Surface Pro Reset

[box o rocks]

Hi all. Happy to be a new forum member here. I just bought a new Surface Pro and have an (hopefully) easy question...

Eventually I will be interested in re-selling my Surface Pro, if for no other reason than to upgrade to a newer model. When I use the "thorough" reset option, can I be assured that any personal data I had on it is not recoverable?
Thanx.

 

[souldier]

Turn on your bit locker encryption so that everything on your SSD will be encrypted and therefore unrecoverable. It's one of the advantages built into windows 8 pro and surface pro. If you don't encrypt the entire drive, then people can use software to find files formerly installed unto the SSD. To open bit locker, just search for it while on your start screen.

If you want even more security, there is software you can use to delete files and make it impossible to recover such as the "Eraser" software tool

 

[mitchellvii]

Turn on your bit locker encryption so that everything on your SSD will be encrypted and therefore unrecoverable. It's one of the advantages built into windows 8 pro and surface pro. If you don't encrypt the entire drive, then people can use software to find files formerly installed unto the SSD. To open bit locker, just search for it while on your start screen.

If you want even more security, there is software you can use to delete files and make it impossible to recover such as the "Eraser" software tool

If bit locker isn't enough you can turn on the hurt locker and your SP will explode if anyone else tries to use it.

Sent from Boards for Windows on Windows 8

 

[smalltowngirl13]

Welcome aboard!

 

[cali]

Welcome to the site. Hope you've decided how you want to protect your Surface info.

 

[machistmo]

I would doubt that the thorough option provides anything like a DOD level Mersenne Twister erase function. I would then assume that you need to at least secure erase the drive before selling it. Here are some articles on the topic:

SSD Data Wiping: Sanitize or Secure Erase SSDs? | Kingston Technology

Ask Ars: How can I securely erase the data from my SSD drive? | Ars Technica

How to securely erase an SSD drive | How To - CNET

And then one on how you can actually recover data from some of the above mentioned processes:

Recover Deleted Files in OS X