Make empty SSD irrecoverable

[dominicBo]

I have an SSD that I need to return to seller.

I can format my SSD, but will this make data absolutely irrecoverable?

If so, how do I make it such?

 

It has still to be functional, but empty.

[Zmax]

there are many free software, that will do that. 

[Electronics Wizardy]

You can just run a secure erase on the drive, and itts basically empty for all practical uses. Or if the drive doesn't support it write zeros to all the sectors. Getting data after doing either of these will be very hard with normal tools.

 

If the data is important enough that someone would spend thousands to try to recover data from it, just smash it, its the only way to guarantee you can't recover the data.

[Kedohawyr]

For an SSD do not rely on formatting or writing zeros to the drive to ensure data has been properly erased. SSDs purposely hide their true layout and capacity (with things like over provisioning) in order to provide high performance and longevity and these optimizations prevent normal software from accessing and overwriting everything on the drive.

 

What you need is a utility from the SSD manufacturer to execute their drive's specific secure erase command, you can usually find it by googling "manufacturer's name secure erase"

 

For Samsung SSDs use Samsung Magician

For WD SSDs use Western Digital SSD Dashboard

For Crucial SSDs use Crucial Storage Executive