt it. The full disk encryption process should erase all previous data from the disk.

Buy PartedMagic433 for 11$ and use it to erase any disk.

Technical options for more advanced users:

Overwrite the entire drive’s contents

HDDs:

Overwrite the drive’s contents using a tool like srm, wipe, shred, etc.. Ideally you want to use the Gutmann method, which was created for most effective data erasure on all drives. This method also works on SSDs, although it is overkill.

Simply overwriting the drive’s contents is not always enough. Dedicated secure deletion tools are designed to perform multiple passes to more effectively wipe data. This is expecially important on older drives. we recommend using either wipe or srm.

If using wipe, just use its default options (wipe /dev/sdX), as the defaults are tuned to most effectively wipe data on HDDs.

If using srm, make sure to manually specify that it should perform a Gutmann wipe (srm -G /dev/sdX).

SSDs:

Overwrite the drive’s contents. Tools like wipe or shred are often overkill, as they perform up to 35 passes. While they work, most SSDs require no more than a couple passes.

Use wipe with only a couple passes: wipe -qQ2 /dev/sdX.

-qQ2 means 2 passes. Replace 2 with the desired number of passes.

Use srm with a 3-pass overwrite: srm -P /dev/sdX.

Use dd: dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/sdX bs=8M status=progress conv=fsync. This command will overwrite the drive with random data. To perform multiple passes (I recommend at least 2), simply run the command again until you’re satisfied.

The reason you run it twice is because SSDs have hidden (“overprovisioned”) storage which can contain remnants of deleted data. Wiping twice forces the drive to wipe its overprovisioned storage. This is only guaranteed to work if each pass writes different data (which is why we wipe with random data on each pass).

bs=8M writes 8MiB blocks at a time. This doesn’t affect the quality of the data deletion, but adjusting it could affect how long it takes to wipe the drive.

ATA/NVMe Secure Erase: This method will remove the mapping table that keeps track of allocated data on the storage Blocks but does not destroy the actual data.

ATA/NVMe Sanitize Crypto Scramble (aka Instant Secure Erase, Crypto Erase), which applies to self-encrypting SSD drives: This method will change the encryption key of the self-encrypting SSD drive and render all the data stored in it unreadable.

ATA/NVMe Sanitize Block Erase: This method performs an actual block erase on every storage block and will destroy the data and change the encryption key if present.

ATA/NVMe Sanitize Overwrite (terribly slow, could be dangerous and not recommended): This method performs a block erase and then overwrite every storage block (it is the same as Block Erase but will overwrite data in addition). This method is overkill and not necessary.

Physical Destruction:

HDDs:

Open the drive (with a screwdriver, usually Torx T8)

Remove platters (with a screwdriver, usually Torx T6)

Rub the platters with a rare earth magnet

Break/Deform/Crush the platters

Burn the platters or cook them in an oven (do not skip this step)

Separate the debris

Throw away in separate places

SSDs:

Ideally you should wipe the drive through other means first, as this method alone is not known to be secure against all attackers

Open the drive

Break/Crush the board and memory cells

Burn them

Separate the debris

Throw away in separate places

Bonus: See https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bpX8YvNg6Y

For maximum overkill paranoia security, Sanitize Block Erase option should be preferred but Secure Erase is probably more than enough when considering your drive is already encrypted. Unfortunately, are no free easy (bootable with a graphical menu) all-in-one tools available and you will be left with either going with drive manufacturers provided tools, the free manual hdparm434 , and nvme-cli435 utilities or going with a commercial tool such as PartedMagic.

This guide will therefore recommend the use of the free utilities hdparm and nvme-cli using a Live System Rescue system.

If you can afford it, just buy Parted Magic for 11$ which provides an easy-to-use graphical tool for wiping SSD drives using the option of your choice436’437.

Note: Again, before proceeding, you should check your BIOS as some will offer a built-in tool to securely erase your drive (ATA/NVMe Secure Erase or ATA/NVMe Sanitize). If this is available, you should use that, and the following steps will not be necessary. Check this before going ahead to avoid the hassle, see Appendix M: BIOS/UEFI options to wipe disks in various Brands).