[Dreizehn]

I know that for HDD you have to overwrite your files a few times to be sure they are deleted. Anyone know how that works on SSDs? Just curious..

[J.Mancine]

Good question.

SSDs don't record files in the same semi-linear method that traditional HDD's do. SSDs use what is called "wear leveling" to spread data writing over random locations in order to wear out the chips evenly.

Remember, regardless of what type of drive you use, when you "delete" a file, the entry is simply deleted from the master file table (MFT). The data is still stored and will remain until those disc sectors are overwritten.

Now, the SSD poses a much different set of problems than the HDD. A traditional "file shredder" application for an HDD will not work properly on an SSD. This is because the shredder utilities generally work by overwriting files with random data...but this becomes nearly impossible with wear-leveling. On a traditional HDD, the shredder program simply writes from sector X to sector Y (where the file was stored) with random data. When the software attempts to do this on the SSD it will end up writing to random locations due to the built-in wear leveling functions. The odds are that the data remnants of your original file will remain untouched.

In other words, despite their lack of magnetic "memory", SSD's probably pose a greater security risk simply because of the manner in which they store data, and the difficulty in locating and overwriting that data within the realm of wear-leveling.

From a data security perspective, SSDs are a true nightmare. If you are truly concered about the data on your SSD, be sure to encrypt it...that is the only true way to create a secure filesystem.

[somms]

Originally Posted by J.Mancine

Good question.

SSDs don't record files in the same semi-linear method that traditional HDD's do. SSDs use what is called "wear leveling" to spread data writing over random locations in order to wear out the chips evenly.

Remember, regardless of what type of drive you use, when you "delete" a file, the entry is simply deleted from the master file table (MFT). The data is still stored and will remain until those disc sectors are overwritten.

Now, the SSD poses a much different set of problems than the HDD. A traditional "file shredder" application for an HDD will not work properly on an SSD. This is because the shredder utilities generally work by overwriting files with random data...but this becomes nearly impossible with wear-leveling. On a traditional HDD, the shredder program simply writes from sector X to sector Y (where the file was stored) with random data. When the software attempts to do this on the SSD it will end up writing to random locations due to the built-in wear leveling functions. The odds are that the data remnants of your original file will remain untouched.

In other words, despite their lack of magnetic "memory", SSD's probably pose a greater security risk simply because of the manner in which they store data, and the difficulty in locating and overwriting that data within the realm of wear-leveling.

From a data security perspective, SSDs are a true nightmare. If you are truly concered about the data on your SSD, be sure to encrypt it...that is the only true way to create a secure filesystem.

Thats interesting.

Gdisk doesn't seem to have a problem erasing and writting 0's to the SSD using /diskwipe /dodwipe under DOS and will complete the wipe although it takes forever.

Taking from your post, is it not actually wiping the SSD according to DoD standards?

[Dylan Bennett]

I use TrueCrypt and just encrypt the entire drive. The entire drive looks like noise that way.

[J.Mancine]

Originally Posted by Dylan Bennett

I use TrueCrypt and just encrypt the entire drive. The entire drive looks like noise that way.

Exactly, this is the way to go if you need a truly secure drive.

If you are using a wiping utility and wiping the ENTIRE free space on the disk, then yes...I suppose you would end up writing over those sectors...eventually. But it would be a random act and 99.9% of the writing you did would simply be wearing your SSD out and not accomplishing anything.

[nmn]

Use True Crypt (Open Source http://www.truecrypt.org/), or DriveCrypt Plus Pack (Commercial http://www.securstar.com/products_drivecryptpp.php), it's fully encrypts on-the-fly your partition.

[UnaClocker]

It's like a car alarm...
[youtube:1dgjjpf7]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JDaicPIgn9U[/youtube:1dgjjpf7]
If someone wants your data, they're going to get it.

[flashy]

encrypt the drive if you have windows XP, secure it with a good strong XP password, and thats pretty hard to crack if you don't have the encryption certificate. (back up your certificate somewhere though as if you have to rebuild windows, you cannot use these files.

(this can only be done if your using NTFS by the way)

Also, check your BIOS and put a HDD password on, that means whevenr that SSD is used, it will ask for a password, wherever it goes.

[photon]

This is a subject that is interesting to me, but I try to keep it in perspective. I don't have DoD secrets on any PC anymore, and my load of industrial secrets aren't worth the time to try to extract them. That leaves my personal info such as credit card numbers. I keep that sort of thing in an encrypted database. There are a couple ways someone could get my credit card numbers. They could collect my laptop and run software at their leisure to break the encryption. Personally, I think it would be much simpler to lift my wallet. Easiest of all is to get to follow me into any restaurant and simply keep an eye on the waiter at the end of my meal. I willingly hand off my credit card to wait staff several times a week, sometimes in some interesting places. Any number of people then have access to the CC info.

My solution to this is to be reasonably careful and examine the credit card bills line by line to ensure purchases are really mine. My long-term plan is to continue to look for decent insurance for identity theft.

[yakker.yak]

The Ubuntu Mini has the encryption option built-in. If you're in the file browser, you can select a folder, right-click on it, and select "Encrypt..." from the menu.

Seems like a good idea since you can encrypt folders selectively and not need to take the performance hit of having your entire drive encrypted ...