What LBA format size should I choose?
- Thread starter GregI
- Start date
Soldato
Why secure erase it?
If you're reinstalling 10 just format it
During windows installation
I think there's some sort of benefit in error correction
If use 4k
Other than that it's probably not going to matter much
In real life usage
But vaguely recall you might have issues if ever want to clone
To a drive that doesn't support 4k
If you're reinstalling 10 just format it
During windows installation
I think there's some sort of benefit in error correction
If use 4k
Other than that it's probably not going to matter much
In real life usage
But vaguely recall you might have issues if ever want to clone
To a drive that doesn't support 4k
https://forums.tomshardware.com/threads/ssd-secure-erasing-useful-when-reinstalling-windows.2747701/
Things like this told me secure erase would be a better option.
Things like this told me secure erase would be a better option.
Soldato
It is if you're selling drive a good idea
But there's a difference between some of the stuff
In that link
Quick Format and full format are different
If you often did full format/write 0 to the entire drive
Likely it would be a bad idea
But I still have some original Samsung 830 and 840 ssds
They have been quick formatted god only knows how many times over the years
Either by windows installer or just to remove data
Still work great but I never full formatted them
If you ever try quick format vs full format you will see a large difference
In the time it takes especially the bigger the drive is
This shows clearly that they're doing different things
But there's a difference between some of the stuff
In that link
Quick Format and full format are different
If you often did full format/write 0 to the entire drive
Likely it would be a bad idea
But I still have some original Samsung 830 and 840 ssds
They have been quick formatted god only knows how many times over the years
Either by windows installer or just to remove data
Still work great but I never full formatted them
If you ever try quick format vs full format you will see a large difference
In the time it takes especially the bigger the drive is
This shows clearly that they're doing different things
Associate
It's not the same thing as full vs quick format.
A secure erase of a solid state drive marks every sector as unused.
When the drive's controller knows a sector is unused it doesn't go through a read/erase/write cycle to update it,
it just does the write (which is faster).
If all you do is a quick format, then the drive doesn't know that the sectors that used to contain data are no longer used.
So when data gets written to the drive it's possibly slightly slower than if you'd erased it first.
In practice, doing a secure erase before re-installing probably doesn't make much difference overall,
but it is the same princple as the TRIM command - when you delete a file the OS issues a TRIM to tell the drive the sectors are no longer used.
Doing a full format of an SSD is not recommended.
To @GregI 4k might give a small performance boost (probably not noticable in practice) at the expense of compatibility with disk cloning tools.
Thanks @VersionMonkey
It also appears the SN850 drives are optimsied for 4k block sizes so seems the best option.
Although tbh the more I thought about this I don't think it matters at all. Unless I'm stupid Windows is just going to set whatever size it wants when creating the partitions.
It also appears the SN850 drives are optimsied for 4k block sizes so seems the best option.
Although tbh the more I thought about this I don't think it matters at all. Unless I'm stupid Windows is just going to set whatever size it wants when creating the partitions.
Last edited:
Soldato
Yes I know a secure erase is different from format
I was referring to the parts in the link
That were talking about quick format and full format
Secure erase basically sends a voltage spike to wipe the cells
So I was referring to the quick format vs full format
Quick being fine but full format not being ideal for ssds
So I still say secure erase isn't really necessary
Just to reinstall windows
I have secure erased my nvme m2 before
Just to find how to do those in case ever sell them
Honestly noticed no difference afterwards in terms of speed
Compared to just letting windows installer quick format them
Which motherboard is that @GregI ?
Nice to see some are actually supporting secure erase for nvme m2
As it used to be a PITA to do them
I Had a post on here a while back about it
And how it was so difficult compared to 2.5 ssds
Either way secure erase or quick format will do the job
I just think it's one extra step required that might not show any benefit is all
I have quick formatted mine for many years
And many times on same drive with no apparent issues
But have no idea if multiple secure erases over time
Can have any adverse effect
I was referring to the parts in the link
That were talking about quick format and full format
Secure erase basically sends a voltage spike to wipe the cells
So I was referring to the quick format vs full format
Quick being fine but full format not being ideal for ssds
So I still say secure erase isn't really necessary
Just to reinstall windows
I have secure erased my nvme m2 before
Just to find how to do those in case ever sell them
Honestly noticed no difference afterwards in terms of speed
Compared to just letting windows installer quick format them
Which motherboard is that @GregI ?
Nice to see some are actually supporting secure erase for nvme m2
As it used to be a PITA to do them
I Had a post on here a while back about it
And how it was so difficult compared to 2.5 ssds
Either way secure erase or quick format will do the job
I just think it's one extra step required that might not show any benefit is all
I have quick formatted mine for many years
And many times on same drive with no apparent issues
But have no idea if multiple secure erases over time
Can have any adverse effect
Both correct and wrong.
Yes, full format overwrites whole partition with zeroes, insteads of just emptying file allocation table like quick format.
But what SSD secure erase does, is force drive to erase all cells in one go essentially returning it to empty factory state.
Also secure erase needs drive to be offline and not accessed by OS.
Unlike trim command which works transparently on background and doesn't cause erasing of anything marked to be in use by file allocation table.
All drives have been for years 4k drives internally, because of improved error correction and more efficient space usage from lower overhead.
https://www.dell.com/support/kbdoc/en-us/000146908/why-4k-drive-recommended-for-os-installation
But what many drives have been doing is 512 byte sector emulation for compatibility with legacy BIOSes and software.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Format#512_emulation_(512e)
That emulation done by drive's firmware is what that LBA format size enables.
And for not suffering some further performance penalty that needs file allocation table to be aligned with 4k sector limit.
https://www.reneelab.com/4k-alignment-introduction.html
Native 4k sector has been supported in Windows from 8, so don't see any sense to not use it.
Also file system cluster size has been normally 4kB or multiple of it for long time.
https://documents.westerndigital.co...l/white-paper/white-paper-advanced-format.pdf
https://www.seagate.com/gb/en/tech-insights/advanced-format-4k-sector-hard-drives-master-ti/
Soldato
Thanks definitely a useful bios feature if you're selling a m2
Sadly not in my am4 Gigabyte x570 ultra bios
Unless it's a hidden feature
I remember Gigabyte doing something like that years ago
Had to press a key combination to show
A hidden bios section
I ended up having to do my nvme secure erase using Linux
And nvme cli commands in the end up