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SSD Secure Erase or Windows 7 Quick Format?

T

thenightman4u

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Oct 28, 2011
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Just out of curiosity since I will be reinstalling Windows 7 soon on my system, do I have to do a secure erase or is it just as good to use the Windows 7 disc to do a quick format before I reinstall the OS?
 
Personally, I'd do the secure erase anyway, since it takes your drive back to as-new status without waiting for TRIM to work.
 
Based on how TRIM is supposed to work, it shouldn't involve a delay. The OS notifies the drive of the blocks that have been freed and the drive knows it can start writing to them. This was my understanding anyway.
 
Honestly I'm not sure either, but since a secure erase is easy and quick, and you are formatting the drive anyway, I'd just go ahead and do it if it was me. Might not make any difference, but it can't hurt.
 
I don't think TRIM is entirely instantaneous. The drive still has to run its garbage collection routines to actually act upon the information supplied by the TRIM command(s). I don't know enough about SSD firmware to say whether this step typically takes milliseconds or minutes. However even if the drive hasn't been fully GC'ed at the time the new Windows installation is laid down, it will get there eventually so the end result is the same.
 
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