"Cleaning" an SSD

[cctaylor88]

Just moved to a 100% new build, I have my old 120gb SSD that has a Win7 OS on it from my previous build. Anyways... really want to start fresh with that SSD in my new system and don't want much/if anything on it. What are my options? Should I "format" it or should I just utilize a tool to clean it etc? Operating with Windows 10 at the moment. I've heard you aren't supposed to wipe SSDs all that often but I'm not really worried about that here as I have only formatted it a few times but quite some time ago. I forget the process to be honest.

 

[PliotronX]

Since you will not be giving it away, the best approach is literally to delete all partitions and perform a quick format of the drive. It will not reduce the entire thing's lifecycle by one and TRIM takes care of the rest. This is best done while booted to another drive and formatting from the OS and then letting it sit for a while (<1HR) without any activity to the SSD.

 

[hojnikb]

do a secure erase. This will set the ssd to "factory" state.

 

[john3850]

I always do a secure erase when doing a clean install on a old drive and never had any problems.

 

[Elixer]

do a secure erase. This will set the ssd to "factory" state.

This is the best way to go about it.
Quick format is useless for a SSD.

 

[pcslookout]

How long does a secure erase take ?

 

[.vodka]

How long does a secure erase take ?

At least on the Samsung SSDs I've used (830 and 850 evo) it takes 10 seconds at most done through the DOS secure erase utility.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Download a live Linux bootable distro (I used gparted)
Run the following (make sure your SSD is the only device connected to avoid any OOPs)

sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda

If the above says it's FROZEN, unplug SATA power, replug SATA power, the rerun the command to make sure it's NOT FROZEN.

Then run

sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass poop /dev/sda
sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-erase poop /dev/sda

 

[PliotronX]

This is the best way to go about it.
Quick format is useless for a SSD.

JFYI - the internet does not support your statement.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Download a live Linux bootable distro (I used gparted)
Run the following (make sure your SSD is the only device connected to avoid any OOPs)

sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda

If the above says it's FROZEN, unplug SATA power, replug SATA power, the rerun the command to make sure it's NOT FROZEN.

Then run

sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass poop /dev/sda
sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-erase poop /dev/sda

Does gparted provide a list-box selection of recognized drives? Or do you have to type in a drive identifier with those commands, or otherwise enter a command in a DOS interface?

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

Does gparted provide a list-box selection of recognized drives? Or do you have to type in a drive identifier with those commands, or otherwise enter a command in a DOS interface?

Yes, gparted fires up right off the bat and you can identify the appropriate device path that way (eg. /dev/sda, /dev/sdb)

I've never had much luck with secure erase utilities in Windows, whereas *nix works every time.

 

[VirtualLarry]

I've never had much luck with secure erase utilities in Windows, whereas *nix works every time.

Yep.