Already posted this but I think it might've been the wrong section, so I'll post it here again.
How effective the drive wiper function on SSD. From what I can gather it does next to nothing, but the option is available to use on SSDs what does it do exactly, are files/data still recoverable. Does it cause the TRIM command activate which then does the job, or does wear down your SSD for really nothing.
it doesn't really matter where you post, we'll move it is really necessary, but you should only post a question once.
2 posts with the same question get harder to follow who has already answered with what, so I've removed one of the duplicate posts and moved this one to CCleaner Help.
You shouldn't use a Drive Wiper on a SSD, here's why not:
Drive Wiper is not a regular use cleaning tool.
It is only realy of use if you are selling/giving the drive to someone else.
It overwrites all traces of your files that were on the drive but have been deleted and are no longer in the recycle bin - so that the new user has no chance of recovering your old files using recovery software.
Drive Wipers write junk (typically 0's or X's) to the whole of the free space on a drive, to overwrite any old file data that may be there.
And that is only neeeded with spinning, mechanical drives - it isn't needed with SSDs.
In fact using a Drive Wiper regularly on a SSD can shorten it's life.
That's not a big problem with modern SSDs that have a greater lifetime of write operations, but it's still something to avoid.
Without getting technical it is because of TRIM.
Once a file is deleted from a SSD, and the recycle bin emptied, there is very little chance of recovering it with any recovery tool unless you have disabled TRIM on the drive.
You can't recover old data from a SSD once a TRIM has been carried out, so there is no <em>need</em> to drive wipe it.
Modern SSDs TRIM regularly but it can be a while since one was carried out, and if so then files deleted since the last TRIM might be able to be recovered with software.
But rather than drive wiping just run Windows built in (or a 3rd party) Optmiser/Defragmenter to force a TRIM of the SSD and make old data unrecoverable.
You can set Windows to Optimise on a schedule, daily, weekly, or monthly, to make sure that your SSD is regularly TRIM'ed.
PS. The drive in that screenshot hadn't been Optimised/Trimmed for 23 days so the task would have gone to a higher priority as per the settings.
(I did a manual one while I had it open anyway).