18+ Wipe Standards
Data Erasure Standards
PIWIPE supports 18+ wipe standards in one application — from NIST and DoD to German BSI, UK HMG, and the classic Gutmann. Each is recorded on the certificate with method and pass count; aligned with SS-036 and IEEE 2883.
The right standard depends on data sensitivity, device type, and the regulation you fall under. For modern drives, single-pass overwrite + verification (NIST) is sufficient in most cases; on SSD/NVMe, hardware Sanitize / Cryptographic Erase takes priority. Multi-pass military and regional standards are used when organizational policy or a tender requires them. PIWIPE auto-selects the appropriate method and records the result on the certificate.
Recommended (Modern)
Hardware-Level
Military (US)
UK Government
German BSI (DACH)
Canada
Classic / Legacy Media
Choosing a Standard
Which one for which case?
General Use
NIST 800-88 — sufficient and fast for modern HDD/SSD.
SSD / NVMe
IEEE 2883 / hardware Sanitize — recommended over software overwrite due to wear-leveling.
Regional
Germany/DACH → BSI, VSITR · UK → HMG, CESG · Canada → ITSG-06.