secure erase question

artus · 29 Jun 2011 at 21:47

Was going to secure erase my 120gb vertex2E when I had got through all the choices it tole me it would take 400 minutes does that sound about right first time ive done it so dont know what to expect.

tom_e · 29 Jun 2011 at 21:50

Sounds about right secure erases take a fair old while

DragonQ · 29 Jun 2011 at 21:58

tom_e said:
Sounds about right secure erases take a fair old while

Wrong, secure erases should be near-instant.

What program are you using to secure erase it, artus?

tom_e · 29 Jun 2011 at 22:03

I take it it's different on ssds then? as on a normal hdd it takes time to wipe and write over the whole disk

DragonQ · 29 Jun 2011 at 22:09

tom_e said:
I take it it's different on ssds then? as on a normal hdd it takes time to wipe and write over the whole disk

A secure erase is just a spike of voltage, a completely different process.

Even if each NAND cell had to be written to (as each sector on an HDD has to be written to in a long format or zeroing) it still wouldn't take as long as an HDD since sequential writes are faster.

tom_e · 29 Jun 2011 at 22:10

DragonQ said:
A secure erase is just a spike of voltage, a completely different process.

Even if each NAND cell had to be written to (as each sector on an HDD has to be written to in a long format or zeroing) it still wouldn't take as long as an HDD since sequential writes are faster.

Fair enough, you learn something new every day

Philtor · 29 Jun 2011 at 22:12

Secure erase on a SSD should only take seconds. Use parted Magic to do it. There's a guide on the OCZ forum.

artus · 29 Jun 2011 at 22:25

im using the ocz tools, the linux bootup disk and followed the ocz guide

5er driver · 1 Jul 2011 at 10:40

DragonQ said:
Wrong, secure erases should be near-instant.

What program are you using to secure erase it, artus?

Parted Majic Secure Erase on my 240GB Mushkin Callisto Deluxe took less than 2 seconds.