Secure Erasing a SSD with Windows on it

[Rhino]

Hey guys,

I have a Corsair Force Series GT 120GB Solid-State Drive as my primary drive on my system with Windows 7 on it.

My situation is that I want to format my PC and do a fresh install since its been well over a year since my last one, need to install some new hardware and there are a few problem with windows that have just come up that has prompted me to do it now.

The problem is how do I do a "Secure Erase" of my Primary SSD that has Windows on it?

I can't really do it from within windows unless I install windows onto another hard drive, just to do a Secure Erase of my primary SSD. I've heard its possible to do this from within DOS, and possibly also boot up some tiny OS from a USB drive or something, but what is the best way to go about Secure Erasing an SSD with your OS on, so its in top notch condition to do a fresh install of Windows on?

Cheers!

[Rhino]

Bumpy

[Psyrus]

I feel it's unnecessary but if you want to do it then just use a bootable usb

How To Secure Erase Corsair SSDs With Parted Magic

A little more info
http://www.overclock.net/t/1227597/how- ... rted-magic
http://thessdreview.com/Forums/ssd-discussion/2968.htm

As the second link says, garbage collection (TRIM) should take care of this stuff for you, but if you really feel the need, this is how you do it.

[Rhino]

Cheers, and ye, if its going to be any help at all I like to get my system up in as good as possible start w/e I format as anything you forget or do wrong you live with for some time, unless you do another fresh install

[LITOralis.nMd]

The Boys at Scotty Yard can still recover bits and pieces of a fully securely erased SSD, but for the rest of the crooks out there, Parted Magic is usually considered efficient.

This link Psyrus posted is the one to use:
How to: Secure Erase your Solid State Drive (SSD) with Parted Magic

[Rhino]

Cheers, only got pretty much just windows on my pri SSD so not worried about it being recovered by the cops if they ever wanted to, just want it to run as fast as possible

EDIT: do you guys think its better overall I just do a quick format on the drive using the windows installer rather than doing a Secure Erase?

EDIT: also skipping though each tut this one seems the best to me? http://www.corsair.com/applicationnote/secure-erase

[BloodyDeed]

If your SSD doesn't support Trim then do a Secure Erase. If it does there is no need for it.
Can't look that up right now cause I'm on my phone.

Sent from my GT-I9300 using Tapatalk 4 Beta

[Rhino]

Well TRIM is post-optimization, rather than pre-optimization, so makes more sense to me to have the drive clean and optimized before putting stuff on, rather than after? Although yes, both my SSDs have TRIM support, TRIM is only their to slow down the deterioration, not improve it afaik?

Also if I where to do this, what would be best out of these options:

Option 1:

1. Quick Format
2. Secure Erase
3. Install Windows

Option 2:

1. Secure Erase
2. Quick Format
3. Install Windows

Option 3:

1. Secure Erase
2. Install Windows

Option 4:

1. Quick Format
2. Install Windows

[LITOralis.nMd]

Option 1 and Option 2 are the same, because option 1 ends up being this:

Option 1:
Quick Format
Secure Erase
Quick Format
Install Windows

So I suggest option 2.

[Rhino]

Cheers

btw one more thing, is there any advantage of using the Secure Erase tool provided by the people who produce the SSD over just a normal Secure Erase function?

[epoch]

Absolutely. The manufacturer knows their own product. Random third parties do not.

Why bother with secure erase when you're simply re-using the disk? Just switch to a command prompt when in Windows setup (Shift-F10, before you select the install drive). You can use Windows' own diskpart command to re-provision your hard disk, and then let Windows optimise it once it's installed (optimise, not defrag).

However, if you insist on secure erase you're best off using something from the manufacturer, before considering using the standard ATA command set secure erase.

[Rhino]

Absolutely. The manufacturer knows their own product. Random third parties do not.

Ye you would have though so, I'm just wondering if anyone can tell me what, the diffrence between the two are?

For my secondary SSD that dosen't have windows on it I plan on using the manufactures software to do it, but primary with windows on, don't think its worth installing windows on anouther HDD just to use it?

[Orford]

when I have reinstalled windows on the same SSD to give it a fresh install. I just use windows own setup option. delete the 2 partitions, main and 100meg TRIM and just highlite the drive and carry on.

Why secure erase? given that the more times you write to the SSD the more life you will take out of it. Once you delete the partition the drive is efectivly wiped. I would only secure erase if I was selling the drive. As writing to every memory sector 2 or 3 times with a load of 10101010101010 nonsense cannot be good for its life span. As you use windows the old data will get written over as windows has no record of data being in that memory block. No diffrence between random 10101010 and part of an old program that is still in the block.

Delete the partition and the drive is as good as clean if you are reusing it yourself. secure erase if you are selling on the drive.

[Rhino]

Why secure erase? given that the more times you write to the SSD the more life you will take out of it. Once you delete the partition the drive is efectivly wiped. I would only secure erase if I was selling the drive. As writing to every memory sector 2 or 3 times with a load of 10101010101010 nonsense cannot be good for its life span. As you use windows the old data will get written over as windows has no record of data being in that memory block. No diffrence between random 10101010 and part of an old program that is still in the block.

From what I've heard in the past, doing a secure erase makes the drive more stable, but if this information is false then there is no point in me doing it.


Going to do it for my secondary SSD, a 120gb OCZ Agility 3 since that drive has been giving me problems ever since I put it in..

[Orford]

Sean's Windows 7 Install & Optimization Guide for SSDs & HDDs

ttp://ocz.com/consumer/download/firmware


ah ok have a look at them, I'll give it a try next time l Clean my SSD. See if it perforrrs any better.