Secure erase Samsung SSD

mikeblas

[H]ard|DCer of the Month - May 2006
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I've got a Samsung 840 Pro rive that I'm trying to erase. The Samsung Disk Magician software won't do a secure erase under Windows 10. I had the Magician tool build a USB stick for me, but it won't boot. I burned a CD with the Magician, tool, and it boots. But it draws a screen with blue and red rectangles, no other text, and hangs.

Is there a usable tool to perform a secure erase on this drive?
 
The older Freeware version of Parted Magic should do the trick. It's what I have been using lately.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/parted_magic.html

The instructions are as follows:

Download Parted Magic and create a mountable USB drive using Unetbootin.
Boot the drive and choose option 1, Default Settings.
Once booted head to Start (bottom left) > System Tools > Erase Disk.
Choose the “Internal:Secure Erase command writes zeroes to entire data area” option, then confirm the drive you want to erase on the next screen.
If you are told your drive is “frozen”, you will need to click the Sleep button and repeat this process until you can proceed further. If your drive indicates a password requirement, leave the password as “NULL”.
Confirm that you have read and understand the risks, hit Yes to erase your drive.

The erase process takes a matter of seconds, then you’re done.
They came from here:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/securely-erase-ssd-without-destroying/
 
Or simply download Ubuntu, install it via Rufus to USB flash drive, and follow the the instructions here: https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

Rufus: https://rufus.akeo.ie/

I have done this on my 830, V300, and HD103SJ. It can be a bit nerve racking in the beginning because you may think-oh shit, I may ruin the drive. But it works, seemingly easy, and simple to follow. I did have one that was frozen and placed the system into S3 and woke the system to have access to the drive. The Parted Magic would be the easiest way with it being all boot and click'aty, click'aty. BTW, it is really fast with SSD's, and a long time with HDD's

Good luck
 
Also most bios flip it in protected mode when you boot preventing secure erase from working... Easiest fix is to put it in safe mode, then back to live, then it should let you secure erase. Alternatively you can plug it in after booted or unplug then replug it in.

Here's a good guide:
https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase
 
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Thanks for the suggestions, ya'll. I'm baffled at the lack of support from Samsung. I bought a copy of Parted Magic and that worked fine; easily and simple.
 
I just use an Asus motherboard that has a secure erase on the bios, has worked for a lot of ssds no issues.
 
Call me crazy, but I figure that buying some software is a lot easier than buying, supporting, and setting up a new motherboard.
 
Call me crazy, but I figure that buying some software is a lot easier than buying, supporting, and setting up a new motherboard.
For the average user it is. I always had issues secure erasing either the sata ports were not freeze or i coudlnt do the legacy trick....something didnt allowed.... to me using a old mobo that i had was a really a problem solver, this setup was built with a celeron and Asus mobo that had issues with the audio and was more expensive to return than to keep. Either way, that how i secure erase two X25m a Samsung 840pro, two crucial M4, two Samsung 840 Evo msata, and unknown Msata (that came with my msi laptop), it has worked with all of them no issues at all. I also use this setup to test other things, like Fans, while i dont like software for pcs, FanXpert is really good for getting a working range of a Fan. I also test software that i think its unsafe, etc.
 
I've got a Samsung 840 Pro rive that I'm trying to erase. The Samsung Disk Magician software won't do a secure erase under Windows 10. I had the Magician tool build a USB stick for me, but it won't boot. I burned a CD with the Magician, tool, and it boots. But it draws a screen with blue and red rectangles, no other text, and hangs.

Is there a usable tool to perform a secure erase on this drive?

Hit escape when the corrupted screen occurs on the magician tool. Then unplug your ssd, both power and data, for a few seconds. Reconnect the drive, then type segui0 /s and it should work perfectly (It's the /s switch that'll fix it).
 
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