[Solved] Securely Erasing an SSD ???

[The Giving One]

Hello fellow Steam users,

I have been doing some research on how to securely erase an SSD in order to get them back to like-new performance levels. It seems that some SSD manufacturers have their own software to do this, but most say these are not optimal, according to what I have seen. There is also software like PartedMagic, which was once free to download and use but not now it seems.

From what I have also seen, it is best to write all "1" (ones) to the SSD when erasing instead of all "0" (zeros), as this only writes to the drive and does not erase/write during the process. Let's assume for this topic that TRIM has NOT been supported for the drives that need to be erased, as the chipset was pre six series when TRIM was not supported for RAID confugurations, according to what I have read. It seems the latest Intel RST (rapid storage technology) driver does support TRIM in RAID configurations. (Versions of 11.5 and after ???)

So my question to you other savy Steam users is this....how would you securely erase an SSD that you want to use again in a new build considering the state of the drives as I have described them here above for this topic ?

My main concern is performance and health of the SSD, and not making sure data is safely revoved (security) during the process.

Thanks in advance for reading and for your input.

[OLDMAN🎅]

just delete all the partition

[Bad 💀 Motha]

There are many ways to do it. Here's a few very simple ones:

CCleaner > Tools > Drive Wiper
If the current data is sensitive, then just use a wipe method that does more than 1 pass.
-or-
Go to the SSD makers site and download their SSD Toolbox and within that are tools for such things as; Firmware Update and Secure Wipe.

The whole "wipe to restore performance" is BS anyways. You shouldn't even have the drive degrading performance over time. If so, it was overused, or faulty from the start.

I've been using SSDs from Intel, Crucial, Corsair, Mushkin, Samsung; most of the ones we use around here have upwards of 2-3 years worth of everyday use on them; only around 1% of the SSDs we've been using have ran into any sort of issues like that. And I'm talking over 100 SSDs

[evilC]

You will not change the performance of an SSD noticeably by wiping the contents.

SSDs purposely fragment files to "write level" (prevent the same sector being overwritten time and time again, thus wearing it out).

By forcing a write to each cluster, all you are really gonna do is lower the lifespan of the drive a bit.

SSDs are not significantly affected by fragmentation, because there are no heads to position.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

What EvilC said; just like with any Flash type of drive/card, u don't worry about fragmentation because the read/write performance will not change based on that; unlike mechanical drives that reply on data being in a proper order, in order to ensure best overall drive read/write performance.

Think about it; do we worry about USB Flash or Flash Cards getting fragmented (or the SSD/Flash in your Tablet/Phone) ? NO, because it really will not matter. Attempts at free-space or other "wiping" is what will just add to shortening the life-span of the Flash chips.

[The Giving One]

Hey guys, thanks so much for your input here and posting to my question. I really appreciate all the help from everyone always, and love being a part of the community here.

@ Bad -Motha
I actually have used CCleaner to do it, but I only did one pass since I though more may be too much. But since you said restoring them is basically BS anyway, then I will just forget that part about what I have been reading up on. Thanks for that and for you posting your experience with them above. If you recommend using CCleaner, how many passes would you say is enough but not too much ? I only care about having a clean drive and not worried about data being able to be retrieved from it (sensitive) as these are just for games.

These are Liteon Drives that I am talking about specifically here, and I have found firmware updates for them but not sure about these OEM drives having toolbox software for secure erase but I will check again on that.....I have looked up benchmarks on these drives and they are not really that bad believe it or not.

@eVilC

Thank you also for your comments here. I had been using some SSD's in RAID 0 on an old P45 board, so TRIM was not being used you see. That is why I was mainly concerned with how the performance of the dirives may have been affected. But again, thank you for your input.

Perhaps you guys can suggest to me how you normally would do it, if you please. I appreciate the help. I may not be able to reply to this thread until tomorrow, so please forgive me for that.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Well normally, there is nothing to do. In your case, without TRIM then I would use Piriform Defraggler, while there is no need to defrag SSD, u can do the Optimize option, which is made for SSDs.

[The Giving One]

Hey thanks for all the help again my friend. I was just checking that out here...I did not know about that software so thanks so much for the info.

So using the optimize option in my case is what you suggest then. And if I understand you correctly here, you are saying that a normal format during a new OS installation is just fine in the reuse or new use of an SSD that normally has and does support TRIM ?

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Yes I would just run the Defraggler Optimize on the SSD RAID about once a month.
The health section in that app can also tell u the Health of the drive(s), however I'm not 100% that it can give accurate info related to that when the drives are in a RAID setup.

As for format; simply deleting partitions and then allowing an OS to freshly format it should be just fine.

Are you using a seperate PCI/PCIE SATA card for your RAID? IF so what chipset does it have?

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Bad-Motha:

Are you using a seperate PCI/PCIE SATA card for your RAID? IF so what chipset does it have?

Thanks again for the quick reply and for the clarification. I actually am currently using the RAID setup on the old P45 board now, but you may remember that I am getting the ASUS Maximus Hero VII soon, since you helped in another thread of mine recently.

I will also be getting a m.2 form factor PCIe 2.0 X 4 SSD and try to install the OS to that and put games and Steam on another SATA 3 Samsung Pro 256 GB SSD drive...that is my plan anyway. Kingston Hyper X Predator....240 GB...Marvell controller

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820104544

The reads are insane, but the writes max at 600 MB/s. So that is why I was going to use it as maybe a game drive at first...I am still debating that...LOL

I am pretty sure these all support the latest RST from intel, if one wants to RAID them that is, but I don't think I will be doing that again on the new build...it seems to not really be worth it except for extra storage space you see.

What do you think about that ? The read and writes would be faster to and from the Kingston sure, so I could do it the other way around also. But there is not much difference between the write speeds of the Kingston and the Samsung.

I have to go now, but PLEASE leave any and all comments and thanks again....love the community here as always.

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Most Z87 and later chipsets actually support TRIM while in RAID mode; so that helps quite a bit.

[76561198184976111]

SSD is always same fast... you need to look at the MTB Transfair... if it goes over the MTB your SSD can die and you can't send it for free to repair it.

I use IOBIT Advanced System Care PRO... Not cracked, it's worth to buy... it will clean your PC all the time... when your CPU load is under 20% it starts to clean your PC. You also can press a button and make a deep clean it finds much errors, dead registers and other stuff... ccleaner does the same but not that much.. it makes a bit... but the program from IOBIT shows more performance overall also in benchmarks.

[The Giving One]

Originally posted by Bad-Motha:

Most Z87 and later chipsets actually support TRIM while in RAID mode; so that helps quite a bit.

I was just about to log out so thanks for the reply. I am really glad that the newer chipsets do support RAID with TRIM, in the case I decide to do that one day for any reason.

During my research, I found some evidence that 6 series chips do also suport it, as you can see here...

http://www.anandtech.com/show/6477/trim-raid0-ssd-arrays-work-with-intel-6series-motherboards-too

Thanks to you again for all the help. I will check back tomorrow on any replies that may be made to the thread.

[_I_]

repartitioning and full format will do good enough for most

if you need more, buy a new hdd/ssd and drill holes in the old one

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Intel Series 6 is way old now though; LGA-1150 is Series 8 & 9

[Bad 💀 Motha]

Originally posted by _I_:

repartitioning and full format will do good enough for most

if you need more, buy a new hdd/ssd and drill holes in the old one

Really? SSD can just unscrew the main cover and take a blade to a flash chip, done deal. For HDD just remove main cover and smash the platters.