This is why I have a box full of old phones (with batteries removed so no boom). I'm a boring person in any illicit sense, but that doesn't matter to me, given what our phones know about us I think it's a fair precaution. Same goes with hard drives. I've given computers to family members but they get new SSDs in them.

Only a complete moron would include that in the video.

also need to be aware of any overprovisioning going on for wear protection. I do know there are some tools that can access it but it's normally just an internal process that isn't exposed to the user (which just thinking, perhaps the tools could just be using techniques to trigger the wear protection, and not directly accessing the whole thing?)

Physical access while running the scans / read /writes will be faster when a physical machine is used to begin with. With a VM, IF the VM can access USB devices, also means that the host actually touched/ read the device before it was passed over to the VM. That in itself puts the host at risk. Some utilities will not work thru the software layers that exist when accessing external devices thru a VM. All in all, a physical device is what's going to be needed often to scan/repair/wipe the device effectively; more of an issue especially when performing the same operations multiple times.. All in all, a new or used physical desktop, i.e. a windows workstation can be had for probably less than the guy spent on used storage devices. As he had a used desktop, it is the safer approach. Some malware can survive a reboot; which is why the drives I use to rebuild systems have a physical write protect switch on the USB drive for reloading the OS. That way, at least malware cannot be written to the USB device and inadvertently tracked back to another system. Why ? Imagine, you put the USB drive in a system you plan on rebuilding; but you miss the opportunity to push the necessary hotkey to select the boot device; now the system, potentially infested, now has full access to that USB drive; Will it happen ? Maybe, not likely, but possibly. But if you are rebuilding a system, do you want to take that chance? This is the same reason you should not use a VM to access a physical device like a USB flash drive or memory card from an unknown source; do you really want to take that chance..

Word of caution here: Just because you buy new does not mean that you have a new drive nowadays; I know that there are new scams where folks swap out their old stuff with new; and the vendor just re-shrink-wraps the box and sells it as new again. Or with RMA'd devices, you have a decent chance of getting not a new device but a "refurb" or "tested" device meaning it's used, just maybe wiped, and pulled off from a shelf. Most warranties state that your replacement drive may not be a new device, but a refurbished or tested device.. Taking in a laptop/desktop in for repair; and you also run the risk that a tech replaces the drive as well; sometimes without asking.. Vendors will cut costs everywhere they can, and that includes using refurbs/ tested over providing the customer with a new drive. BTW: Most drives have SMART info on the drive; it's often a good idea to take a screenshot of the SMART data ( like with something like CrystalDiskInfo ) because you can take a screenshot of the Serial Number, power on hours, power cycles, etc... Take such a screenshot prior to sending your device in for repair just in case someone swaps it out. Even if you buy a new drive off from Amazon, you should use a tool like CrystalDiskInfo to verify that the drive was not used or refurbished, or just swapped out and re-shrink-wrapped.