F120GB3A-BK will not secure erase

[Omegaman007]

Had this drive working for about 1.5 months when all of the sudden I got a boot drive error and it wouldn't boot up into windows any more. Tech support told me to flash it to 1.3.3 (from 1.3) which we did and then do a secure erase. We followed the procedure here with the tech also having me try some of the other steps below:

 

http://forum.corsair.com/forums/showthread.php?p=473535#post473535

 

We also tried:

1. unplugging and plugging the drive back in after the PC was booted up
   
2. Using both x64 and x86 versions of Parted Magic
   
3. Using different SATA ports
   
4. All of the above using a different computer (Gigabyte and Jetway motherboards)
   

 

No luck... the data that was on the drive remained on the drive. Eventually the tech said to RMA it which I did. Kicker is, the new drive that I received also will not secure erase using this procedure. I copied some data onto it before attempting the erase and it remains on the drive.

 

Anyone have any ideas what could be going on? I wish Corsair provided a secure erase utility instead of having us do this multi-step process which apparently does not work for everybody.

 

Much thanks in advance for the help.

[Mummy]

weard, have you try to use dífferent SATA control mode(AHCI and IDE)?

[Omegaman007]

Yuppers. And an eSATA dock too. Have a USB to SATA cable that I'll try tonight but I think I'm grasping at straws here.

[Omegaman007]

Well I also tried the USB to SATA cable but although I could see the SSD in the partition manager, the Drive Erase program would not see it. Pretty much done everything I could think of now and still no joy.

 

Oh yeah, I did make sure the ports were set to IDE legacy mode.... forgot to add that in the initial post. Tried it both native and legacy actually.

[Toasted]

-Have you tried Disconnecting any other SATA Drive?

-Try resetting the BIOS to default settings.

[Omegaman007]

Yes, I did disconnect other drives. I did not try resetting the BIOS. This morning I also tried putting the drive in my laptop and doing the SE erase there... same results. :sigh!:

 

BUT

 

I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO SECURE ERASE IT. :D:

 

I went through the trouble of making a USB boot disk with DOS and using HDDERASE. Not sure why it worked with this utility and not Parted Magic but it worked. What a PITA though... Corsair really needs to pick up the ball and either develop a SE utility or pay someone to do it for them. Customers shouldn't be put through this frustration. :mad:

 

Attached are my ATTO results. I have a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P mobo. I'm running the SSD through an ASUS U3S6 USB3/SATAIII PCIe x4 card which has the Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 controller chip using the Marvell9123_Controller_1001036-WHQL drivers.

 

Is this pretty much the best I can expect with this setup?

 

Also added the ATTO result when I run it on the Intel SATAII controller. Better write speeds but the reads suffer.

 

Thanks again for the help.

[madnisman]

Is this pretty much the best I can expect with this setup?

 

Unfortunately yes, due to the Marvell controller. A mainboard with native AMD/Intel SATA3 controller would be recommended and will get you full speed.

[eozen81]

Yes, I did disconnect other drives. I did not try resetting the BIOS. This morning I also tried putting the drive in my laptop and doing the SE erase there... same results. :sigh!:

 

BUT

 

I WAS FINALLY ABLE TO SECURE ERASE IT. :D:

 

I went through the trouble of making a USB boot disk with DOS and using HDDERASE. Not sure why it worked with this utility and not Parted Magic but it worked. What a PITA though... Corsair really needs to pick up the ball and either develop a SE utility or pay someone to do it for them. Customers shouldn't be put through this frustration. :mad:

 

Attached are my ATTO results. I have a Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P mobo. I'm running the SSD through an ASUS U3S6 USB3/SATAIII PCIe x4 card which has the Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 controller chip using the Marvell9123_Controller_1001036-WHQL drivers.

 

Is this pretty much the best I can expect with this setup?

 

Also added the ATTO result when I run it on the Intel SATAII controller. Better write speeds but the reads suffer.

 

Thanks again for the help.

 

wow, nice for you and me because I had been living the same problem with Parted Magic.

 

I agree with the idea that Corsair should develop a SE utility for the users but until that day, thanks to God you solved our problem with HDDERASE :laughing:

[florirs]

To wipe out data from hard drive beyond recovery data should be overwritten for three times following certain standards. How do i wipe hard drive on xp easily beyond recovery might be problem encountered by most of the users.When you download demo version of the tool, you can select one among the nine sanitizing methods for erasing data completely from your hard drive.

[Mummy]

@Omegaman007, What version of Parted Magic did you use?

There is News on http://www.partedmagic.com firsth page that says,

Major Bug: There was a dummy file mistaking left in /usr/local/bin that caused the secure erase command to fail. It's been removed.

dated 11/24/2011

 

 

@Florirs, all tolls that work on HDDs isnt working on SSDs. Basics of storeing and erasering data has changes.

[eozen81]

@Omegaman007, What version of Parted Magic did you use?

There is News on http://www.partedmagic.com firsth page that says, dated 11/24/2011

 

 

@Florirs, all tolls that work on HDDs isnt working on SSDs. Basics of storeing and erasering data has changes.

 

@Mummy, thanks for this critical update. Maybe we lived those problems because of this bug.

 

I will try to download the latest version and try to SE again and let you guys know about it.

[eozen81]

Yes, you are right @Mummy, I have booted latest version of Parted Magic and boom!! it worked and securely erased my SSD within 3-4 secons :)

 

Thanks for this amazing tip.