Secure Erase SandForced-based SSD

Ok, I am not new to SSDs but I am having an issue securing erasing my two Mushkin Callisto 60GB drives. HDDErase 4 says the drive is 'Frozen' and will not let me erase. I have looked around and only found that you can either 'hot plug' the drive (not a fan of that) while trying to use HDDErase or use Linux to do it.

Am I missing something or is there an easier way to do this?

Thank you.

Did it freeze up the very first time you tried to use HDDErase, and you powered off or reset the machine in the middle? Usually when this happens the drive will be locked... because the first thing HDDErase does is lock the drive before it issues the ATA "secure_erase" command to the drive. You'll need to complete a successful run of HDDErase to unlock the drive (or manually do it with another utility).

First thing I would do is DISCONNECT all the drives but the single drive you want to perform a secure erase on. Also go into your BIOS and make SURE the SATA controller has been changed to run in IDE or ATA mode (NOT AHCI or RAID) and make sure associated Native/Legacy toggle is set to LEGACY. Then save the BIOS, boot into DOS, and run HDDErase. Pick the drive and do an Enhanced Secure Erase... It should finish in about 10 - 20 seconds.

Once it's finished the secure erase the SSD will be unlocked and ready to use. Repeat with any other SSDs you want to secure erase.

Also if this doesn't work try doing the same steps but with HDDErase 3.3 instead of 4. HDDErase 4 has some weird compatibility issues with some SSDs.

I have looked around and only found that you can either 'hot plug' the drive

Click to expand...

When I've used hot plug, I've always left the power cable connected to the drive and only hot-plugged the data cable.

If you need a bootable HDDErase 3.3, it can be found here.

I couldn't get HDDErase 4 to recognize my OCZ Vertex2s.

If these tips don't work for you, there would be an alternative:

- use my ZFSguru LiveCD
- boot it
- discover ip address by logging on as root, typing 'ifconfig'
- now go to web-interface http://<IP>
- go to disks page and format your disk with the "Secure Erase" checkbox checked

use my ZFSguru LiveCD

Click to expand...

Where can I download that?

Old Hippie said:

Where can I download that?

Click to expand...

What he said ^^^