Formatting a SSD and need advice for RAID 0 SSD

[Old Hippie]

so ummm, remind me the best way to perform a secure erase now?!

Check out the last 2 posts here.

 

[MerrickAggie97]

Check out the last 2 posts here.

HDDerase it seems.

Download the bootable iso, burn it to cd. make it the first bootable object

Set the SSD to IDE

choose option 1.

done.

ok. i got it. didnt i?

 

[Old Hippie]

ok. i got it. didnt i?

I dunno...are you going to ask again?

 

[MerrickAggie97]

I dunno...are you going to ask again?

Unless you tell me I got it

 

[Old Hippie]

Unless you tell me I got it

My wife says I'm not qualified to make any decisions.

You'd better ask taltamir.

 

[MerrickAggie97]

My wife says I'm not qualified to make any decisions.

You'd better ask taltamir.

Thanks!

 

[MerrickAggie97]

Will it work all the same if I set up the RAID configuration first and then perform the secure erase.

I also got some feedback elsewhere the Windows 7 format should be just fine to do a clean format instead of going through the trouble to do a secure erase using HDDerase.

 

[Old Hippie]

Will it work all the same if I set up the RAID configuration first and then perform the secure erase.

You haven't got this done yet?

Secure Erase can only be done with the drives in straight IDE mode.

Some MBs have an "IDE compatable" mode but you want regular IDE mode.

 

[Old Hippie]

I also got some feedback elsewhere the Windows 7 format should be just fine to do a clean format instead of going through the trouble to do a secure erase using HDDerase.

Do whatever pleases your little heart.

There's enough published information on this subject to let everyone make their own decision.

To me it's a no brainer.

 

[MerrickAggie97]

You haven't got this done yet?

Secure Erase can only be done with the drives in straight IDE mode.

Some MBs have an "IDE compatable" mode but you want regular IDE mode.

No, I was going to do it last night, but I had no idea how long a secure erase would take and I had a very early morning and needed to send some emails before work and I couldn't run the risk of being up wayyy late to install everything and more importantly if something went wrong not having a computer when I woke up this morning.

Right now in addition to my original configuration (Windows 7 installed on a single SSD) the 2nd SSD is hooked up to my 2nd SATA port right next to the first one. Windows 7 recognizes the drive as being there, but its not currently set up in a RAID configuration. Its just merely hooked up in AHCI mode and has not had any data written to it yet. The 2nd SSD drive is just sitting there "waiting" to get something to do if you know what I mean.

All of the physical hooking up is done and Im just getting some last minute feedback.

I know what I want to do, but I also know that its NEVER as simple as it seems.


System specs:
ASrock X58 Extreme 3 w/ USB3.0 and Marvell SATA3 - 6GBPs
i7 930
8 GB DDR3
dual Radeon 4870s
1000W PSU


I originally wanted to hook up the SSDs to the Marvell 6Gbps controller, but Ive read that the onboard X58 controller is far more reliable and that I won't be able to receive the benefits of 6Gbps. So I decided to just leave it on the SATA2 controller which is part of the X58 chipset.

 

[Old Hippie]

So I decided to just leave it on the SATA2 controller which is part of the X58 chipset.

Wise move! :thumbsup:

but I had no idea how long a secure erase would take

At the last step it'll say something like 2 - 20 minutes.

My G2s took @ 1 minute.


PS...

I know what I want to do, but I also know that its NEVER as simple as it seems.

Wise man. :thumbsup:
Good Luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

[MerrickAggie97]

Wise move! :thumbsup:


At the last step it'll say something like 2 - 20 minutes.

My G2s took @ 1 minute.


PS...
Wise man. :thumbsup:
Good Luck and let us know how it turns out.

Im anxious to get this done, but I know there are going to be some wrinkles along the way.

 

[Athadeus]

The wrinkles just make building and setting up more fun

 

[MerrickAggie97]

The wrinkles have just gotten pretty damn frustrating. I constantly get stupid messages about what will and wont work. I finally figured out a way to get it to boot into a dos environment and run HDDerase. THEn, I get this stupid message that the drive is protected and cant be erased. i get asked if i want the program to override it. I select yes and it tells me it cant.



UUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH. What is all this crap. why cant I just erase the damn drive and move on with my freakin life.

Are there any other programs i can use. Im tired of all this crap.

 

[erdemali]

The wrinkles have just gotten pretty damn frustrating. I constantly get stupid messages about what will and wont work. I finally figured out a way to get it to boot into a dos environment and run HDDerase. THEn, I get this stupid message that the drive is protected and cant be erased. i get asked if i want the program to override it. I select yes and it tells me it cant.



UUUUUGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH. What is all this crap. why cant I just erase the damn drive and move on with my freakin life.

Are there any other programs i can use. Im tired of all this crap.

Running HDDErase first time it should ask you to reboot and run HDDErase again to unlock pass. (Make sure you set BIOS in IDE)

 

[Bandit1]

Hi.I went through some torment as well getting anything to work correctly.I really do believe some chipsets are more troublesome than others.I had a link to how this worked exactly but the site is down or something,but in this way i can also include some things pertinant to my motherboard apparently..

I tried a number of things,including the ultimate boot cd .iso


HDDERASE 3.3 did work for me,but i had to:

1>download HP format tool with a usb drive.<a sample link of the download,but have'nt tried that exact one>http://en.kioskea.net/download/download-127-hp-usb-disk-storage-format-toolI also used win98 boot files for this in my case.Here are some actual free ones if that does the trick for you > http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=196

2>drop the hdderase file on the usb drive.Btw,sine the drive will be formatted in fat32,don't be surprised when you drop the file on there you don't see it on there hehe but you will see it at boot.cmd DIR

3>disconnect all other hard drives except ssd.

4>set sata mode in bios to legacy ide mode.

5>set usb drive as only device for boot.

6>get the drive is protected message,exit,reboot,proceed.

Troublesome,but worth it after all this because now it's a snap with the usb all ready to go anytime for this.

Good Luck-

 

[Old Hippie]

Sometimes putting the SSD on the first SATA channel (0 or 1) helps.

 

[aigomorla]

Guys i have a simular question.

I got a 3rd SSD to add onto my 2 ssd raid0 array.

They are X25-V, do i just rebuild array, and reinstall?
Or do i need to clean the 2 existing SSD's b4 i rebuild my array.

 

[MerrickAggie97]

Could never get it to work so I gave up and just ran the Windows 7 install and chose to format the HD the usual way. I removed all partitions and everything. I went into the RAID bios and then set up the RAID0. During Windows 7 installation I set and partitioned on 380GB (80% capacity) of the entire setup to allow for maximum performance.

My system is now running business as usual.

If you go to this link here:
http://www.tweaktown.com/articles/3116/tweaktown_s_solid_state_drive_optimization_guide/index.html

I noticed that it said this:

"Introduction
Update (03/29/2010): Intel has recently released a new driver that allows Windows 7’s TRIM instructions to be passed through the Southbridge. The new driver is labeled "Rapid Storage Technology 9.6" and it can be found here. These drivers are also able to pass TRIM commands to RAID 0 and RAID 1 arrays.
My early testing with the new RST 9.6 driver shows that the drive is much faster than the Microsoft Windows 7 AHCI driver whilst also being just as stable. Testing has also shown a significant performance increase in many real world tests with a significant boost in the 4K range."

So if Im understanding this correctly I am now getting the benefits of TRIM with my RAID 0 configuration using these new drivers!

I am hoping this will neglect the less than ideal way of formatting my SSD.

 

[FishAk]

I think what they are referring to is that the TRIM commands can now be passed to disks on the RAID controller, but those disks can not be members of the RAID array. Definitely no TRIM with RAID on 03/29/2010, and I believe still not today.

 

[taltamir]

I think what they are referring to is that the TRIM commands can now be passed to disks on the RAID controller, but those disks can not be members of the RAID array. Definitely no TRIM with RAID on 03/29/2010, and I believe still not today.

according to tweaktown article he posted, the drivers DO pass TRIM to raid1 and raid0

 

[MerrickAggie97]

according to tweaktown article he posted, the drivers DO pass TRIM to raid1 and raid0

Nevertheless, Im still going to keep 100 GB of my 500GB SSD RAID0 configuration unallocated just in case.

 

[FishAk]

according to tweaktown article he posted, the drivers DO pass TRIM to raid1 and raid0

I agree. However, when Intel began passing TRIM through their controller to disks that aren't RAID members, there was some confusion about whether the instructions were passed to member disks. On the date of Tweaktowns update, the instructions could not be passed to RAID disks. So, although Tweaktown appears to say it was possible, they were either caught up in the confusion, or they miss-wrote. I haven't seen recent news that it's now possible, but that can change at any time...

 

[taltamir]

I agree. However, when Intel began passing TRIM through their controller to disks that aren't RAID members, there was some confusion about whether the instructions were passed to member disks. On the date of Tweaktowns update, the instructions could not be passed to RAID disks. So, although Tweaktown appears to say it was possible, they were either caught up in the confusion, or they miss-wrote. I haven't seen recent news that it's now possible, but that can change at any time...

you raise a good point, it is most likely that the article is wrong.

 

[sub.mesa]

Yes, FishAk is correct. Though Intel's RAID drivers would likely be the first to support TRIM on SSDs part of RAID arrays, like RAID0. That shouldn't be too difficult really; it surprises me Intel didn't prepare their drivers better; after all it could mean people buy multiple Intel SSDs.

Sometimes putting the SSD on the first SATA channel (0 or 1) helps.

Yes, generally SATA ports 1-4 can be put in IDE mode, but ports 5-6 are AHCI-only and thus will never work in IDE compatibility mode. This applies to most AMD chipsets, but may also refer to Intel platforms.

Could never get it to work so I gave up and just ran the Windows 7 install and chose to format the HD the usual way.

You mean SSD right? Could you explain in more detail what you did?

If you written to all space, and then reserved some space, the reserved space will be useless! Reserving space only works if you never written to that space before, or used a Secure Erase to give all data back to the SSD and start over fresh.

I understand all this trouble is getting on your nerves though; i wish there was an easier way to 'reset' SSDs. You may also choose to leave it the way it's now and hope TRIM for RAID-arrays comes available soon. When it does, partition the 'reserved' areas and perform a manual TRIM on those, filling them up with one large files (zeroes) and deleting them. If the TRIM works, that would eventually have a comparable effect to Secure Erase. Then you can delete that small partition again and use it as extra spare space.