COMPLETELY erasing HDD/SSD -HOW?

[wrenaudrey]

Correct me if im wrong but the 'Format Disk' from the Computer window(Windows OS) does not completely erase the data in the hard drive/ssd/memory card, right?

So how and what do i do to COMPLETELY erase the data off it?
*WITHOUT COMPLETE OR PARTIAL PHYSICAL DESTRUCTION -otherwise needs to be reusable.

 

[noidea_77]

For HDDs: http://www.gaijin.at/en/dlwipedisk.php
SSDs typically came with a utility to do that.

 

[wrenaudrey]

For HDDs: http://www.gaijin.at/en/dlwipedisk.php
SSDs typically came with a utility to do that.

For doing this complete erase to HDD, does it harm the drive?
For SSD, if Samsung, the Samsung SSD Magician?
And what about for Memory Cards/USB Pens?
Again for SSD and MemoryCards/USBPens, does it harm them when you write 0's or whatever on them?

 

[noidea_77]

Tools like whipedisk will not work on flash based storage, because the tool can not directly address the storage. The controller on the SSD/card does that. For Samsung the Magician is the right tool.

 

[danny2000]

it does not damage the hard disk drives, Solid State Drives, or the USB drives.

 

[wrenaudrey]

Ok, ive downloaded that WipeDisk, tried to WipeDisk(x1), Zero(x1), Random(x1) and WipeDisk Secure(x4) and have come up with this error:
"The drive was not wiped properly
Error:
The operation completed successfully."

This comes up within milliseconds of confirming the erase.
Help please.

PS. Im trying to erase a Sandisk Extreme 8GB SDHC - http://www.sandisk.co.uk/products/memory-cards/sd/extreme-uhs-1-30mbs/?capacity=8GB

 

[noidea_77]

As said, it will not work for flash based storage. Try this for SD cards: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/
One option is "full format (erase).

 

[wrenaudrey]

Have you had experience with this one: DiskWipe - http://www.roadkil.net/ from http://www.maximumpc.com/article/howtos/how_complete_destroy_your_data?page=0,2

I did 'Blank Disk' option on the Memory card with 1 Pass and after it finished, Stellar Phoenix Photo Recovery was still able to retrieve the photos that were already deleted within that card, any thoughts?

 

[wrenaudrey]

As said, it will not work for flash based storage. Try this for SD cards: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_3/
One option is "full format (erase).

Okay this one worked perfectly. Thank you.
So the WipeDisk will be the one used for HDDs?

 

[noidea_77]

Yes!