Apple SSD is no longer being detected after erasure with Drive Eraser

Description

Apple branded SSD with disk model SMxxxxF SSDs (where xxxx represents the capacity of the disk) is no longer detected by the device and can no longer be used after the erasure.

Issue is known to happen with following combination of disk model and disk firmware versions:

Known affected disk models:

• APPLE SSD SM1024F

• APPLE SSD SM0512F

• APPLE SSD SM0256F

• APPLE SSD SM0128F

Known affected firmware versions:

• UXM6JA1Q

• UXM2JA1Q

• UXM2EA1Q

Below table lists some of the affected system models were you can expect to see this issue. Please note that this is not full list of affected hardware and it is possible to see this issue with models not listed below.

Cause

This issue is caused by non-standard firmware available on these SSDs. Affected drives are not capable of executing "Secure Erase" or "Enhanced Secure Erase" firmware based commands properly, which leads to a scenario where the disk is no longer being detected after these command have been executed.

Resolution

In order to prevent this issue from occurring it is recommended to use erasure settings which won't utilize Secure Erase/Enhanced Secure Erase as part of the erasure. This can be achieved by using for example NIST 800-88 Purge.