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is it possible to restore data after erasing with disk utility

I am planning to trade-in a Macbook Pro (2013). This is equipped with a SSD drive. If I erase the hard drive using the Apple Disk Utility, is my data secure after I trade in my device? Or can the old data be restored by the new owner?

Posted on Nov 10, 2021 8:09 AM

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9 replies

Nov 10, 2021 8:23 AM in response to merrillhou

Depends. If this was an HDD, then unless you wrote over the actual data with zeros at least 3 times, you could not guarantee that your NSA DATA would not be seen, since reformatting only changed the map not the data.


SSD’s store data in a different way. You could google it, and maybe get an answer too complicated to understand by normal people like me.

Nov 10, 2021 8:56 AM in response to merrillhou

Erasing an SSD with TRIM active (which IS the case for all Apple SSD drives) erases the directory area and designates each and every one of the data blocks on the drive for re-use.


This means that, in less than a minute, the drive controller will assemble this old blocks into superblocks, literally over-write every superblock that was previously in use to prepare it for re-writing, and also randomizes the block addresses.


For anything short of Military secrets, your data are GONE. (Military secrets generally require that the drive be shredded).

Nov 10, 2021 9:07 AM in response to zarathu

Many thanks Zarathu....I am not a techie, so I am asking to confirm my understanding of the following:

-- today's operating systems include TRIM, which is used to proactively erase SSD blocks after they are deleted or formatted.

-- Hence restoring data after it has been deleted or erased is not possible.

-- Thus, after erasing the SSD with Disk Utility, it should indeed be safe to sell without data being restored later by the future owner.


Is the above correct?

is it possible to restore data after erasing with disk utility

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