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    Tried Secure Erase SSD now bricked?

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by msweeney, Oct 8, 2010.

  1. msweeney

    msweeney Notebook Consultant

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    So I tried to secure erase the Samsung SSD in my laptop using hdparm following the steps here: https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase .

    I tried using the --security-erase option and it started doing sometihng but then failed with some kind of "Input/Output error". Then I tried the --security-erase-enhanced option and the same error showed up. I then tried rebooting my laptop and the BIOS said SMART detected some sort of HD error. If I tried to boot an Ubuntu liveCD it would not detect the SSD at all. I then tried connecting the SSD to my desktop and it also would not detect the drive. I thought maybe the drive just became locked because of the password I set when doing the secure erase but if that's the case why won't Linux at least detect the drive?

    Any ideas?

    Note: I tried unplugging the SSD and replugging it in after bootup to make sure the BIOS wasn't freezing the drive but nothing changed.
     
    msweeney, Oct 8, 2010
    #1
  2. HTWingNut

    HTWingNut Potato

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    Do you have the option to set the controller to IDE mode instead of AHCI in the BIOS? Try that and try to secure erase again. If not then try a desktop or laptop that has that option. Just a thought. Or try Active @ Killdisk
     
    HTWingNut, Oct 8, 2010
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  3. moral hazard

    moral hazard Notebook Nobel Laureate

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    This is the third time I've heard of a SSD becoming invisible.

    Though I have never seen a solution. I'm interested to see if you can get it working.
     
    moral hazard, Oct 8, 2010
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  4. msweeney

    msweeney Notebook Consultant

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    Unfortunately neither my Desktop nor my laptop have that option in the BIOS. My desktop is apparently too old to support AHCI and my notebook doesn't offer that option in the BIOS.
     
    msweeney, Oct 8, 2010
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  5. weinter

    weinter /dev/null

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    Hey guys did you all read the readme?
    Secure Erase utilise the IDE ATA native instruction set for secure disk overwrite, was meant for harddisk not SSD...
    If you wanted to clear the SSD you should have run Linux and overwrite it with 0 or 1 or random bits.
    I am not sure if all SSDs supports ATA secure erase.
     
    weinter, Oct 8, 2010
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