Secure Erase outside Windows

[Diagrafeas]

How can i secure erase my OCZ Vertex 2E 60GB outside windows?

 

[Diagrafeas]

Found a program called HDDErase 4.0.

Is this the same as using the secure erase option in OCZ Toolbox?

My understanding is that it doesn't zero fill the drive like Seagate Seatools and Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostics do.

And it can be used in HDD and SDD...

 

[groberts101]

Both of those tools will do the same exact thing as they simply communicate with the drives firmware to leverage the SE protocol which is built into them.

You can also use the Linux based tool(over at OCZ's forum) from a USB stick to do the same thing as well. However you get the command passed to the drive will be fine and it only takes a few seconds to completely erase and reset the drive.

Might want to be sure you update to the latest firmware while you're at it too.

 

[Hellhammer]

GParted Live is probably the easiest option.

 

[Diagrafeas]

What is this Linux based Tool?
Parted Magic and GParted is the same?

 

[Hellhammer]

What is this Linux based Tool?
Parted Magic and GParted is the same?

Parted Magic and GParted are both Linux based, but you can use standard Linux and hdparm commands as well.

 

[taltamir]

I never heard of parted magic before, their website says they deliver a disk that contains both "Gparted" and "Parted". Sounds like some sort of fork of GParted to me

Parted Magic and GParted are both Linux based, but you can use standard Linux and hdparm commands as well.

Just to make it clear, you don't NEED to.
they boot off of a disk into a linux distro that was modified to be stripped down, auto login, and auto load the partitioning tools.

And those tools do everything you need via a GUI which you navigate with mouse and keyboard and is rather clear what is happening.

Linux is just a delivery vehicle for the program... a self booting partitioning tool

 

[Diagrafeas]

A groberts101 you ment PC Bootable Tools 4.3 from OCZ.
I did see it at first.
Thanks.

 

[Diagrafeas]

I can't get HDDErase 4.0 to see my drives.
And PC Bootable Tools 4.3 from OCZ gives me a black screen after the blue green characters...

 

[ryderOCZ]

I can't get HDDErase 4.0 to see my drives.
And PC Bootable Tools 4.3 from OCZ gives me a black screen after the blue green characters...

What hardware are you running the tools on?

 

[wpcoe]

I never heard of parted magic before, their website says they deliver a disk that contains both "Gparted" and "Parted". Sounds like some sort of fork of GParted to me

As a "Linux outsider" -- i.e. knowing only generalities about the Linux universe -- I found Parted Magic quite easy to use to secure erase an SSD. You don't even use Gparted, which is included as an app with an icon on the Parted Magic desktop. You click a utility from the Parted Magic "start button" to erase a drive. When booting from a straight Gparted "distro," I don't see how to secure erase. It's very easy from Parted Magic, even when the drive is "locked."

Because I could boot from a CD/USB flash drive, I didn't have to uninstall the SSD to put it as a non-system drive in another system to be able to use the Intel/Samsung (depending on the SSD) utility to secure erase. You can't use the Windows utilities on the drive when it's the system drive.

 

[birthdaymonkey]

As a "Linux outsider" -- i.e. knowing only generalities about the Linux universe -- I found Parted Magic quite easy to use to secure erase an SSD. You don't even use Gparted, which is included as an app with an icon on the Parted Magic desktop. You click a utility from the Parted Magic "start button" to erase a drive. When booting from a straight Gparted "distro," I don't see how to secure erase. It's very easy from Parted Magic, even when the drive is "locked."

Because I could boot from a CD/USB flash drive, I didn't have to uninstall the SSD to put it as a non-system drive in another system to be able to use the Intel/Samsung (depending on the SSD) utility to secure erase. You can't use the Windows utilities on the drive when it's the system drive.

+1

Parted Magic is very easy to use. I've successfully secured erased SSDs a dozen times with it and I'm a complete Linux ignoramus.

 

[Diagrafeas]

I eventually used Parted Magic.
When it asked me to do an Enhanced Secure Erase i said NO.
It didn't take even a second to complete. Is this OK?
My motherboard is an ASUS A8N-SLI Premium (nForce 4 SLI AMD Edition)

 

[groberts101]

yes.. it's very quick

.. and the way to be sure that it's done properly is to check and see if the drive is left in a raw state which needs to be initialized.

If not?.. then you didn't fully power cycle the drive correctly.

 

[Diagrafeas]

yes.. it's very quick

.. and the way to be sure that it's done properly is to check and see if the drive is left in a raw state which needs to be initialized.

If not?.. then you didn't fully power cycle the drive correctly.

What does this mean?
After it finished, i shut down the pc.
Then turned it on, booted into Parted Magic again and there were no partitions anymore.
What else has to be done?
How can i check if it is in a raw state?

 

[darckhart]

in case you wanted to try with command line instead of nice gui apps, i've always found this guide to be superb:

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

 

[Hellhammer]

in case you wanted to try with command line instead of nice gui apps, i've always found this guide to be superb:

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

In short:

1. Boot into Linux and open Terminal

2. Use these commands, where "test" is whatever password you choose and X is the letter of your drive (use Disk Utility to check it):

sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass test /dev/sdX

sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-erase test /dev/sdX

 

[birthdaymonkey]

If parted magic told you it secure erased the drive successfully, you should be fine. When you go to reinstall Windows, all the space should be unallocated.

 

[WhoBeDaPlaya]

If the ATA device is locked/frozen, hotplugging it works well. I've rarely had to do this, though some motherboards (or more accurately BIOSes) can be stubborn.

sudo hdparm --user-master poopie --security-set-pass pants /dev/sda
sudo hdparm --user-master poopie --security-erase pants /dev/sda

 

[Diagrafeas]

I installed Windows and everything is better than OK.
I run CrystallDiskMark and AS SSD and got better write scores.
I don't know if it is trim related or that windows installation takes 10gb from 20gb previously.
I guess time will tell.