The Notebook Review forums were hosted by TechTarget, who shut down them down on January 31, 2022. This static read-only archive was pulled by NBR forum users between January 20 and January 31, 2022, in an effort to make sure that the valuable technical information that had been posted on the forums is preserved. For current discussions, many NBR forum users moved over to NotebookTalk.net after the shutdown.
Problems? See this thread at archive.org.

    Is secure erase really necessary when TRIM is enabled?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by ricksaint, Oct 15, 2011.

  1. ricksaint

    ricksaint Notebook Consultant

    Reputations:
    0
    Messages:
    231
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    30
    Last time I did a clean install on a used SSD, here is how I did it:
    - Boot with the Windows 7 DVD
    - Next... next... next...
    - When I got to the advanced options, I deleted all partitions on the SSD
    - When I got the full size of the SSD referred to as "unallocated space", I went on and installed Windows on it without formatting.

    The laptop performed as well as new afterwards, anyway that's how it "felt" to me.

    The benchmarks were also as good.

    Please discuss.
     
    ricksaint, Oct 15, 2011
    #1
  2. Syberia

    Syberia Notebook Deity

    Reputations:
    596
    Messages:
    1,611
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    56
    Secure erase was needed when the drive filled up with "deleted" data faster than garbage collection could remove it. TRIM removes the need for secure erase unless you want to, well, securely erase the drive.
     
    Syberia, Oct 15, 2011
    #2