Slow SSD, Secure Erase did not help

[JoeMomma]

I have a Patriot Pyro 120GB SSD that is only getting about 206 MB/s /read - 154 MB/s write.
It used to be 450 MB/s /read.
Patriot firmware for Sandforce 2281 is updated (v 6.0.3)
I used Parted Magic to do a secure erase and that did not help.
I even did a low level format with EaseUS Partition Master.
The drive is reliable and has plenty of life left.
I did have it filled up and erased stuff but it is formatted empty now.

My Crucial SSD is getting 480 MB/s R - 462 MB/s W.

Is there anything else I can do or is the drive bad?

 

[boosted1g]

You are right, secure erase did not help your drive. You should not use secure erase or full format on SSD drives as it reduces the write lifespan on the drive and reduces performance.

 

[JohnnyLucky]

Did the lower read and write benchmarks happen just recently or has it always been like that?

What is the brand and model of your motherboard?

 

[JoeMomma]

Did the lower read and write benchmarks happen just recently or has it always been like that?

What is the brand and model of your motherboard?

At first the drive was plugged into a SATA II motherboard.
When I moved to an Asus Z97-AR mb w/ a i5-4690K and 8GB RAM, I was still getting slow speeds.
Once I formatted with the new mb I was got the full speed 450 MB/s.

The slow down has happened recently. My drive is about 2/3 full.
I am getting a twin Patriot Pyro for RAID zero and to add more blank space.
Will the old one slow down the RAID or make it fail?

 

[JoeMomma]

You are right, secure erase did not help your drive. You should not use secure erase or full format on SSD drives as it reduces the write lifespan on the drive and reduces performance.

Everything I read said Secure Erase should be performed once a year to force 100% TRIM and increase performance.
You are right that Full Formatting and Defrag will decrease the life of SSD's.

 

[JoeMomma]

Secure Erase, I used Parted Magic, does not damage an SSD. The controller intercepts the command and flashes every cell with a spike. On an SSD Secure Erase does not write any data, it marks all data as ready to write.