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AAbner's avatar
AAbner
Iron Contributor
Jan 14, 2026

How do I completely wipe an SD card and make it unrecoverable?

I heard that a simple format of an SD card doesn't actually erase the data and that files could be recovered. Currently, I am working on a data disposition project and require authoritative guidance ...
device management
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AldenGrove's avatar
AldenGrove
Iron Contributor
Jan 14, 2026

Using ATA Secure Erase to completely wipe an SD card on a Windows PC is theoretically effective if the SD card supports the ATA Secure Erase command. However, in practice, most SD cards—especially consumer-grade ones—do not support ATA commands or hardware-based secure erase functions. They are primarily designed for simple storage and may lack the necessary hardware features.

Key Points:

Support for ATA Secure Erase:

Most SD cards do NOT support ATA Secure Erase.

Secure Erase is typically supported by enterprise SSDs, not consumer or SD cards.

 

SD Card Interface Compatibility:

- Standard SD cards communicate via the SD interface, not ATA commands.

- To use ATA Secure Erase completely wipe an SD card the device must present itself as an ATA device supporting the command, which is generally not the case with SD cards.

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