Reset SSD

Just a quick question, I want to "secure erase" my Raid0 ssds then restore from GHOST and want to know if any program is recommended. I was just going to use Kill Disk but figured I ask.

Thanks,
-Mike

 

Only 2 programs can do that.
Hdderase and GParted, both at boot.
Now I struggled for a week trying to do it on my M17x r1.
So Hdderase didn't work, whatever version I used, there was no way I could get it to work.
So I tried with GParted, the only problem is that it shows your drives in frozen state. Wich means they are locked. But after a lot of searching I found a way to do it. Here's how I did it.

-First download an Ultimate boot CD with Gparted on or a Gparted Live CD and burn it to a CD.
-Insert the CD and shut down the pc.
-Now remove the back cover plate of the pc and remove the screws retaining your drive but leave the drive in it. Don't worry it on't fall out, they are tight fit.
-Now boot your pc and change nothing in the BIOS, just boot from CD.
-Once the program is loaded it will eject the CD.
-Open Gparted and you'll see your drives.
-In the Terminal (kinda a Command prompt of Linux) type: hdparm -I /dev/xxx (where xxx is the name of you drive, it is found on the right upper hand of Gparted. On my pc it was sda).
-It will say that your drive is frozen. Now, raise your pc a bit and slide out you drive while it is on. And take it completely out.
-Go back to the Gparted window and type: CTRL-R to refresh your devices.
-Now carefully slide your drive back in and put your pc down again and refresh your drives again by typing CTRL-R.
-In the terminal type : hdparm -I /dev/xxx and it will show your drive as Not Frozen. And this is what we wanted
-Follow this guide : https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase (print it out first or get a second pc next to you with the page on it).
-On my pc it takes about 30 sec to erase but it depends on your drive.
-Once the erase is done go to the Gparted window again and type : CTRL-R to refresh your drive and it should be all unallocated space and completely erased now.
-Install your OS again or put an image back on it.

Erasing the disk brings it back to factory state and re-enjoy the speed of your SSD.

Hope this guide helps anyone, and don't forget it erases everything so back up whatever needs to be. I'm not reponsible for data loss, this program erases EVERYTHING.

 

worked like a charm Thanks

 

Only one small correction, the program that issues the secure erase command to the SSD is called hdparm (not Gparted)

 

+1 Rep for the info

 

hdparm command is included with the GParted Live ISO he mentined above

 

yes I know that he mentioned it, and that's why I posted the correction.
Gparted in this case is the name of the Live ISO distribution, not the program The Gparted (Gnome Partition Editor) is the program responsible for partitioning the disk not issuing the secure erase set of instructions. For that we use the hdparm utility(which is included in the Gparted Live ISO distro) which is included in almost every Linux Distribution

 

Thanks! I'm going to give this a go tonight. +1

-Mike

 

hm is there a difference between secure erase and zeroing out the disk like with dban or killdisk?

 

Yes. Secure Erase is the best thing to do if you want restore your SSD to factory state

i.e.,
I used FreeSpaceCleaner aka Tony TRIM on my Sammy and performance got worse

 

I don't think there is a difference between zeroing out the disk (write 0 from beginning to the end) and secure erase. Secure Erase is just an ATA feature , but it does the same thing, delete all the data. I did some tests and the performance on a used (1year old) but already wiped (with KillDisk) Intel Gen1 SSD didn't get better with Secure Erase.

So you can use other tools to reset your SSD as long as they write from beginning to the end 0 like Killdisk, dban (method quick erase) and other tools do it.

 

I'm not sure for the other apps you mentioned but for the AS FreeSpaceCleaner, it didn't work for me. My performance got even worse!

Can you give more info how you secure erased your Intel G1? I find it odd if it did not get any better after secure erase unless its a defective drive or wasn't successfully secure erased.

 

Tony Trim made my performance worse as well Secure erase however helped out alot

 

The difference is that secure erase command doesn't write on top of the previous data and doesn't increase the wear and tear of the NANDs like other programs do.

 

According to the readme of HDD Erase Secure Erase does the same thing, it overwrites every block/sector with 0.
"Secure erase overwrites all user data areas with binary zeroes.
Enhanced secure erase writes predetermined data patterns (set by the manufacturer) to all user data areas, including sectors that are no longer in use due to reallocation. ***NOTE: the enhanced secure erase option is not supported by all ATA drives."
The only difference is that Secure Erase also wipes sectors marked as bad.

 

Good point, but, keep in mind that this tool was first created for HDDs that need a completely different procedure in order to physically secure erase the data. I also couldn't find any reference concerning SSDs on the Readme file.

Also take into consideration that the hdparm program in Linux, issues the secure erase command and it takes only a few seconds to complete. Even for an SSD to write all those 0s to the NANDs it would take at least a couple of minutes (depending on the size and the speed). I wasn't ever able to use the HDDerase program (because of the BIOS lockout) to see how long it takes and whether it issues the secure erase or the enhanced secure erase command but in case the second happens, it's not good for the SSD.

Also take a look on this post:
AnandTech Forums - View Single Post - Can't get HDDErase.exe to work at all. Help please.
of this thread:
Can't get HDDErase.exe to work at all. Help please. - AnandTech Forums

Hope I helped

 

+1
Very good point there bro!

 

Well, the problem with these half baked solutions like hdparm and HDD erase is that on some notebooks you cannot use them without removing the SSD. Whether the disk is frozen, or has a BIOS lock or controller is in AHCI mode and you cannot change the mode.... That is the case with Sony Vaio VPCZ12 . To remove the SSD you have to open the notebook (there is no HDD bay).

 

Agreed. That's the reason why I pulled out my SSD from my VAIO

Still its worth the trouble to use the hdparm to secure erase.

 

I did some digging and studying of the secure erase documentation.

The short answer:
Block erasure utilities do the same as the secure erase command except it takes around 8 times longer . Only enhanced secure erase does more: overwrite all reallocated sectors (sectors that the drive no longer uses because they have hard errors) and is also faster.
Thus, block erasure utilities like KillDisk and dban (1-pass zero fill) should have the same performance recover effect as Secure Erase.

Long answer:
Block erasure utilities:
are widely available, which overwrite all user accessible blocks. However, block write software utilities
cannot erase reassigned user blocks, since the sectors have no logical block address to write to and physical sector
address drive commands no longer exist.

Disk drive Secure Erase:
is a drive command defined in the ANSI ATA and SCSI disk drive interface specifications, which runs inside drive hardware.
All recent ATA drives have the command. The command reports whether the secure erase is totally successful, through the ATA hardware interface.
Security Erase can be executed in either normal or enhanced mode.
In normal mode, the device must erase all user accessible data areas by overwriting with data zeros.
In enhanced mode the device must overwrite all user accessible data areas with a predetermined data pattern, and in addition overwrite all reallocated sectors (sectors that the drive no longer uses because they have hard errors).


Can hdderase.exe erase the host protected area (HPA) or the device
configuration overlay area (DCO)?
Yes. A message will appear if a HPA and/or DCO exist(s) on the selected
drive and prompt the user if he/she wants the areas to be erased.

HPA is an acronym for Host Protected Area. A HPA is a portion of sectors at
the end of the hard drive that can not be addressed by the user. Normally this
area is used to store hard drive diagnostic or recovery type software, but any
type of data may reside in this area. DCO is an acronym for Device Configuration
Overlay. Similar to a HPA, a DCO represents a portion at the end of the hard
drive that is not user addressable. Both these areas are NOT overwritten when
a windows format, secure/enhanced erase, or any other overwrite method is
performed. In order for these areas to be erased they have to be first removed,
and only then can the entire drive be erased (see the following question).
***Note: In our testing some drives overwrite the HPA when a secure erase is
performed, but most drives do not erase this area when a secure erase is
performed. CMRR contends that HPA erasure is not mandatory because user data is
not stored there; however HDDerase offers erasure of both areas for maximum erase
security.

 

I used Ubuntu and did it that way following the Wiki. Works quick and painless. Defiantely the easiest way to go and delivers factory performance. Other programs simply fill your SSD with "0" causing the SSD to read, erase, and mark as empty before writing to the block, thus explaining the reduction in performance. I've been through the same learning curve as you guys.

 

Can you explain what happened or what you did that only hdparm worked?

 

should i still do this if i'm going to flash my ssd firmware (erasing the drive) and then reinstalling windows?

 

I'm not sure I understand your question but I'll give it a try.

If you are already using your SSD and just need to update its firmware without reinstalling the OS, then you don't have to secure erase your SSD.

If your SSD has no OS yet, secure erase after firmware update is good.

 

i have the dell/samsung ssd and i'm pretty sure the firmware update erases the drive. i want to update the firmware because i think they did a small speed boost with it. in any case, i might as well do a secure erase if i do flash the drive, i just haven't decided if i want to go through it again.

 

if you do the firmware update it will do the erase as part of the process, no need to do it again