220-1102 Question 27
Single answerSolid-state/flash drivesA technician is preparing a company-issued laptop with a solid-state drive (SSD) for reassignment to another employee. The old user stored sensitive customer data on the drive. Company policy requires that the data be rendered inaccessible before the laptop is redeployed, while also avoiding unnecessary wear on the SSD. Which action should the technician take?
- A
Run a full disk defragmentation, then delete the user profiles
- B
Perform a secure erase/sanitize operation supported by the SSD manufacturer or system firmware
- C
Use a magnetic degausser on the SSD, then reinstall the operating system
- D
Format the SSD partition and reinstall Windows
Show answer and explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
For SSDs and other flash-based storage, the best practice is to use the drive's supported secure erase or sanitize function rather than relying on defragmentation, simple formatting, or magnetic methods. Unlike traditional HDDs, SSDs use wear leveling, garbage collection, and spare blocks, which means conventional overwrite assumptions do not always apply. In A+ Core 2 objectives, candidates are expected to recognize proper handling and maintenance of SSDs, including that defragmentation is not recommended as a maintenance task and that secure disposal/sanitization should use appropriate vendor, firmware, or operating-system-supported methods. This aligns with common guidance from SSD manufacturers, NIST media sanitization recommendations, and operating system best practices for flash storage.
- A. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Defragmentation is not an appropriate data-removal method for SSDs and is generally unnecessary for SSD performance. It also causes extra write activity, which contributes to wear. Deleting profiles after defragmenting does not reliably sanitize sensitive data.
- B. Correct.
Correct. A secure erase or sanitize operation designed for SSDs is the preferred method in this scenario because it is intended to render previous data inaccessible while aligning with flash-storage best practices. SSDs handle data differently from magnetic disks due to wear leveling and overprovisioning, so approved secure erase/sanitize tools are more appropriate than traditional overwrite methods.
- C. Incorrect.
Incorrect. Degaussing is used for magnetic media such as traditional hard disk drives and tapes. SSDs store data in flash memory, so magnetic degaussing is ineffective. This distractor reflects the common misconception that all storage devices can be sanitized with the same physical method.
- D. Incorrect.
Incorrect. A standard format and OS reinstall do not reliably remove sensitive data from an SSD. Formatting typically removes filesystem references rather than securely sanitizing all underlying flash cells, and SSD wear-leveling mechanisms can leave remapped blocks containing residual data.