Secure erase Fusion Drive 2015 iMac

[Dezzer5]

Hi,

I am looking to determine the most secure way to erase my 1TB Fusion Drive ready for selling my 2015 iMac (Catalina). From what I can see, I have 2 options as follows:

1. Decrypt FileVault and erase which to me doesn't seem secure as 'secure erase' is no longer available and data can still be recovered.

2. Keep FV encrypted and erase. I can't see how to do this in recover mode as you are prompted to log in to access Disk Utility. does this decrypt the data?

I also tried internet recovery and 'erase Mac' but I keep getting an error. 'An internal error has occured. : (-69626).

I am interested to know what method you guys have used in the past?

Your help is appreciated!

Thanks

 

[Fishrrman]

I could be wrong, but...

I don't think you can DO "a secure erase" on a fusion drive because of the SSD portion (Disk Utility won't offer this option for SSDs).

You could do it on the HDD portion IF you "split" the fusion drive first.

But... if filevault is enabled, just boot from an external source (such as internet recovery) and erase the entire [fusion] drive setup. That should make it impossible for someone else to recover the data.

Another course of action might be to get ahold of an older copy of Drive Genius, which can "erase the free space" on SSDs. Then...
- Boot from an external source
- Erase the fusion drive using Disk Utility
- Launch Drive Genius
- "aim it" at the fusion drive
- Choose the "shred" option
- See if it offers you the option to "shred" (erase) the "free space" on the now-empty drive.