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number_7 · ‎10-06-2013

I have a Kingston SV300S37A120G 120 GB SSD. This drive is not found on the Secure Erase compatible SSDs list at Asus.com. I understand the likelihood that the list is obsolete, so I ask here.

Is the above Kingston drive compatible with secure erase?

If not, what are my options?

Thanks

7

AusRoG · ‎10-06-2013

If it's not supported there are free utilities that you can use. Parted Magic Linux is good for all sorts of disk management tasks and it can do secure erase. Download an ISO image here http://sourceforge.net/projects/partedmagic/ and create a bootable USB stick with UNetbootin (http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/)

number_7 · ‎10-06-2013

Hi AusRoG. How would I discover if it's compatible? Just try it, or could issues arise if it's not?

Thanks

AusRoG · ‎10-06-2013

You can try it, it shouldn't cause problems if it's not compatible. Secure erase command is part of the ATA spec, it's supposed to be a standard that works the same for all drives that conform to the spec so it's likely it will work fine with the Kingston.

Classic_GOD · ‎10-07-2013

AusRoG wrote:
You can try it, it shouldn't cause problems if it's not compatible. Secure erase command is part of the ATA spec, it's supposed to be a standard that works the same for all drives that conform to the spec so it's likely it will work fine with the Kingston.

It most likely will work but if the drive doesn't adhere to the standards and it will for example timeout while erasing you will end up with a bricked drive or in a best case scenario a drive with enabled security that you don't know the password to (since secure erase requires enabling drive security and that requires setting a password for the drive and we don't know what the password set by Asus is).

Also if you will be doing it by other utilities do not set an empty password - some drive controllers will set an empty password but will not accept it later on leaving your drive inaccessible.

AusRoG · ‎10-07-2013

Number 7,

I've had no problems with my own SSDs using Parted Magic and setting a null password.

But if nobody here has experience with your SSD, your safest course of action is to check out the support forums for your SSD and see what other people's experiences with that drive are. ETA: But personally, if in 2013 a simple secure erase bricks or otherwise doesn't work with my SSD, I would send it straight back where it came from and buy something better.

number_7 · ‎10-07-2013

Thank you for the information. I'll research first. I haven't had the time to really understand what secure boot is. I assume that Secure Erase is necessary only when using secure boot. In the bios, my secure boot setting is Windows UEFI, but I think I read I can use 'Other OS UEFI also.
Is it essential that I use Windows UEFI and secure boot? And if not, and I change to other OS UEFI, will that negate secure erase necessity (i.e., just erase drive and restore partition image)?

Again, thanks.

AusRoG · ‎10-07-2013

Secure Erase and Secure Boot are 2 completely different and unrelated things.

Secure erase is recommended on SSDs to erase all the NAND flash memory chips to unprogrammed state for optimal performance before you install a new OS.

Secure boot is a mechanism that's intended to ensure only legitimate operating systems are booted, i.e. to thwart malware and rootkits.

number_7 · ‎10-14-2013

AusRoG wrote:
Secure Erase and Secure Boot are 2 completely different and unrelated things.

Apologies for the delay...I somehow missed this. Thanks for the info.

Secure Erase Compatibility