Proper way to "secure erase" a Samsung XP941?

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Synomenon

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Ok, so secure erasing a Samsung XP941 can brick it.

What's the proper way to wipe it and restore performance if I've borked the Windows install on it?


Just to add; This isn't the first time this topic / question has been asked here. Just wanted to see if there was anything new regarding this.
 
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Parted Magic uses a standard ATA command for secure erase. If the drive bricks on that command it is defective. The only alternative is to use Samsung's software.
 
Samsung Magician doesn't recognize OEM Samsung drives. It doesn't even detect them.
 
Synomenon said:
Ok, so secure erasing a Samsung XP941 can brick it.

What's the proper way to wipe it and restore performance if I've borked the Windows install on it?


Just to add; This isn't the first time this topic / question has been asked here. Just wanted to see if there was anything new regarding this.
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Did it really lose performance or do you just think it lost performance? Most modern drives don't tank after having some data on them.
 
You restore it to "like new", but if that isn't representative or real use, I don't really see the point, you're not going to do this every day.
 
I'm not going to do it everyday, but I need to do it now. Like I said, I've a corrupt Windows install and I'd like to start fresh with this drive.
 
Just do a TRIM to the entire LBA range. I use blkdiscard for that.

There are other cases where secure erase does not work, i.e. a drive in IEEE-1667 mode.
 
Any newer drive is going to have TRIM and automatic trash cleanup built in.

Even drives 3+ years old usually have these built in.

Just delete the partition and start over. From my testing, there is absolutely no reason to do a "secure erase" on a modern SSD.
 
Synomenon said:
Ok, so secure erasing a Samsung XP941 can brick it.

What's the proper way to wipe it and restore performance if I've borked the Windows install on it?


Just to add; This isn't the first time this topic / question has been asked here. Just wanted to see if there was anything new regarding this.
Click to expand...

We use windows diskpart all the time to do this. This method doesn't do a full secure erase of the XP941 (which isn't possible), but will effectively remove all GPT and MBR partitions so you can start over. Of course, you will need an alternative disk with windows already installed to boot your system from, and have your XP941 installed in the M.2 socket or attached via an external enclosure.

Enter these commands from a command prompt, one line at a time.

diskpart
list disk
select disk x (x being the disk number of the XP941 evident from the list disk command)
clean

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Rod Bland - vendor Rep for ramcity.com.au
 
RamCity said:
Of course, you will need an alternative disk with windows already installed to boot your system from, and have your XP941 installed in the M.2 socket or attached via an external enclosure.
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This works well from the preinstallation environment, too. Just press Shift-F10 at any point to get a command prompt.
I always create my partitions manually during Windows installation.
 
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