[MacTUG] Secure Erase of SSDs

[Glenn Anderson]

I found the following steps on how to securely erase a Mac SSD ( https://www.macobserver.com/tips/how-to/securely-erase-macs-ssd/ )


  1.  Back up any data you want to keep on your boot drive. It’s going to be nuked.
  2.  If you haven’t already, go to System Preferences > Security & Privacy > FileVault and enable it. Write down the password on paper until you establish a safe place for this password. Be patient. This process can take a long time, hours, and there is no progress bar.
  3.  When done, restart you Mac in Recovery mode (CMD-R) as described at the beginning of this article.
  4.  Launch Disk Utility. Select the disk (boot SSD). Select Unlock “volume name” from the File menu. Enter that saved password. Now erase the disk normally, using the standard erase option.
  5.  This deletes the FileVault key. The SSD now contains only unreadable, encrypted garbage.
  6.  You may wish to install some version of macOS now to place the machine in the out-of-the-box mode. Do CMD-Q when the Mac reboots and the set up process first starts.


On Nov 5, 2018, at 2:36 PM, Mike Patterson <mpatters at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:mpatters at uwaterloo.ca>> wrote:

I suppose an acceptable alternative to removing the encryption key is just setting a unique, very long, encryption key, waiting for the encryption to complete, and (perhaps?) then removing the volume in Disk Utility? A virtually unguessable key is the next best thing to a key that's been removed entirely.

Mike

--
Mike Patterson - pronouns he/him - Manager, Information Security Operations
Information Security Services, University of Waterloo
+1 519-888-4567, x47178 / mike.patterson at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:mike.patterson at uwaterloo.ca>
Security Operations Centre x41125 / soc at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:soc at uwaterloo.ca>

On Nov 5, 2018, at 2:25 PM, Dani Roloson <daroloso at uwaterloo.ca<mailto:daroloso at uwaterloo.ca>> wrote:

Colleague has a question about preparing Macs for surplus and is wondering what others do on campus.
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What is the best way to securely erase the SSD in an Apple computer that is going to surplus?

The Apple web site:  https://support.apple.com/en-ca/HT208496
How to erase a disk for Mac - Apple Support
support.apple.com<http://support.apple.com>
Use Disk Utility to erase (format) a hard disk, flash drive, or other storage device for Mac.


says to use Disk Utility – it does not specify that a particular version has to be used.  Article is from September 2018.

In general, data on SSDs can be rendered unreadable by encrypting the drive and then removing the encryption key, but how to do this in MacOS?

---------------------------------------------
Christine Roth
MFCF
MC3068 X36463

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