Why isn't my samsung 830 SSD showing in SS Magician software?

I just tried doing a secure erase of this 129gb ssd as i am going to use it now as the main hdd, not just an external hdd,, for my Sony Vaio SVE1512J1EW laptop.
so i went to samsung magician 4.1 software and tried to 'secure erase' as some of the files aren't deleting - Windows 7 OS files, (previously tried using as a bootable usb

- it said i couldnt do a secure erase on the ssd on win8

so i then connected the ssd to a win7 laptop, but now the drive is not showing in SS Magician? but it is in 'computer'

i then plugged it back into the original win8 laptop and while a box appears showing the contents of the ssd, it isnt shown /found in SS Magician?

i went to disk management and saw the two partitions and deleted them both, then formatted in NTFS, but the ssd is still not shown in SS Magician

What can i do so that the ssd is found in SS Magician? with my goal of doing a secure erase on it
by the way i am connecting the ssd to the laptops with the usb lead

thanks

 

You could use Parted Magic to do secure erase, very easy to use program, install the SSD in the laptop, download and burn it on a CD/DVD or a Flash drive. I have recently done the secure erase and was astonished at the speed, There's a video instruction here: How to: Secure Erase your Solid State Drive (SSD) with Parted Magic

 

Afaik, you cannot do a SE with a USB attached drive.

You need a desktop/notebook with at least one SATA connectors available (while ensuring that the drive you want to SE was not the one the system booted from).


Good luck.

 

thanks,

ellalan, with a ssd in the sata port with no OS, and the GParted cd in the DVD drive , can i boot from dvd and install gparted?


tiller,
if i make a bootable win7 usb, when it boots, won't it just start installing win7?

how would you get to a desktop to do the SE, if the SSD is plugged in the only SATA port?

 

Hi at11,
No, you need to download the GParted and burn to a DVD/CD in windows environment, you can do that in another PC or install a hard drive(with OS) and do it, after burning your DVD/CD change the boot order in BIOS settings (ie: make the DVD drive as first boot device), then install the SSD which you want to secure erase and boot from DVD.

 

As mentioned, I don't think this is possible with a single SATA port...

When the Win7/Win8 (Win 8 highly preferred) installer begins; choose Custom Install and there you'll be able to choose/make partitions - and also choose which partition to install Windows to.

(Note that even if you created 3 partitions and you installed Windows to the last/third one; it will still be the C: drive when the installation is complete and Windows boots up).


By going to the Custom install options - you have a chance to create and format drives/partitions... this may be all you need to 'clear' the SSD (instead of a proper SE...).

If you do try it this way: start the Windows Installer - choose custom install, delete ALL partitions so that there is only one 'unallocated' partition remaining, create a partition using the full capacity of the drive, Format that partition, wait for ~30 minutes - Delete the partition - wait ~5 minutes.

Now, cancel the Windows Setup (I would simply power off the system at this point).

Turn on the system and install Windows - if the GC/TRIM algorithms are working as they should be in your drive - you should notice a huge improvement in responsiveness after Windows is fully installed again.

If there is no way to get to a system with a free available SATA port - this option above may be your only hope of being able to restore the drive to as 'like-new' condition as possible.


Good luck.

 

thanks again tiller,
as there is only one sata port i done your option of inserting the ssd in the sata port, booting in win7 DVD, custom install and delete the drive that way

II've now formatted the drive on my win8 laptop in NTFS in disk management.


I now intend to back up my hdd files (80GB) then clear it, but is there a recommend program to wipe a hdd as clean as possible?
or is the same method i done with the ssd good enough?

I just realised as i dont have a Win 8 DVD its just a restore partition on the hdd, i cant clear it as its needed to install win8 once the ssd is in, how do i get the recovery files to install win 8 to the ssd? when both will be plugged in
the ssd will be in the hdd bay and the hdd in the optical drive caddy

thanks

 

There must have been a provision to create recovery DVDs using the program that the OEM would have included.

See if you can use this to create a Windows 8 setup file. Scroll down to the appropriate section.
Windows 8 Direct Download Links

The activation code is buried in the BIOS. If you need to extract it, use this
Windows 8 Product Key Viewer

There are several programs online which will enable you to secure erase your drive. I normally use Eraser.

When you try and install Windows 7, get into the BIOS and disable SECURE BOOT and enable Legacy ROMS (or CSM).