If you are planning to transfer ownership of your Pro Data device to another person or organization, or are completing a project where you are required by law or company policy to ensure all project data is permanently deleted, you can use Pro Data's Secure Erase feature to quickly erase your device, and reset it for initialization by another user. To Secure Erase Pro Data, perform these steps:
- Reset the device into Firmware Recovery mode by following the instructions in Firmware Recovery Mode.
- Open the iodyne Utility, and from the Devices menu, locate your devices, and select Erase Device. You will need to confirm your intent to proceed, and enter the Device Password
- Confirm erasure of the device in the dialog prompt by providing the device password and checking the confirmation checkbox before clicking Secure Erase.
Previous methods of erasing storage devices often entailed slowly and repeatedly overwriting data with all zeros or a random sequence of bits. Even then, deleted information might be later recoverable through data forensics. Fortunately, data encryption/decryption methods today are sufficiently robust and efficient where brute-force obscuring of the original information is no longer necessary.
All information on Pro Data is automatically secured against unauthorized access using XTS-AES-256 cryptographic keys stored in a hardware Secure Enclave, and optionally protected by an inherited device-wide password or a custom password which applies only to its container. As a result, actions which "destroy" data or make it unrecoverable can be performed quickly and irrevocably by discarding a key from the Secure Enclave. Therefore, the entire Pro Data device can be erased by discarding all keys from the Enclave, and reformatting the SSDs back to zeroes for reuse.
Secure Erasing Pro Data devices deletes all containers, including their data, metadata, and encryption keys. Only continue if everything is backed up and verified or safe to permanently destroy, as this action will render all content unrecoverable, and cannot be undone.