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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?
Many thanks Bob. I followed this procedure, but am not sure whether the erase procedure is secure from later data restore efforts, by a future owner. I have heard that for SSD's, this procedure does not actually erase or over-write the data...this is the essence of my question....apologies if not clear, thanks.
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.
I think the OP is asking a “WHY” question here, not a “JUST DO IT” question.
Here is an answer to the question I think: https://www.quora.com/If-you-format-an-SSD-is-the-data-completely-gone-unlike-a-hard-drive-where-it-can-be-retrieved-Therefore-can-an-SSD-be-safely-sold-on-after-formatting-it
And you might find this interesting too:
https://www.quora.com/How-can-I-recover-data-from-a-formatted-SSD
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).
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?
Many thanks Bob, very clear....I appreciate your help and time.
Here is what to do when trading in a Mac:
What to do before you sell, give away, or trade in your Mac - Apple Support
If you followed the instructions provided then your data is not accessible by the new owner or anyone else.
Ah, thanks Grant....I didn't see your response before I wrote the above reply, this explains it well....many thanks for your time.
is it possible to restore data after erasing with disk utility
