Ambroos Posted February 21, 2014 Share Posted February 21, 2014 I thought secure erase was not possible with SSDs since it does wear leveling. Can I do that through Windows 8 format tools, or do I need to use a special utility? Secure erase as in the ATA command is very possible and works great on an SSD. Secure erase as in writing zero's or random data to the complete disk is indeed a bad idea. You can't do it from within Windows, I would recommend putting Parted Magic on a CD or USB (with Unetbootin, but get the iso from Majorgeeks) and doing it through there. I've been doing it on my SSD's like that for a few years now. I can't use TRIM on my SSD's (even though they support it) because I use them in RAID0. When I reinstall Windows I do an enhanced secure erase through parted magic. It completes in only a few seconds and what it basically does is reset the automatic encryption/randomization and then send a TRIM command to the whole drive. When the drive has some spare time (in idle) it'll clear the cells to regain the performance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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