Using HBS as part of SSD secure delete process

[JayDee]

I'm thinking of a strategy to securely delete personal data files from an SSD based computer.

Since the data and OS and installed programs are all on the same SSD,
just doing a SSD reset is not suitable. I am aware of the limitations of SSD
as far as secure delete of files is concerned so trying to securely delete
individual files or folders will not work.

I am considering the following steps.

1. Do a "regular delete" of data files including Recycle bin
    and other places where data may be stored.
      (at this point most of these files are recoverable)
2. Use Hasleo to do a System backup
3. Do an SSD reset to completely clear all data
      ( use something such as manufacturer app or PartedMagic)
4. Restore the system from Hasleo

I'm making an assumption here that Hasleo system backup only copies
active storage to the backup not any of the "deleted" data.  

Comments would be welcome.

JD

[Froggie]

The SECURE DELETE function of any SSD is permanent as far as its contents are concerned (time to complete varies but isn't very long at all).


I do the above operation whenevr a new-reused SSD is concerned.

[JayDee]

I understand how the SECURE DELETE function works.

My process attempts to clean only the confidential data from a working computer.
I'm hoping that HBS copies only active data from the disk so that
the restore will not include any confidential data.

JD

[al3x]

In theory you shouldn't be able to restore anything from a modern SSD after deleting stuff.
TRIM will make sure that sectors on the SSD are reset (after the SSD’s garbage collection) to enable fast writing if those sectors are reused.

Still, it might be that some SSDs won't execute the TRIM command but I'm not aware of any from the recent time actually.

So personally I don't think any secure delete actions would be even required nowadays.
But that's just my understanding of the TRIM feature. 

I'm hoping that HBS copies only active data from the disk so that
the restore will not include any confidential data.

HBS will not copy anything that was already deleted unless you explicitly activate "sector by sector backup".

But even then, if TRIM works as I think it does, sectors of deleted files should be reported as zero instantly for any OS so the backup would not have any useful data. And forensic tools won’t help as soon as garbage collection was run on the SSD (which usually takes place rather quickly during idle times).

[JayDee]

Thanks... good info.

I had read elsewhere that TRIM may not always be adequate... but that may be dated info
and no longer the case.

JD

[admin]

Technically, HBS will try to back up only sectors that are already in use by the file system without checking the "Sector by sector backup" option, at least for the current version, but we do not guarantee that this will be the case for future versions.