Leica Customer Care on Secure Erasure

[THEME]

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There has been some discussion about the potential maleficence of the M11 lineup's latest firmware inclusion: Secure Erasure.

So I contacted Leica Customer Care and received this response from the horse's mouth – nothing surprising really for any pragmatic user:

"Discussions are probably based on the fact that SSDs can fail after numerous overwrites.

You don't need to worry about this.

The Secure Erase function can be used once, or multiple times, in a year without any problems.

You probably don't even think about whether or not to take new images to protect the SSD."

[frame-it]

1 minute ago, THEME said:

the fact that SSDs can fail after numerous overwrites.

i tried to mention this a while back on another thread but was rudely bullied and shut down in the typical LUF way [by armchair experts]

[pedaes]

2 hours ago, THEME said:

You probably don't even think about whether or not to take new images to protect the SSD."

Is this a translation? This sentence doesn't make sense. Is it ....even need to think...?

[wizard]

vor 2 Stunden schrieb THEME:

There has been some discussion about the potential maleficence of the M11 lineup's latest firmware inclusion: Secure Erasure.

The way I understood this is that the Secure Erasure feature serves to get rid of any "memory residue", which may still exist when using the fast erasure process. I don't think that using the Secure Erasure feature, say, once every year will negatively affect the SSD. I have never used it so far, but am inclined to use it when installing the latest firmware version on my M11.

[SrMi]

3 hours ago, THEME said:

There has been some discussion about the potential maleficence of the M11 lineup's latest firmware inclusion: Secure Erasure.

So I contacted Leica Customer Care and received this response from the horse's mouth – nothing surprising really for any pragmatic user:

"Discussions are probably based on the fact that SSDs can fail after numerous overwrites.

You don't need to worry about this.

The Secure Erase function can be used once, or multiple times, in a year without any problems.

You probably don't even think about whether or not to take new images to protect the SSD."

Nobody has argued differently.

The discussion centered on whether secure erasure should be part of regular maintenance, which I assume means it should be done frequently. I don't think stress testing the internal SSD has any benefits.

[THEME]

On 8/7/2025 at 10:07 PM, pedaes said:

Is this a translation? This sentence doesn't make sense. Is it ....even need to think...?

I reckon this is the message's message exactly – tongue in cheek to suggest we could actually harm the SSD by taking photos...

[Photoworks]

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Secure erase should be done when you are selling the camera.

Every SSD has a long but limited life. Some sectors can get weak over time and not hold a charge. It is not a long-term storage solution, every once and a while it needs to be powered up.

If you run into a problem, a speed issue, or a full read and write can fix the problem.

[M11 for me]

Consideing the long time that it takes for that secure ereasure of the internal memory then I do not believe that users will use it all the time anyway. It got clear to me that its primarily a function to use before selling your camera or giving it into other hands.

Its a legal requirement noadays.

[kiwidad]

On 8/7/2025 at 10:14 AM, wizard said:

The way I understood this is that the Secure Erasure feature serves to get rid of any "memory residue", which may still exist when using the fast erasure process. I don't think that using the Secure Erasure feature, say, once every year will negatively affect the SSD. I have never used it so far, but am inclined to use it when installing the latest firmware version on my M11.

This is 100% incorrect with SSD. It an electrical bit. On or off and there is no residue. A secure erase issues by firmware simply zeroes it all plus the areas reserved by the firmware. Goggle cab be your friend here. Read the HP article on this!

[kiwidad]

It is astonishing how little photographers seem to understand about how an SSD works. It is not a magnetic media where residual info can be read. Just like an old school hard drive erasure zeros the file table so does an SSD. Unlike a hard drive secure erase doesn’t multiple write to erase it is a firmware command to zero every sector. There seems to be some question if this is sequential but based on manufacturers it is not . The are reserved areas used for special functions on an SSD that also get zeroed as well in secure erase. HP have a great article on how it works and differs from magnetic media.

Edited August 10 by kiwidad

[Robert Blanko]

"You probably don't even think about whether or not to take new images to protect the SSD."

That's what I would expect. The SSD was designed to store information by changing / overwriting bits of its memory cells. There should not be a difference whether this is done because you take a photo or whether the bits are overwritten to erase the data.

Of course, every SSD has a limited life time. But I would not care too much, unless you use the secure erasure every day.

Otherwise, you would consequently also have to think twice before taking any photo: Is the photo really worth reducing the life time of the internal memory of your M11? 🤔😉

[pgk]

On 8/9/2025 at 12:17 AM, Photoworks said:

Secure erase should be done when you are selling the camera.

Every SSD has a long but limited life. Some sectors can get weak over time and not hold a charge. It is not a long-term storage solution, every once and a while it needs to be powered up.

If you run into a problem, a speed issue, or a full read and write can fix the problem.

In practical terms I'm not sure that there is actually a significant problem. I've used SD cards since my M8 and have had very few problems - one (totally) failed card and one on which the lock switch fell off (glued back on its fine). I do not treat my cards in any special way - I simply use them, erase and format them if and when I think about it. I now have well over 160k digital images on hard drives which is perhaps not that many, but enough I assume to show up any siginificant problems with cards. Its not a problem that I worry about, given that I've had one card fail over getting on for 20 years (more if you include CF cards), although I am aware to watch out for failures.