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How secure is Secure Erase option in BIOS?

  I have been exploring data security lately and came across HDD data recovery. I now know that a format simply deletes the “pointers” to files and directories and that data is still there. The only way to completely wipe the drive is to either physically destroy it or overwrite the complete drive with random sequences of 0s and 1s.

  But how secure is it really?

  I have found a Secure Erase option on my HP laptop’s BIOS. I have read multiple articles online and most people recommend DBAN and similar software.

  From what I can understand, Secure Erase only differs from other software in the way it overwrites things, meaning, that the overwriting process takes place in the hardware itself (built-in HDD commands or something like this, I’m no expert, correct me please).

  So… Let’s suppose that you need your data to be destroyed completely so that it’s irrecoverable… How secure is Secure Erase really? What if you run it multiple times in a row, let’s say 3 – 7. How secure is it if we compare it to other secure erasing tools such as DBAN and so on?

  Let’s not forget that before you perform the Secure Erase operation, DriveLock asks you for a recovery password just in case your system shuts down during the process… What happens with that DriveLock and password, do they get overwritten too at the end?

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