SSD Sanitize vs Secure Erase – Differences and Stepwise Guides

SSD secure erase vs sanitize: know the differences

Securely wiping data stored in SSDs is a very necessary feature in some scenarios. For example, if you have an SSD that you want to plan another use for, resell, give away, or use as your primary data drive. Therefore, it is necessary to secure erase the data from the SSD to avoid leakage due to recovery by some specialized tools.

There are various ways to wipe an SSD, and this article will introduce you to sanitize and secure erase, both of them can permanently erase all data on the drive and reset SSD to factory settings. Also, the 2 main differences between sanitize and secure erase are listed here.

Data deletion methods. The main role of sanitize is used to erase user data, while Secure Erase modifies some configuration parameters of SSD mainly by format, and the data will be deleted while modifying the parameters.

Data deletion speed. Secure erase only deletes the mapping table, but does not wipe all the blocks that were written. Sanitize, however, will delete the mapping table and will erase all the blocks that have been written. Therefore, Secure Erase is faster to complete than Sanitize.

To learn what are the best SSD sanitize tool and SSD secure erase software, you can continue reading for more details in the following content.

• Sanitize SSD drive with manufacturer’s tool (WD SSD Dashboard)
• Secure erase SSD with best eraser – AOMEI Backupper

Sanitize SSD drive with manufacturer’s tool (WD SSD Dashboard)

Sanitize deletes the mapping table and erases all blocks that have been written on the selected SSD. This makes Sanitize a slower "erase" option than the Secure Erase feature. Here I will take Western Digital SSD Dashboard for an example and show you how to sanitize an WD SSD.

Tip: Sanitize can only be performed on an SSD that is not the boot drive. However, if the SSD is the boot drive, you can create a bootable USB drive to perform the Sanitize function.

1. Open the Dashboard, at the top of the page, click the Select drive drop-down menu to select the SSD on which all user data will be permanently deleted.

2. Click Erase Drive from the left list, you will see Secure Erase and Sanitize options from the right side. Click Erase Now next to Sanitize to delete all user data.

3. It may take some time for the sanitize task to complete, just wait the process patiently.

Secure erase SSD with best eraser – AOMEI Backupper

When it comes to the best disk wiper to secure erase an SSD and make the erased data unable to be recovered, AOMEI Backupper Professional claims to be the most worthy choice. It integrates a feature named Disk Wipe to help you wipe the entire disk or specific partitions or unallocated space. You can have an intuitive understanding of its remarkable features listed below.

👣 In addition to SSDs, you are allowed to wipe external hard drives, USB drives, SD cards or you can also wipe free space on Windows 11.
👣 Various SSD types like SATA, NVMe, PCIe, M.2, U.2, etc. and different SSD brands such as Samsung, Crucial, Intel, WD, Integral, etc. are supported here.
👣 It gives you multiple SSD wiping methods such as Fill sectors with Zero, Fill sectors with random data, DoD 52220.22-M  (with 7 passes) and Gutmann (with 35 passes). 
👣 It is an excellent data protection software with powerful functions as backup and restore that works on Windows 11/10/8.1/8/7/Vista/XP.

Here is a specific tutorial for you to wipe an SSD within several clicks. You can tap the button below to download this best SSD secure erase tool on your computer, install and launch it to have a try.

Note: Owing to that data on the erased SSD cannot be recovered after the wiping process, thus it is recommended for you to backup important data on SSD if they are still important for you.

Step 1. When you enter the main interface, click Tools in the left tab, and then select the Disk Wipe.

Step 2. Select a wiping type to delete the data on SSD, select Wipe disk here and click Next to proceed.

Step 3. Select the target SSD that you want to erase, then click Next.

Step 4. Choose Fill sectors with Zero (Safe, Quick), and tap Start to wipe the SSD. If you want a more secure level, you can use the other three wiping methods - Fill sectors with random data, DoD 5220.22-M, or Gutmann.

Tip: If you want to use this tool on different devices, you can create portable disk wipe version to wipe SSDs safely and conveniently on any computer without having to install it every time. (Available in AOMEI Backupper Technician and Technician plus versions).

Your turn

Having read the above contents, now you may have a clear understanding of the differences between SSD sanitize vs secure erase. You can master 2 easy sanitize and secure erase tools to meet each of your needs. It is highly recommended you to rely on AOMEI Backupper, for it offers you plenty of flexible SSD erase features to perform irreversible data destroying.

Besides the disk wipe tool, AOMEI offers you backup and restore, sync as well as clone features to continuously protect your data safe. If you have wiped an SSD that is an boot drive, and you want to boost your computer performance, you can clone Windows 11 to another hard drive and make it bootable.