Question

A technician is using a tool with a secure erase function that performs a zero-filling on HDDs and marks all blocks as empty on SSDs. The SSD firmware's automatic garbage collectors then perform the actual erase of each block over time. What is this tool?

a. Low-level formatting
b. Disk Cleanup
c. TRIM
d. Diskpart

Answer 1

The tool described that performs zero-filling on HDDs and marks blocks as empty on SSDs for garbage collection is the TRIM command, which is intended to optimize and maintain SSD performance.

Step-by-step explanation:

A tool that performs a zero-filling on HDDs (hard disk drives) and marks all blocks as empty on SSDs (solid-state drives), allowing the SSD firmware's automatic garbage collectors to then perform the actual erase process over time, is known as the TRIM command. TRIM helps to maintain the performance of SSDs by allowing the operating system to inform the SSD which blocks of data are no longer considered in use and can be wiped internally. This is different from low-level formatting, which is a more intense process that is rarely used today, and it is not the same as Disk Cleanup, which removes unnecessary files from your system, or Diskpart, which is a command-line utility used to manage disk partitions. The TRIM command is specifically designed to optimize and help maintain the performance of SSDs.