2 Easy Ways to Perform SanDisk SSD Sanitize in Windows

SanDisk SSD Sanitize vs Secure Erase

Before you discard, give away or sell your SanDisk SSD, it’s necessary to erase all your data on the SSD. How to erase your data securely and completely? You may have heard of the tool SanDisk SSD Dashboard. However, it has reached its end of support life cycle.

Now you are suggested to use Western Digital Dashboard. As for removing data on a WD or SanDisk SSD, there are two options available: Sanitize and Secure Erase. Both of them can permanently destroy all user data on the SSD. What’s the difference between them?

• Sanitize: deletes the mapping table and erases all blocks that have been written to on the selected SSD. So, it’s a slower “erase” option than the Secure Erase function
• Secure Erase: deletes the mapping table on the selected SSD, but it does not erase all blocks that have been written to. As a result, it works more quickly than the Sanitize function.

You’ll learn how to use the Sanitize function in the next part.

👉 How to sanitize a SanDisk SSD with Western Digital Dashboard
👉 Powerful SSD sanitize tool for all branded SSDs🔥

How to sanitize a SanDisk SSD with Western Digital Dashboard

First, connect the SanDisk SSD to your computer and make sure it is recognized. Then, download Western Digital Dashboard (the replacement of SanDisk SSD Dashboard) and install it. Next, follow the guidance below:

If the SanDisk SSD is a non-system drive

1. Open WD Dashboard. At the top of the Dashboard, click Select drive to select the SanDisk SSD you want to erase.

Tip: If the SSD to be deleted is not shown in the list, click the Refresh icon next to the Select drive drop-down menu to scan for the SSD.

2. Click the Tools tab and select Erase Drive from the left panel. Then, click Erase Now next to Sanitize to delete all user data on the SanDisk SSD. The drive will become unformatted after erasing.

If the SanDisk SSD is a system drive

1. Insert a formatted USB drive and backup any existing data on the USB drive.

2. Run WD Dashboard. Click Tools > Erase Drive.

3. Under the title “Create a bootable USB drive to perform Sanitize”, click the drop-down list to select the USB drive. Then click Create USB Drive.

4. Shut down your computer and reboot it from the bootable USB to perform SanDisk SSD Sanitize.

Powerful SSD sanitize tool for all branded SSDs

Besides Western Digital Dashboard, there is another tool that can help you with SanDisk sanitize. It is AOMEI Backupper Professional. You can benefit a lot from its following features:

🌟 It enables you to wipe an entire disk, a selected partition, or unallocated space and make your data unrecoverable.
🌟 It supports wiping various storage devices, including HDDs, SSDs, USB sticks and SD cards, etc.
🌟 There’s no brand restriction. You can use it to delete data on Seagate, Samsung, SanDisk, WD drive and so on.
🌟 It allows you to create a bootable USB to wipe a hard drive without loading Windows.
🌟 It is compatible with all editions of Windows 11, 10, 8.1/8, 7, Vista and XP. 

Don’t hesitate to download this remarkable SSD sanitize tool.

Whether your SanDisk SSD is a boot drive or not, the wiping steps are the same. Let’s get started.

Step 1. Install and launch AOMEI Backupper. Click Tools and choose Disk Wipe.

Step 2. On the Wiping Type page, choose Wipe Disk and click Next.

Step 3. Select the SanDisk SSD that needs to be wiped and click Next.

Step 4. (Optional) If the SanDisk SSD contains OS, you will be prompted the operation needs to be executed in reboot mode. Click OK to confirm.

Step 5. On the Wiping Method page, choose one method based on your need and click Start to proceed. There are four methods available:

• Fill sectors with Zero (Safe, Quick)
• Fill sectors with random data (Safe, Quick)
• DoD 5220.22-M (Very Safe, Slow)
• Gutmann (35 passes, Very Safe, Very Slow)

Verdict

To run SanDisk SSD Sanitize, there are two wiping tools you can turn to: Western Digital Dashboard and AOMEI Backupper. When you want to permanently delete data on a boot drive, WD Dashboard requires you to create a bootable USB before running the Sanitize operation. However, a bootable USB drive can be omitted if you use AOMEI Backupper.

Actually, AOMEI Backupper is more than a disk wiper. There are many other wonderful features embedded in this software, such as backup, restore, sync and clone. You can use it create continuous data protection for your computer and clone SSD to new SSD, etc. Why not give it a shot?