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Can't get HDDErase.exe to work at all. Help please.

balane

balane

Senior member
I want to wipe and restore my Kingston SSDNow V series (425 model) to its original performance and then reinstall Windows.

I downloaded hdderase 4.0 and the earlier one. I can't get it to work no matter what I do. I've tried this Kingston SSD installed in two laptops and two desktops, all different chipsets, hardware, disk controllers, etc. I've tried it in a USB housing. I've tried everything. In fact, I've tried running this software with no SSD installed and got the same result. I've tried it under AHCI and IDE. I've tried connecting the hdd after I booted into DOS as suggested at a few places.

HDDerase always hangs, no matter what, at the screen where it should be showing what drive to select for erasing.

What the heck? I've read and read and read but I can't get it to wipe these drives clean.

Does anybody have any suggestions either for getting hdderase to work or some other method of restoring the drive's performance before I install Windows 7 64 bit on it again?

Thanks.
 
AFAIK, if the drive shows up in Linux, Darik's Boot and Nuke can wipe it to DOD specs:
http://www.dban.org/

Or you can boot any Linux distro and run "mke2fs -c -c /dev/sdx" and do a read-write test on the drive that will wipe eveything. You will need to create a new NTFS file system after you boot into MS land again.
 
i can only get it to work with the right BIOS sata config - you could try compatability (IDE) mode if you haven't already. Make sure you're running it from a cd (either standalone or UBCD, and not from a flash drive).

On another note, I was told never to wipe ssd's, b/c the software doesn't know how to deal with them, and will just fill it up.
 
joetekubi said:
AFAIK, if the drive shows up in Linux, Darik's Boot and Nuke can wipe it to DOD specs:
http://www.dban.org/
Click to expand...
That is not the same as a secure erase:

1) you will be writing to the physical NAND; secure erase does NOT!
2) you won't be wiping the HPA mapping table stored in DRAM; at least not directly
3) you would claim all space to the OS; so you deny any space to be used as extra spare space by the SSD.

Secure Erase works like TRIM in the sense that it changes the HPA mapping tables that store the difference between how Windows/NTFS thinks the data is stored (logical LBA) and how the data is actually stored in physical NAND. Secure Erase is not some zero-write procedure. In fact, that's also why it only takes 2 seconds to wipe a complete SSD; it doesn't have to write to the physical NAND. So you save write cycles and get a much better result as your performance level is reset when you do a secure erase. Even though data is still stored, it would be as fast as a brand new SSD coming out of its packaging.
 
I ended up using Parted Magic and used an enhanced, internal erase. (I think that's what it was called.)

Seemed to do the trick.

Thanks for the help.
 
sub.mesa said:
That is not the same as a secure erase:

1) you will be writing to the physical NAND; secure erase does NOT!
2) you won't be wiping the HPA mapping table stored in DRAM; at least not directly
3) you would claim all space to the OS; so you deny any space to be used as extra spare space by the SSD.

Secure Erase works like TRIM in the sense that it changes the HPA mapping tables that store the difference between how Windows/NTFS thinks the data is stored (logical LBA) and how the data is actually stored in physical NAND. Secure Erase is not some zero-write procedure. In fact, that's also why it only takes 2 seconds to wipe a complete SSD; it doesn't have to write to the physical NAND. So you save write cycles and get a much better result as your performance level is reset when you do a secure erase. Even though data is still stored, it would be as fast as a brand new SSD coming out of its packaging.
Click to expand...

Are you saying that current SSDs when presented with the "Secure Erase" command, do not erase the NAND? How is that in any way "secure"? Someone could desolder the chips and read out your data. I hope you are mistaken.
 
erasing the HPA means nothing can reorganize the data into files again,

unless there's any header attached to each file portion,
it's hopeless.

E:
thanks Dr. Pizza, (thought you actually cut this post) but never mind, it's all right as it is 🙂.
 
Last edited:
mutz said:
erasing the HPA means nothing can reorganize the data into files again,

unless there's any header attached to each file portion,
it's hopeless.
Click to expand...

Passwords written in plaintext, stored on the drive, could easily be recovered. Things like this make me pretty certain that I will probably never own an SSD.
 
For simply restoring performance, see this:
http://www.ocztechnologyforum.com/fo...using-HDDErase
Click to expand...
That does the same thing as HDDErase with another tool because HDDErase isn't compatable with some SSDs. They're just using GParted Live disk to get around BIOS lockouts. Didn't you read it?

I can tell you what I've observed my all 4 of my Intel drives when using HDDErase 3.3....

1.) A secure erase takes all of 10 seconds or less to do on an 80GB Intel SSD.
2.) An enhanced secure erase takes at least twice as long and I've had it run for 5 minutes.

Secure erase overwrites all user data areas with binary zeroes. Enhanced
secure erase writes predetermined data patterns (set by the manufacturer) to
all user data areas, including sectors that are no longer in use due to
reallocation. ***NOTE: the enhanced secure erase option is not supported by
all ATA drives.
Click to expand...

The big deal is the HPA table which most "cleaners" don't touch.
 
joetekubi said:
AFAIK, if the drive shows up in Linux, Darik's Boot and Nuke can wipe it to DOD specs:
http://www.dban.org/

Or you can boot any Linux distro and run "mke2fs -c -c /dev/sdx" and do a read-write test on the drive that will wipe eveything. You will need to create a new NTFS file system after you boot into MS land again.
Click to expand...

SSD drives have no residual memory to see. they are not magnetic discs with imprinting left behind. They actually just turn all the bits on and wham. They are blank with no residual traces unless certain bits refuse to close.

a empty drive is actually all bits on. A full drive is actually a empty drive oddly enough.
 
Last edited:
Old Hippie said:
Cool!

I meant to thank ya for the link. :thumbsup:

My new OCZ drives aren't cooperating well with HDDErase and you gave me another avenue to try.
Click to expand...


Well there is a sure fire way to do it with a eprom programmer but that would require clamping tools and support for the chip.
 
Passwords written in plaintext, stored on the drive, could easily be recovered. Things like this make me pretty certain that I will probably never own an SSD.
Click to expand...

as ModestGamer said, SSD's are much more secure than HDD from the data deletion point of view,
in an SSD, the cells needs only to be written to sequentially to lose all they're data patterns,
a zero filled drive should be ALL empty, deleting the HPA should wipe out even file names, folder structure etc.

you can read this article page at TechGage which quite shows what happen when an SSD is wiped,
you can go over this comment too which tells a bit about forensic efforts to recover it.

basically SSD's are new, and data forensic isn't that mature in recovering deleted drives,
comparing a cell structure to a crystallized field is two different things,
the only thing that might be possible while trying to restore the data would be sensing the FGMOS transistors or amplifying any current or magnetic field that might have been left with them, and most probably impossible if the data got re-written on the entire drive after the initial delete.
go read the post, it is quite interesting 🙂.
 
If an SSD supports the secure erase feature, then all HDDErase does is send the secure erase command. The SSD then simply supplies 21 volts across the substrate and all NAND is wiped clean in an instant.

Getting HDD Erase to work on some motherboards can be a real pain. It should be run with SATA in IDE mode to stand any chance of working.
 
One thing I experienced with SecureErase is that it can't or doesn't view drives on all controllers. If you're having a problem seeing them, then try connecting the drives to different sata port on the mobo.

For instance, I know on my GA-890FXA-UD5 I had to connect the drives I wanted to wipe to the 5th and 6th port on the southbridge controller iirc, as SecureErase couldn't see the drives in any other slots.
 
For instance, I know on my GA-890FXA-UD5 I had to connect the drives I wanted to wipe to the 5th and 6th port on the southbridge controller
Click to expand...
Weird.

SSDErase only recognizes ports 1-4 on my Asus P6T.
 
@darkewaffle
HDDErase.exe can not work on AHCI-based controllers; you would need an IDE controller (i.e. SATA controller with BIOS set to IDE emulation/legacy mode).

Ports 5 and 6 only work in AHCI mode. May be a limitation specific only to some chipsets, or all, i'm not sure.

@VirtualLarry/Wendy:
Keep in mind HDDErase.exe was designed for HDDs and indeed for data destruction. The words SSD and NAND are not found in any of their documentation, and the Enhanced Secure Erase command is just sent to the SSD; it is up to the SSD to do with it what it wants.

The whole idea of Secure Erase on SSDs instead of HDDs, is destroying your HPA mapping table, which stores all the difference between logical LBA (the way windows/NTFS sees it) and physical NAND pages which only the SSDs knows about. This 'index' will be destroyed on a secure erase command, causing no writes to the NAND pages.

If it would be writing to all physical NAND pages, or erasing them, it would take much longer to complete and would wear your SSD considerably (i.e. 4000 secure erases means max write cycles reached already). Luckily that's not the case.

On FreeBSD a secure erase is as easy as:
newfs -E /dev/ssddevice

Linux also may use smartmontools which can issue Secure Erase directly. HDDErase.exe utility is also included on Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) for easy booting.
 
Oh I of course had [Legacy] IDE mode enabled on all controllers. It's just the way it worked on my/this board. I know on this board you have the option to declare the 5th and 6th sata port mode seperately from the first four's mode, so maybe there's some sort of logical boundary (or even a fluke) there.

It was like two months ago when I did this, but I'm near certain that's how it went down.
 
I'm fairly certain its AMD chipset limitation, and not anything specific to a motherboard. It should also be mentioned in your motherboards' manual. Ports 5 and 6 from the chipset, only work in AHCI mode. Ports 1-4 can be configured in IDE mode. Some motherboards allow you to configure the ports 1-4 and 5-6 separately (5-6 can still choose between RAID and AHCI).
 
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