Does Shredding an SSD Destroy Data? Why You Should Wipe It First

By RedKey USB. Published November 6, 2026. Technical guidance comes from NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2, CISA and the FTC. The shredding test described below was reported in a sponsored article on Resource Recycling. All are linked in the sources. This is general information, not legal advice.

Does shredding an SSD destroy data? It feels like it should. A drive that goes into a shredder comes out as a pile of metal and circuit board. But SSDs keep their data on small flash chips, and a chip that survives in one piece can still hold everything written to it. A recycler test published this month put that risk in plain terms, and NIST's media sanitization guidance has warned about it for years. This guide explains why, and why the safer order is wipe first, destroy second.

What did the recycler test find?

A sponsored article published by Resource Recycling on November 1, 2026, described an experiment run with a large recycling company on SSD data destruction. The drives tested each contained eight NAND flash memory chips. According to the article, after the drives passed through a shredder, data was retrievable from most of the chips. The author concluded that shredding is an ineffective data security method for these drives.^[1]

The same piece says that even if an SSD is shredded, the data can still be retrieved as long as a chip's read and write ports remain undamaged.^[1] Because the article is sponsored content and does not publish full test details, treat it as a reported finding rather than a peer-reviewed study. The underlying point, though, matches what NIST says about destroying flash media.^[2]

Why can shredded SSD chips still be read?

A hard drive stores data magnetically on a few large platters. Shredding or crushing a platter damages a large share of the data at once. An SSD is different. It spreads data across several NAND flash chips, each only a fraction of an inch across, soldered to a circuit board. The controller decides which chip and which cells hold each piece of data.

A shredder built for hard drives cuts material into strips or chunks sized for platters. A small flash chip can fall between the cutters or end up on a fragment of board, chipped but intact. Someone with the right equipment can remove a surviving chip and read it directly, bypassing the drive's controller. Even a partial read can expose files, because the chip holds data in pages that can be pieced back together.

NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 addresses this directly. It says that as the density of data and the hardness of component materials increase, certain destructive techniques can become ineffective, and that pulverize and shred techniques should be avoided for anything but the lowest security categories of data.^[2] It also says bending, cutting, or drilling a hole through a storage device may only partly damage it, leaving portions accessible with laboratory techniques.^[2]

What does NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 say about destroying media?

NIST groups sanitization into three methods: clear, purge and destroy.^[2] For destroy, it lists disintegrate, incinerate, melt, pulverize and shred as the common physical techniques, and it sets a clear bar: media is not considered destroyed unless target data access or recovery is infeasible using state-of-the-art laboratory techniques.^[2] A drive that no longer powers on is not automatically destroyed under that definition.

NIST also stresses checking results. Its guidance on verification says that for destructive methods, verification involves inspecting the remnants, and it gives the example of a shredder that produces pieces larger than an organization accepts. The technique ran, but it is not considered effective.^[2] For an SSD, the practical question is simple: did any flash chip come out whole?

Destruction still has a place. NIST says it may be the only option when the media has failed or is obsolete and other techniques cannot be applied.^[2] The problem is relying on a coarse shred alone for a working drive that could have been wiped.

Why wipe an SSD before you destroy it?

If a drive is properly sanitized first, a chip that survives the shredder holds nothing useful. Destruction becomes a second layer. If the drive goes straight into the shredder with data on it, the shred is the only control, and every intact chip is a potential leak.

For flash storage, the type of wipe matters. NIST warns that overwriting, the classic method for hard drives, does not reliably reach all data on flash. It says flash devices that contain spare cells and perform wear leveling make it infeasible for a user to sanitize all previous data by overwriting through the normal read and write interface.^[2] Our article Is overwriting SSDs safe? explains this in more depth.

NIST points instead to purge techniques that use dedicated, standardized device sanitize commands, such as block erase and cryptographic erase, which apply drive-specific methods to get past the abstraction of normal read and write commands. It says purge should be used instead of clear when possible.^[2]

Every disk will fail or become e-waste

Even if you never plan to put a drive through a shredder, its end is already written. Every disk will eventually fail, or it will become surplus and join the e-waste stream. A drawer of dead laptops and old SSDs is not a holding pattern. It is a pile of devices waiting for the same fate as the shredded drives in that test: recycling, resale, or a shredder that may leave chips intact.

That is why wiping while the drive still works matters so much. NIST says destruction may be the only option once media has failed or become obsolete and other techniques cannot be applied.^[2] A drive that no longer powers on is not automatically safe, and the chips inside can still hold data. If you wait until the hardware dies, you lose the chance to purge it first and you are left hoping physical destruction is thorough enough.

Treat every working drive as something that will one day fail or be discarded. Back it up if you still need the files, wipe it while you still can, and only then recycle, reuse or destroy it.

Where does cryptographic erase fit?

Many modern SSDs encrypt everything they store with an internal key. Cryptographic erase works by sanitizing that key, so the data on the chips can no longer be decrypted. NIST calls it noteworthy for its ability to sanitize data rapidly and with high assurance, much faster than other techniques.^[2]

NIST is also clear that cryptographic erase depends on the strength of the cryptography and on meeting certain preconditions, and that federal agencies must use encryption modules validated to the current FIPS 140 standard to have assurance for self-encrypting drives.^[2] In other words, it is a strong option when the drive supports it properly, and a weak one if you cannot confirm that. We compare the two approaches in cryptographic erase vs overwriting.

NIST also notes that degaussing should not be used for non-magnetic media such as SSDs.^[2] A degausser does nothing to flash chips.

A safer order for retiring SSDs

1. Back up what you need. Confirm the backup opens before you erase anything.
2. Purge the drive. Use a tool that runs the SSD's own sanitize or cryptographic erase commands where the drive supports them, rather than a simple file delete or format. CISA notes that deleted and formatted data can remain on the media.^[3]
3. Verify the result. Check that the wipe completed for the whole drive, and keep a record if the drive belonged to a business.
4. Reuse, resell or recycle. A properly purged SSD can often be reused, which NIST notes is one benefit of purge over destruction.^[2]
5. Destroy only if you still need to. If policy calls for destruction, or the drive has failed and cannot be wiped, use a method that breaks the flash chips themselves into small particles, and inspect what is left.^[2]

The embedded NAND problem

SSDs are only part of the picture. The Resource Recycling article points out that flash memory soldered onto circuit boards is found in handheld and mobile devices, Chromebooks, home security cameras, routers, set-top boxes and doorbells at home, and in servers and switches at work.^[1] It gives examples of what these chips can hold, including Wi-Fi passwords, recent camera video, router logs and device configuration.^[1]

The article also claims that more than 90% of such devices are shipped to Malaysia or the Philippines without adequate data destruction, and that most recyclers still simply shred them.^[1] That figure comes from the sponsored piece and we have not seen it confirmed elsewhere, so treat it as the author's estimate. The broader risk is easy to see, though: recyclers know to handle hard drives and SSDs, but a router or doorbell rarely gets the same treatment.

For these devices you usually cannot remove the storage or run a drive-level wipe. NIST notes that for devices that only offer a return to factory state, a manufacturer reset may be the only clear technique available.^[2] So:

• Run the manufacturer's factory reset on routers, cameras, doorbells and set-top boxes before you give them away.
• Remove the device from any linked app or cloud account first, and delete cloud recordings you do not need.
• Change your Wi-Fi password if you are disposing of a device that knew it and you cannot be sure it was reset.
• For phones and tablets, see how to erase mobile phones before disposal.
• For business networking gear, ask your recycler how they handle embedded flash, not just drives.

What about USB sticks and memory cards?

USB flash drives and memory cards use the same kind of NAND chips as SSDs, usually just one or two. They are cheap, so they tend to get thrown in a drawer or a bin rather than wiped. The same logic applies: a broken casing does not mean the chip is unreadable. Wipe them while they still work. Our guide on erasing external drives without recovery covers USB sticks and portable SSDs.

How does RedKey help?

RedKey USB is a reusable USB stick that starts a PC, laptop or Intel-based Mac outside Windows or macOS and erases whole drives, including hard drives, SATA and NVMe SSDs, USB flash drives and memory cards. Its wipe follows NIST SP 800-88 methods and removes hidden areas such as the HPA and DCO on ATA/SATA drives. That makes it a straightforward first step before any SSD is reused, sold, recycled or sent for destruction. It is a one-time purchase with unlimited use and no subscription.

For home use, RedKey Home shows the result of each wipe on screen. For businesses that send drives to a recycler or shredding service, RedKey Professional and RedKey Ultimate produce a PDF erasure report for each drive, so you have a documented erasure report showing the data was gone before the hardware left your hands. Phone and tablet wiping is available in RedKey Ultimate only.

What RedKey cannot do here

RedKey cannot wipe a drive that has failed and no longer responds, and it does not wipe the embedded flash inside routers, cameras, doorbells or set-top boxes. For those, use the manufacturer's reset and a recycler that handles embedded memory. RedKey is not a shredding or recycling service.

The bottom line

Does shredding an SSD destroy data? Only if every flash chip is broken into small enough pieces, and a typical shred does not guarantee that. A recycler test found most chips in shredded SSDs were still readable, and NIST advises against relying on shredding for anything but the lowest security data. Wipe or purge the drive first, verify it, and treat destruction as a backup. Do not wait until a drive fails or becomes e-waste: wipe it while it still works. Then give routers, cameras and other devices with embedded flash a factory reset before they go.

SSD shredding FAQs

Does shredding an SSD destroy data?

Not reliably. An SSD stores data on small NAND flash chips. A shredder that cuts the drive into large pieces can leave some chips whole, and an intact chip can still be read. A recycler test reported in November 2026 found data was retrievable from most of the chips in shredded SSDs. NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2 says pulverize and shred techniques should be avoided for anything but the lowest security categories of data.

Why is an SSD harder to destroy than a hard drive?

A hard drive keeps data on a few large platters, so damage to the platters affects most of the data. An SSD spreads data across many small chips. Each chip is tiny compared with typical shredder particle sizes, so a chip can pass through a shredder and stay intact. NIST also notes that as data density and material hardness increase, some destructive techniques become ineffective.

Is overwriting an SSD enough?

Not on its own. NIST says wear leveling and spare cells make it infeasible for a user to sanitize all previous data on flash storage by overwriting through the normal read and write interface. A purge method that uses the drive's dedicated sanitize commands, such as block erase or cryptographic erase, reaches areas a simple overwrite cannot.

What is cryptographic erase?

Cryptographic erase sanitizes a drive by destroying or removing access to the keys that encrypt its data. NIST describes it as a purge technique that can sanitize data with high assurance much faster than other methods, but says its effectiveness depends on the strength of the cryptography and meeting certain preconditions.

Should I wipe an SSD before I destroy it?

Yes, where the drive still works. A verified wipe or purge removes the data first, so any chip that survives destruction holds nothing readable. Destruction then becomes a second layer instead of the only one. If a drive has failed and cannot be wiped, NIST says destruction may be the only option, and the method used must make recovery infeasible.

What if I just keep the drive until it fails?

Every disk will eventually fail or become surplus e-waste. A drive that no longer powers on is not automatically safe: the chips can still hold data, and NIST says destruction may then be the only option. Wipe the drive while it still works so you are not relying on a shredder later.

What devices have embedded NAND flash?

Many everyday devices store data on flash chips soldered to the board, including routers, home security cameras, doorbells, set-top boxes, smartphones, tablets and network switches. These can hold Wi-Fi passwords, logs and recordings. Use the device's factory reset, remove accounts, and choose a recycler that handles embedded flash properly.

Which RedKey editions produce a PDF erasure report?

RedKey Professional and Ultimate produce a PDF erasure report. RedKey Home shows results on screen only. Mobile device wiping is available in RedKey Ultimate only.

Sources

1. Resource Recycling, Risks and opportunities of embedded NAND memory (sponsored content, November 1, 2026)
2. NIST, SP 800-88 Rev. 2, Guidelines for Media Sanitization (September 2025)
3. CISA, Proper Disposal of Electronic Devices

This article is general information, accurate as of November 6, 2026, and based on NIST SP 800-88 Rev. 2, CISA, FTC and the Resource Recycling article listed. The shredding test and the export figure come from sponsored content and have not been independently verified by us. It is not legal advice.