How to Wipe NVMe Drive Securely? Complete Guide
Summary: How to wipe NVMe drive? Are you searching for the same query? Then here is the solution. In this detailed guide we will share you the complete step-by-step instruction for an easy and secure erase NVMe drive. Let’s begin!
NVMe stands for Non-volatile Memory Express which is a popular host controller interface among users who prioritize high performance and value an increased data transfer speed on PCs, laptops and gaming consoles. Moreover, apart from providing users the benefits of high performance.
However, despite providing the above benefits, users often face challenges to wipe NVMe drive data completely with these types of drives. Moreover, simply deleting the data off your NVMe drive doesn’t erase it as you might expect. Instead, it only hides the data from immediate view, leaving it to be overwritten when a new file takes up residence on the drive which can be easily recovered using any Data Recovery Software.
Reasons to Wipe NVMe Drive
Recovery isn’t always a priority. If the user wants to securely erase sensitive files, or they’re selling an old laptop to another person, they need to make sure that no clever software will ever be able to bring the old files back from the dead.
There are multiple reasons due to which users find a need to secure erase NVMe drive data. Some of the reasons are listed here:
- Reselling NVMe drive: One of the users of major preparation that need to make before reselling a drive is to wipe out all the data. It will help them in preventing data from others from accessing their important files.
- Prepare the drive for another user: To protect the crucial data, you may want to destroy the files on the storage device to avoid any mishappening.
- Clean up NVMe for other usages: Another reason is to wipe NVMe drive data for OS installation, using it as a game drive, or a second data disk, etc.
- Remove virus or malware on the device: If your Kingston NVMe is infected by a virus or malware, then you may really want to remove it by securely erasing your device easily.
The Best Manual Methods to Wipe an NVMe Drive
A standard method of overwriting data can shorten the life of SSD drives because of multiple passes, plus there are areas of an SSD you may not even see if you follow this approach. If you want to manually wipe an NVMe drive, here are 2 built-in system methods:
- Command Prompt (Diskpart/Format). Use Windows’ diskpart command to wipe out the partitions of an NVMe drive by specifying the drive you want to clean up. If you do a complete format either through Disk Management or via the command line, it will cause Windows to send the TRIM command to the SSD controller which tells it to remove and garbage collect any unlinked blocks.
- Motherboard BIOS / UEFI Secure Erase. Most of the latest motherboards have a “Secure Erase” or “NVMe Sanitize” utility as part of the BIOS. If you boot into BIOS and run the secure erase command available here, it will send a command to the NVMe drive’s built-in firmware to flush its internal translation tables or perform a hardware block clear in a matter of seconds.
Professional Solution to Erase NVMe Drive
If the user has to wipe the NVMe drive completely and securely, then they can use the ultimate Data Wipe Software, for both professional as well as home users. This software protects sensitive data from various threat exposure and data breaches. The tool has all you need to securely erase NVMe Drive and safeguard its data. Simply download the tool to perform this task effortlessly.
It provides high speed and easy handling and a smooth user experience dealing with to be erased projects without compromising on any sort of security or quality. This powerful application can easily solve the user’s issue as to how to wipe NVMe drive before selling it off. It will not only erase the data, but it will also make the data irretrievable.
How to Wipe an NVMe Drive? Step-by-Step
Users have to follow some simple steps for performing this task in a hassle-free manner:
- Firstly, users have to install and run the NVMe Drive Eraser application on the computer.
- After that, click on the select button and navigate to the logical drive option, then click on wipe options to erase the NVMe drive.
- Then, select the drive and click on the “Next” button to proceed further to wipe the NVMe drive.
- Thereafter, select the required wiping method from the given drop list.
- If a needed user can also select from the personalized erasure methods to wipe NVMe drive as per advanced filter criteria.
- Finally, this application will produce a saving log erasure report after the completion of the wiping procedure.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q1: When I delete files or perform a “quick format” will the files I deleted from my NVMe be recoverable or wholly unrecoverable for good?
A: No; performing any of these functions will not result in the data being permanently destroyed from your NVMe drive. The standard method of deleting and quick formatting, deletes the file pointers and thus, removes the current view of the data. However, the underlying blocks of data remain unaltered on your NVMe NAND flash memory until they are either overwritten with new data or “natively sanitized.”. Therefore, any professional-level data recovery software would still be able to potentially restore those blocks until they have been truly overwritten.
Q2: What is the difference in wiping an NVMe from an HDD (Hard Disk Drive/type hard disks)?
A: HDDs write data to a” static” physical location for permanent storage; an NVMe SSD uses more advanced data integrity/ storage management techniques (such as: wear leveling, data compression, controller-managed block allocation, etc.). As a result of there being no” static” physical locations on an NVMe SSD, an HDD that uses a traditional multi-pass overwriting method may be unable to find and overwrite non-visible or over-provisioned locations and thus, create unnecessary wear damage to our drive.
Q3: Can I wipe only a portion of the information on my NVMe drive?
A: Yes. You can erase a small portion of the entire NVMe drive while keeping the operating system intact or erase specific logical drives and you can use either data sanitization algorithms to erase specified folders/file masks or unallocated free space.
The Final Thoughts
In the above write-up, we have explained how to wipe the NVMe drive. The software mentioned in this post is freely available for trial purposes as well. You can download it and run it for testing all the inbuilt software features and functionality. After reading this blog, users will get the easiest and most trustworthy solution for performing this task in the best possible manner.
The licensed version of the tool comes with unlimited functionalities. Now, without facing any hassle users can easily erase NVMe drives. In case of any issue, the user can also connect to our live support team.
