Wiping a SSD while it's the main drive

Hi all,

I had a quick question - is it possible to wipe a SSD to factory settings while it's in use?

I was thinking about starting up the computer using a bootable USB Windows installer and then erasing all the partitions, and then cancelling the Windows installer. Would that be sufficient to wipe a SSD?

I've read somewhere that I could use Windows 10 "recovery" option, but would that wipe Windows and everything on it?

Thank you in advance for your help!

 

There are at least two options in the Windows 10 recovery. One resets it back to stock saved state, while saving your data. Another is to reset it to stock state but also wiping all of your personal data. Somewhere in there was also an option to fully wipe the unused parts of the drive for security purposes (like selling the machine or the drive).

I've used all of the possible options and never had any problems. I would still highly recommend to backup your own data before you do anything, just in case.

 

My plextor toolkit had an secure erase that worked while windows was running, my intel toolkit wants you to boot to secure erase.

partedmagic bootdisk can do a secure erase, it also has an sleep button in case you ssd freezes than un-freezes it at least it did for me.

John.

 

Appreciate the input and will do! I'm trying to sell my 950 pro 512gb so need to wipe it down

So was your SSD your main boot drive where windows was installed? I can only have one hard drive hooked up to my laptop, so was wondering if it would work for me to clean it while it's still running Windows (seems kind of impossible lol. How do you erase yourself while running the program used to erase yourself?)

 

Yeah that will be a challenge for the reason you mention. If you could get a cheap adapter you could do it as an external but I am assuming that's not an option you want to take.

This is not ideal, but what you can do is do the full windows 10 reset, and wipe empty drive areas for security. Then when it starts to reboot, shutdown the laptop (hold power button in before it boots back up. Technically your key is probably in your BIOS anyway so they won't even get your key or activated windows. It would just boot up into a fresh windows install and possibly even read their key from their BIOS if it was setup as their boot drive. You shouldn't end up with anything personal or important on the drive in theory, just a fresh windows install un-activated.

What model machine is this? That would help us figure out if the key is in the BIOS or not. Unless you know you bought the retail version and this is on an older machine that came with windows 7 or 8.

 

Ah, my key isn't on the BIOS I believe. I have a XPS 15 that came with Home, but I installed a fresh copy of 10 pro. It would probably make me put in the key so no Windows would be installed on it.

Also, it's a NVMiE SSD so not sure if there are any adaptors for this kind of SSD just yet...not sure though.

 

How about something like the following? Install NVMe SSD into PCIe card, then adapt the PCIe card to USB? Seems kinda clunky and no guarantee it will work though.

http://www.amazon.com/Ableconn-PEXM2-SSD-NGFF-Express-Adapter/dp/B017JGVTAM

http://www.amazon.com/Fixable-PCI-E-Powered-Adapter-Connector/dp/B00IW9SNRS

 

Google parted magic and download the iso. Make bootable USB out of it. It has the best cloning, partition and most importantly proper ssd secure erase tools.

 

Yes I had windows running when i did a secure erase using my plextor ssd toolbox (you are warned that your hdd can freeze, requiring you to unplug the ssd or maybe just remove the battery) my windows continued to run, giving me time to reboot my notebook.

I suppose windows has an way to eject your os ssd so it can be formatted/erased an extremely limited windows continues to run in memory till you reboot.

John.

But as i have already said

[QUOTE="So was your SSD your main boot drive where windows was installed? I can only have one hard drive hooked up to my laptop, so was wondering if it would work for me to clean it while it's still running Windows (seems kind of impossible lol. How do you erase yourself while running the program used to erase yourself?)[/QUOTE]