If you have a PC with a solid-state drive, you just need to reinstall your operating system to erase your data. hybrids: Which storage tech is right for you? Deleted files can also be recovered from USB flash drives, SD cards, and other types of removable media. This means deleted files can be recovered from that external SSD. In other words, if you have an external SSD in an enclosure and you connect it to your computer via USB, TRIM won’t erase files you delete. This is done to speed things up-it’s faster to write to empty cells-but it has the benefit of ensuring files you delete from internal SSDs can’t be recovered.Įxternal solid-state drives and other removable media: TRIM is used only for internal SSDs. The drive then erases the file’s data from its memory cells. When you delete a file from a solid-state drive, the operating system informs the drive that the file was deleted. Internal solid-state drives: Solid-state drives use a feature called TRIM. Until it’s overwritten in the future, people can scan the drive and recover the marked-as-deleted data. When you delete a file from such a drive, the drive just marks the file’s data as deleted.
Files you delete from these drives can be recovered. If your PC doesn’t have an SSD, it has a mechanical hard drive. Mechanical hard drives: Old-school mechanical hard drives-the kind with a spinning magnetic platter-are still used in PCs.
