Applies to: Pro, Enterprise, and Audit
Available assessments
DriveErase provides the following post-erasure options:
- SMART Quick Health Check;
- SMART Short Self-Test;
- SMART Extended Self-Test;
- Full Media Read Scan;
- Full Media Read Scan + Performance Analysis;
- Sampled Write-Verify Test;
- Read Performance Benchmark;
- Extended Media Validation;
- Full Health Assessment.
Selection factors
Choose according to:
- Whether the device will be reused, resold, returned, or destroyed;
- The device’s pre-erasure condition;
- The required confidence in read and write behavior;
- Available maintenance time;
- Controller passthrough capabilities;
- Whether a destructive post-erasure write test is permitted;
- The organization’s asset-grading process.
Practical selection guide
| Objective | Suggested assessment |
| Fast status check | SMART Quick Health Check |
| Built-in short diagnostic | SMART Short Self-Test |
| Longer firmware diagnostic | SMART Extended Self-Test |
| Check every addressable region for read errors | Full Media Read Scan |
| Full read plus latency and throughput analysis | Full Media Read Scan + Performance Analysis |
| Test writes in representative regions | Sampled Write-Verify Test |
| Obtain representative read performance | Read Performance Benchmark |
| Long SMART test plus complete read scan | Extended Media Validation |
| Most comprehensive combined assessment | Full Health Assessment |
Duration
Duration varies greatly. SMART Quick can complete in seconds, while an extended SMART test or complete scan of a large HDD can take several hours. Full Health Assessment combines multiple stages and requires the largest time window.
Destructive and non-destructive tests
Most post-erasure assessments are read-only or device-diagnostic operations. Sampled Write-Verify Test writes zero data to selected regions. It remains safe from a confidentiality perspective after sanitization but changes the tested logical areas and should be recorded as part of the final device state.
Interpretation
Use the detailed evidence and not only the letter grade. Controller limitations, unavailable SMART data, isolated bad blocks, slow regions, write mismatches, or low performance can influence the result differently.