selling old MBP, with SSD, Garbage Collection=secure erase?

I'm selling a 2010 MBP with on OWC SSD in it, so I'm wondering if I just log into a fresh admin account and delete my old user account, will garbage collection on the drive do the job of securely erasing my data?

northrnchimp said:

...will garbage collection on the drive do the job of securely erasing my data?

Click to expand...

No. For the secure erasure of info…the "old info" needs to be overwritten with "new info". To make this easy…use Disk Utilities "Secure Erase" feature.

FYI…when you send stuff to the trash…and empty the trash can…the stuff you "erased" actually has not been erased…it's still there. What actually happens is…the directory file of the OS is just updated…and tells the computer that the space where that data resides is able to be written on (with new data) when the need arises. The secure erase feature of Disk Utility actually writes new random data (0's, 1's, etc.) over the entire HD…which overwrites any previous info stored on the HD.

- Nick

You may want to have a read of this article - link.

Really depends on what type of personal data you had on the drive as to whether you want to pass it on or not, even after you've erased it.

That article directly contradicts several articles I've read similar to this one - link.


So, does anyone know? Does Trim totally delete and make any data irretrievable?

Looks like no. Finding way more evidence of the first rather than the 2nd and to get rid of your data on a SSD seems to require encrypting your data, then erasing.

Here's one of the better walk throughs for sanitizing a SSD - although it's talking about a Windows machine, he's got some tools there that should work with a Mac - link.

Be interested if anyone else has done the research/study on this and knows more about it.