How do I "restore to factory" the Samsung 840 for new OS install?

snadge · 19 Mar 2013 at 21:33

I remember someone saying that its best use the SSD supplied software to reset the drive back to factory rather than formatting when re-installing the OS.

I have a Samsung 840 - Iam getting a new motherboard tomorrow and if I have issues or want to...I may re-install windows 7 pro x64.

is there software I can run from USB that will reset and prepare the drive?

thanks

wazza300 · 19 Mar 2013 at 22:07

use samsungs magician tool software and do a secure erase,this will restore it to fresh out the factory performance

snadge · 19 Mar 2013 at 22:21

thanks - i see it has USB option too as I dont have a DVD drive

does this erase/zero all blocks making them ready for write?

also, do i need to create a partition for windows install to pick it up? as I recall I had some issues with that last time!! it just wouldnt see the un-allocated space - did with my OCZ drive though??

wazza300 · 19 Mar 2013 at 22:39

Yes it writes 0's,windows will pick it up when you do a quick format on it just before it installs windows

snadge · 19 Mar 2013 at 22:45

its funny cos I done a secure erase to the OCZ when i had issues with it and it literally took seconds to complete which I found odd if its deleting the entire drive? thought it would take a bit longer

when I first got the Samsung I put it directly into the computer and Windows installer could not pick the drive up - it has to do this before allowing you to continue and it automatically formats it, I had to install my HDD, boot into windows on that, windows Disk Management picked it up and formatted it for me then I was able to install windows on it??? - I did not have this trouble with the OCZ..? ive read of some people having these issues with various SSD's

thanks

snadge · 21 Mar 2013 at 00:04

ok i didnt need to erase it - windows picked it up and installed some stuff - i installed USB3, SATA3 intel and AUDIO and that was it

system is MUCH quicker on Intel SATA3 and series 7 chipset!! - boot is 2 seconds faster and everything just seems really snappy!!

the VIA audio is poor I think compared to Realtek, Via HD Panel is just HORRIBLE and freezes..also when changin bit depth or sample rate it cuts the audio meaning you have to start the track/video again!! bit annoying... Realtek was much better at this and had much better app for it too...its like its been designed by a child! im gunna try MS drivers later

here are my benchmarks for the SSD now its on Intel SATA3 and not marvell SATA3 (also the OCZ Agility 3 results on Marvell SATA3 too)

OCZ (H61 mobo) - Samsung (H61 mobo) - Samsung (H77 mobo)

ATTO (MB/s) - 390 - 380 - 547
AS SSD (MB/s) - 192 - 330 - 512
AS SSD (IOPS) - 20,000 - 47,000 - 74,000
AS SSD (Latency) - 0.330 - 0.087 - 0.110