SED hardware delivers better performance than software-based encryption. SEDs create no burden on the host system and require no extra host encryption software. Hardware-based security can more effectively restrict access from the outside. AES-256 encryption ensures that SEDs are secure and can be instantly sanitized via a crypto erase. Hardware encryption offers complete erase of encrypted data on an SSD. This eliminates the need for time-consuming data overwriting processes used on non-encrypted drives and also provides an effective sanitization process for SSDs.