Deleting Data From SSD

[g.dalton428]

I recently bought a Sandisk SSD to replace a crappy SSD that came on my new computer. I formatted it and cloned my old SSD onto the new SSD and installed it. The new SSD seemed to have problem with software became corrupt so the keyboard and mousepad stopped working. I decided I would just wipe the SSD and install it and use a USB to install Windows but I don't know what exactly to do. Do I need to completely wipe the new SSD and reformat it or what? And how do I do everything safely so I don't break the new SSD?

 

[USAFRet]

How to do a CLEAN installation of Windows 10
http://www.tomshardware.com/faq/id-3567655/clean-installation-windows.html

This includes wiping the drive while you do the install.

 

[mazboy]

BTW: customer service announcement: NEVER EVER WIPE AN SSD!!!!!

Make sure your BIOS is set to "AHCI" not "RAID"

Also, the above website is showing an older version of the installation process. If you had Win10 on your computer before, it will ask slightly different questions, although it's really easy to follow. Just make sure you chose the "custom" install that will over write everything on the SSD: any other choice is going to bring forward all the problems you had before.

 

[USAFRet]

BTW: customer service announcement: NEVER EVER WIPE AN SSD!!!!!

Well...there's various definitions of "wipe".

During a clean install on a drive with stuff already on it, for instance...when you go through Custom, and delete all the existing partitions....that is a "wipe".

Or a Secure Erase. That is also a "wipe".

 

[mazboy]

I think (at least it's the one I use) a "wipe" is when you use any software package to write zeros to all sectors of the HDD in a single pass (there are fancier wipes, but that's the basic one) to prevent any data that was on the disk being recoverable.

Some people consider a partition/repartition/format to be a wipe, but technically, that leaves the data on the disk, and it can be recovered using various methods.

The way I understand it, the way an SSD keeps track of its data means that a delete partition/repartition/format will prevent any recovery of the old data. It is both unnecessary and harmful to wipe an SSD.

 

[USAFRet]

I think (at least it's the one I use) a "wipe" is when you use any software package to write zeros to all sectors of the HDD in a single pass (there are fancier wipes, but that's the basic one) to prevent any data that was on the disk being recoverable.

Some people consider a partition/repartition/format to be a wipe, but technically, that leaves the data on the disk, and it can be recovered using various methods.

The way I understand it, the way an SSD keeps track of its data means that a delete partition/repartition/format will prevent any recovery of the old data. It is both unnecessary and harmful to wipe an SSD.

During a clean install, you need to delete the previous partitions. If you want to "recover" the old data, then that is not what you want to do.
Some tool like DBAN? No. They even tell you that. Not for use on an SSD.

Format? You already did this, when you first used it. Either as the OS drive, or as a secondary drive.

And "writing all zeros" is probably not what the OP was looking for.

 

[mazboy]

Ummm...a "secure erase" is not "also a wipe", it is a wipe. In a clean install on a previously formatted SSD/HDD, the installer asks you which partition you want to install the OS to. But, wait, there are, what, 3, 4 partitions from the previous install? Oh my. I personally delete all the partitions at this point, then, when there is only the single partition left (the one that is the size of the entire drive), I click on that partition and tell the installer to put the new OS there. If it's an SSD, you had better set the BIOS to "AHCI" from "RAID", or the installer will tell you all manner of reasons it cannot put the OS there.

Actually, because I'm retired and have the time, in addition to several computers, I almost always "wipe" an HDD before I put an OS on it (the exception being a brand-new, factory drive). I then slap a partition on it and put it in the machine it will be mounted in to install the OS. On an SSD, on the other hand, I will delete any existing partition(s), repartition/format it, then put it into the machine it will be mounted in to install the OS. This is probably excessive, but I've had too many drives that "bleed" data through a write-over install of an OS, or where the new OS just doesn't "take". This is always problematic when dealing with drives that were virus-infected. I never have those failures with a wipe and clean install.

We've had this discussion before, haven't we...?

 

[USAFRet]

In a clean install on a previously formatted SSD/HDD, the installer asks you which partition you want to install the OS to. But, wait, there are, what, 3, 4 partitions from the previous install? Oh my. I personally delete all the partitions at this point, then, when there is only the single partition left (the one that is the size of the entire drive), I click on that partition and tell the installer to put the new OS there.

Exactly.
And that is what most people think of what a "wipe" is.
Just remove all the previous junk.

Absolutely nothing wrong with doing that. This is what you are supposed to do.