Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Q: How does the Secure Erase work?
A: Secure Erase is a feature on many modern hard drives (greater than 15GB).
This feature is activated by a low-level command to the drive and causes the
drive to erase itself using methods developed by the drive manufacturers in
conjunction with the US NSA. To protect against malware attacks, operating
systems such as Windows and Mac OS (and software written for these operating
systems) cannot send this command, but 4Secure erase can.
Secure Erase sequentially overwrites the data on the drive, similar to 4Secure
erase’s other erase modes. However, Secure Erase better handles data on
“bad blocks” (single pass may stop and report an error at a bad block).
Secure Erase is implemented on most drives that were manufactured in 2001
or later; however, an estimated time for completion was not added until later.
Some drives therefore support Secure Erase but will not be given an estimated
completion time.
Q: How fast will the 4Secure erase, erase data on my drive?
A: The 4Secure erase can erase modern hard drives at up to 7GB/minute or
more. The erasure time depends on several factors. Older drives will generally
take longer than newer ones. Higher levels of verification will not affect the time
spent erasing but will make the total process takes longer. Finally, the erase
mode plays a role. Quick erase will generally finish a little faster than Secure
Erase.
Q: With what drive capacities is 4Secure erase compatible?
A: 4Secure erase cannot erase extremely small drives or media that are less
than 10,000 sectors. Assuming a 512-byte sector size, 10,000 sectors is less
than 5GB. There is currently no known limit to how large of a disk 4Secure
erase can erase. As of September 2011, 4Secure erase has been tested with
up to 6TB hard drives. We have no reason to believe 4Secure erase will not
continue to work with newer and larger drive sizes as they are released.
