As long as you have an SSD or Fusion Drive the answer is YES. That not only applies securely erasing a volume, it also applies to secure file deletion, file/volume defragmenting, or any other operation that repetitively writes to an SSD or PCle-based Flash Storage.
Thanks.
So, the caveat is not El Cap specific and applies equally to my Snowy installation and to all versions of OS X, prior and in between.
Not to be facetious, but is a 1-pass zero all data that wouldn't write "repetitively" to my SSD permissible, or am I misunderstanding "repetitively"?
(*)And finally, how are we supposed to secure SSDs/computers with them for resale or other disposition without the secure erase feature?
(*) HUH? I just noticed that a 1-pass zero all data is no longer an option on my installation.
As per
this screenshot, my 1, 7, and 35 pass erase/zero out options are now limited to deleted files, and only on a volume by volume, not a full disk (although it can't be seen in my screenshot), basis.
Is this something new that came about when I installed my SSD?
If so, why is it safer than zeroing all data?
Does Disk Utility change its options depending on whether it's looking at an SSD or HDD?
And, groan, do I have to unpack the HDD I've got packaged for mailing and see what I actually did when I [thought I had] zeroed all data?
Edit: What I'm seeing is
not reflected in Disk Utility Help.
Edit 2: Brainstorm! I fired up my external HDD and found that Disk Utility sees it differently than it sees my SSD and continues to offer the secure erase options we've grown used to. (So, I did, in fact, do what I thought I had done to my up-for-sale HDD... Whew!)
I'll guess that this bi-polar behavior originated with OS X 10.6.8's recognition of SSDs, but I'll point out that
it may only be as respects Apple branded drives, same as TRIM is only enabled on Apple branded drives. (SSD users running 10.6.8 can install
Trim Enabler 2.2 for OS X 10.6.8 (small print beneath Download/Buy Now.)
TRIM has now been enabled on most, if not all, SSDs, but I'm not sure which version of OS X turned the trick.
(Mods: Should this be a new thread?)
