Solid State Drives (SSDs) are faster, more energy-efficient, and less prone to failure than Hard Disk Drives (HDDs). Unlike HDDs, SSDs have no moving parts, making them more resilient to physical damage. However, SSDs use a more complex data storage mechanism, which means that erasure methods suitable for HDDs may not be effective or appropriate for SSDs.
While there are several manufacturer-specific utilities available for wiping SSDs, such as Secure Erase tools via BIOS/UEFI or Windows’ built-in features, these free tools fall short for enterprise use. These tools don’t generate erasure reports or certificates, which are essential for meeting regulatory compliance and audit requirements.
In this Knowledge Base article, we will share the steps to wipe an SSD using BitRaser. If you're looking to wipe an SSD from BIOS, please refer to our KB article on that topic.
Here is a list of the types of solid-state drives that you can wipe using BitRaser Drive Eraser:
- Portable USB SSD
- SATA SSD (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment SSD)
- SAS SSD
- Thunderbolt SSD
- mSATA or mini-SATA SSD
- M.2 SSDs with AHCI or NVMe
- Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) SSD with NVMe
- Small Computer System Interface (SCSI) drives
- U.2 SSD (2.5” and 3.5”)
BitRaser is quick and easy to deploy, and you can begin wiping your SSD in a couple of minutes.
Note: You can also use BitRaser Drive Eraser software to wipe HDDs. To learn how, refer to our KB article How to Wipe a Hard Drive
Key Requirements:
- Processor: x86 or x64 Processor
- RAM: 1 GB Minimum (4 GB Recommended)
- USB Drive: Min. 2 GB for creating a Bootable USB (USB 3.0 Recommended)
- USB Port: 2.0/3.0
- Internet: Wi-Fi or Ethernet (Offline Variant also Available)
To simplify this Knowledge Base article, we have divided it into 2 stages.
- Step 1: Sign in to your BitRaser Cloud account using the credentials emailed to you after you purchased the BitRaser Drive Eraser.
- Step 2: Click on the 'Cloud Variant: BitRaser Drive Eraser' option in the 'Download BitRaser' section of the BitRaser Cloud console to begin the download. (Refer to Image 1)
Image 1: Download BitRaser Drive Eraser ISO From BitRaser Cloud
- Step 3: Download and install the Rufus application, an open-source tool that helps you create a bootable USB drive. For step-by-step instructions, refer to our Knowledge Base article on how to create a bootable USB using Rufus.
Note: If you have a Mac, including a Mac with an M4, M3, M2, M1, T2, T1 Chip, or an Intel processor, you should use the 'BitRaser USB Creator' utility instead of Rufus. This proprietary tool helps you create a Mac bootable drive to wipe internal and external drives on Mac devices.
If you want to know how to use the BitRaser USB Creator utility, you may refer to our Mac deployment guide: How to Wipe Mac Devices
Using BitRaser, you can wipe SSDs securely, whether they are internally installed or externally connected to your system.
- Step 1: Connect the bootable USB drive to your PC; if you want to wipe an external SSD, you can also plug that in.
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