> But right now we're just trying to make a device appear functionally empty so that we can re-install an OS without remnants of any previous installation getting in the way
The only portable, reliable, robust way to accomplish this is wiping the drive. If the original author had issued a secure erase, they would not have encountered any subsequent difficulties, all of which were due to partially erasing the device.
The only portable, reliable, robust way to accomplish this is wiping the drive. If the original author had issued a secure erase, they would not have encountered any subsequent difficulties, all of which were due to partially erasing the device.