Erasing SSD

[Broth3rz]

Saw other threads.. didn't see much help there..

 

I'm replacing my 2 SSD's with new ones. So I need to wipe everything from these so nothing can be recovered since I will be selling them, WD SN850s.

 

I know from long ago that formatting a HDD doesn't actually remove anything until the blocks are overwritten so you need to do many passes. Is this the same for SSD's? Does a simple format and deleting partitions remove data from an SSD that isn't recoverable? Or does it need many passes? What's the best to use for this if that is the case?

[Kilrah]

You should run the drives' internal "Secure Erase" command. Can be done from the BIOS on some mobos, sometimes also using software from the drive vendor. 

[Bitter]

A lot of SSD manufactures have a tool for securely erasing their drives. Check that route first, for Samsung it's part of their Magician software.

[Broth3rz]

This is what the WD software says to Sanitize whatever that is?

 

 

I guess I have to use a USB and boot from that?

I think I tried this last year and it wasn't able to do it... something about passwords and such that was set up by WD. What happens if that's the case? Is Sanitize not what I want?

 

 

Also side question. I just tested my old drives. The first has all my program and Windows install, then maybe 500GB for the main data I access nonstop. With CDM it test 7100 / 5200, which is what the drive should do. Then my second drive has like 1.2TB of 2TB full of instrument libraries.. so each library could be 100GB, more or less. That's ALL the drive has on it and is being used for. So the first should be used more as its running CDM and Windows that I'm using now.. the second drive test 6300/3300. I guess the drive could be defective?

 

Here is my manual: https://download.gigabyte.com/FileList/Manual/mb_manual_x570-aorus-pro-wifi_v2_e.pdf?v=87d542053242792cad4b4da6d38a0c77

On page 8 it talks about the slots. Am I just being limited by the PCI lanes or something? I have a 5900x. Is one slot faster than the other?

[kokosnh]

I usually use the bootable parted magic iso to secure erase SSD's. 

[Bitter]

12 minutes ago, Broth3rz said:

This is what the WD software says to Sanitize whatever that is?

 

 

I guess I have to use a USB and boot from that?

I think I tried this last year and it wasn't able to do it... something about passwords and such that was set up by WD. What happens if that's the case? Is Sanitize not what I want?

 

 

Also side question. I just tested my old drives. The first has all my program and Windows install, then maybe 500GB for the main data I access nonstop. With CDM it test 7100 / 5200, which is what the drive should do. Then my second drive has like 1.2TB of 2TB full of instrument libraries.. so each library could be 100GB, more or less. That's ALL the drive has on it and is being used for. So the first should be used more as its running CDM and Windows that I'm using now.. the second drive test 6300/3300. I guess the drive could be defective?

Are you using the drive that you want to erase as the boot drive you're running the OS and WD software from? Of course it won't let you erase the drive you're currently operating from.

[Kilrah]

15 minutes ago, Broth3rz said:

Is Sanitize not what I want?

Yep it's what you want, you'll need to make a USB drive with the tool to boot from it. Normally there should be no password needed, just blank. If blank doesn't work the default for that drive should be easy to find.

[Broth3rz]

It says it can't do it on both drives. I couldn't find no password last time. I will try that again I guess...

 

With my other issue... that's a big issue if I'm limited by PCI lanes...  how do I check if I am or if there is a speed difference in the slots?

I really need both as fast as possible that the drive can do. Because if I'm limited then I may need to just buy 1 big 4TB so EVERYTHING can get the fastest speeds.

[Kilrah]

The 2nd slot is always going to be a bit slower since it's connected to the chipset, not straight to the CPU.

[Broth3rz]

50 minutes ago, Kilrah said:

The 2nd slot is always going to be a bit slower since it's connected to the chipset, not straight to the CPU.

Well, that is a big issue since I need both drives as fast as the drive can go... So what's the ways around this? I guess buying a 4TB drive instead of 2x 2TB, what else can I do? Is that my only option?

 

Now the only thing the DATA drive is doing is storing data that needs to be read when loaded into the program. The only time I write to it is when I download something to it... so I guess the only thing really affected is the read speed by 700mb since the write doesn't matter. But what other options do I have?

 

I have 24 PCIE lanes... GPU uses 16. Both m.2 would use 4. So I'd be at my limit, I wish they wouldn't connect the second m.2 to the chipset.

[Kilrah]

1 hour ago, Broth3rz said:

so I guess the only thing really affected is the read speed by 700mb since the write doesn't matter.

It would be very surprising if you were actually limited by that. What your CPU will be doing with that data while loading it is likely going to be limiting it more than the drive interface. You should look at actual transfer rates while loading to see where you are right now.

 

1 hour ago, Broth3rz said:

I have 24 PCIE lanes...

You have 20 since the other 4 go to the chipset.

 

If you have a board that can split the 16 "first slot" lanes into 2x8 then you could leave your GPU with 8 and put another m.2 in the 2nd (or 2, but that might get more expensive).

 

1 hour ago, Broth3rz said:

But what other options do I have?

Threadripper/HEDT?

[Broth3rz]

This is my motherboard: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X570-AORUS-MASTER-rev-11-12#kf

I have the Ryzen 5900x.

 

Is there a way to see what PCIE lanes you are using and how many?

 

So it sounds like I have enough PCIE lanes, right? But why the speed issues? I should be around 7000/5100, which my C drive is. Hours ago the other drive was 6300/3300. Now it seems that same drive is 6300/5200. I've changed and done nothing so now the write is back where it should be. When I tested it hours ago I did it like 10 times with same results. But as of now its down 700-800 on the read... why? I don't get it.

 

I'm not sure what's going on. What's going on?

[Blue4130]

21 minutes ago, Broth3rz said:

This is my motherboard: https://www.gigabyte.com/Motherboard/X570-AORUS-MASTER-rev-11-12#kf

I have the Ryzen 5900x.

 

Is there a way to see what PCIE lanes you are using and how many?

 

So it sounds like I have enough PCIE lanes, right? But why the speed issues? I should be around 7000/5100, which my C drive is. Hours ago the other drive was 6300/3300. Now it seems that same drive is 6300/5200. I've changed and done nothing so now the write is back where it should be. When I tested it hours ago I did it like 10 times with same results. But as of now its down 700-800 on the read... why? I don't get it.

 

I'm not sure what's going on. What's going on?

You don't need to see the lanes. 

16 go to the gpu

4 go to the ssd

4 go to the chipset

 

The 4 that go to the chipset are shared by things like second m.2, usb ports, network, etc. So that is why the second drive speed is inconsistent. If you are going anything else like using the internet, or listening to audio or have anything plugged into usb then the bandwidth is shared. Since the chipset controls so many things dynamically, the bandwidth available for the second slot is always changing. 

[Broth3rz]

11 minutes ago, Blue4130 said:

You don't need to see the lanes. 

16 go to the gpu

4 go to the ssd

4 go to the chipset

 

The 4 that go to the chipset are shared by things like second m.2, usb ports, network, etc. So that is why the second drive speed is inconsistent. If you are going anything else like using the internet, or listening to audio or have anything plugged into usb then the bandwidth is shared. Since the chipset controls so many things dynamically, the bandwidth available for the second slot is always changing. 

So I guess there isn't anything I can do unless I get a motherboard that has more than 4 PCIE lanes for their chipset? If that is a thing?

 

I do use a lot of USB.. like 8. But of course most are always off.. Is there maybe a way to buy a USB card thingy or something that takes the load off the chipset somehow so my drive is free to use all 4 PCIE lanes from the chipset at all times?

[Blue4130]

18 minutes ago, Broth3rz said:

So I guess there isn't anything I can do unless I get a motherboard that has more than 4 PCIE lanes for their chipset? If that is a thing?

 

I do use a lot of USB.. like 8. But of course most are always off.. Is there maybe a way to buy a USB card thingy or something that takes the load off the chipset somehow so my drive is free to use all 4 PCIE lanes from the chipset at all times?

Adding a usb card won't solve the issue because the usb hub STILL goes through the chipset. The ONLY alternative is HEDT or server based systems that have more lanes.

 

BUT What are you doing that absolutely needs full speed ALWAYS?

[Broth3rz]

2 hours ago, Blue4130 said:

Adding a usb card won't solve the issue because the usb hub STILL goes through the chipset. The ONLY alternative is HEDT or server based systems that have more lanes.

 

BUT What are you doing that absolutely needs full speed ALWAYS?

Music composition, so I deal with libraries that can be 100GB+. Along with 1080p-2160K video editing.

 

I guess my best option is to save and just get a 4TB SSD in that CPU slot so it gets full speeds with everything and sell both these 2x 2TB.

[Blue4130]

3 minutes ago, Broth3rz said:

Music composition, so I deal with libraries that can be 100GB+. Along with 1080p-2160K video editing.

 

I guess my best option is to save and just get a 4TB SSD in that CPU slot so it gets full speeds with everything and sell both these 2x 2TB.

So both of those are mostly read dependant, correct? I doubt going from 7000 down to 6000 will affect you too much. It sounds like you are chasing unicorns. 

 

You currently have both, do an honest test on each. How much of a real work case difference do you see? 

[Broth3rz]

I have noticed how slow things are with my old drives... They were meant to be 7000/5100, these new ones are 7100/6800, or so they say. They aren't installed yet. Going to do it tomorrow. The thing is since I've been doing the tests the read is down 800.. we will see tomorrow I guess.

 

Like I said, best way is to do a 4TB soon so everything is getting those speeds. This is more so a workstation.

[Bitter]

21 minutes ago, Broth3rz said:

Music composition, so I deal with libraries that can be 100GB+. Along with 1080p-2160K video editing.

 

I guess my best option is to save and just get a 4TB SSD in that CPU slot so it gets full speeds with everything and sell both these 2x 2TB.

Do you have a spare x8 or x16 slot? Get an addon card that lets you run the NVME drives in RAID on the card.

You don't HAVE to run 4TB drives, you could do it with a pair of your 2GB drives.

 

https://www.amazon.com/Dell-Ultra-Speed-Drive-Quad-Adapter/dp/B0714MMD6M/

You could probably run that, but do the research first. You have to have pcie bifurcation support and I'm not 100% it works in all boards.

 

There's much much cheaper units like this one but I know how cheap stuff usually works out, buyer beware.

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-4x32Gbps-Individual-Indicator-Support/dp/B09BJ163KY/

[Broth3rz]

I have all of these available:

 

 

I don't know anything about raid and I hear it diminishes the health of your drives and makes them less reliable. But wouldn't those tax the chipset also?

[Bitter]

I think you need to read up about RAID levels and their benefits and pitfalls and check out if your board supports bifurcation or not and which slots have how many lanes at what speed.

[Blue4130]

29 minutes ago, Broth3rz said:

I have all of these available:

 

 

 

I don't know anything about raid and I hear it diminishes the health of your drives and makes them less reliable. But wouldn't those tax the chipset also?

I just looked at your manual, You can use a m.2 add-in card and run the gpu at x8 and the card at x8 (add two more m.2's and both will get full lanes)

[Broth3rz]

1 hour ago, Blue4130 said:

I just looked at your manual, You can use a m.2 add-in card and run the gpu at x8 and the card at x8 (add two more m.2's and both will get full lanes)

I can move my GPU down to the x8 slot. Does that diminish performance? From the few videos I saw... its barely a difference?

I only have 1 x8 slot that would be taken up by the GPU so how would I get a card that is also doing x8?

I only have 2x 2TB drives for a total of 4TB.

What is the type of card I need?

 

Does the card your talking about run them in R0? I was thinking about buying a card for that. Is what your talking about the same thing?

[Blue4130]

45 minutes ago, Broth3rz said:

I can move my GPU down to the x8 slot. Does that diminish performance? From the few videos I saw... its barely a difference?

I only have 1 x8 slot that would be taken up by the GPU so how would I get a card that is also doing x8?

I only have 2x 2TB drives for a total of 4TB.

What is the type of card I need?

 

Does the card your talking about run them in R0? I was thinking about buying a card for that. Is what your talking about the same thing?

You will take a kit on the GPU, but it is apparently quite minor. (I've not done it so I have no first hand experience, but GN, LTT and others have tested it)

 

So What you can do, get a simple 4x m.2 card. such as something like this...

https://www.amazon.com/Adapter-4x32Gbps-Individual-Indicator-Support/dp/B09BJ163KY/

Leave the first m.2 on the board, there is no need to move it.

Put the other m.2 on the first slot of this card. It will use 4 lanes. It will leave you 4 lanes to add one more m.2 in the second slot for the future. Both should retain full speed.

May want to move the gpu down to the lower slot and put this in the upper slot, that way this card won't kill the gpu airflow.

 

This will put the gpu in x8 mode.

The on board m.2 in x4 mode.

The add-in card m.2 in x4 mode.

And an extra x4 available for the future m.2 if needed.

 

The card I linked is not a raid card, it's just a simple adapter. You can follow the traces on the board directly from the m.2 pins to the corresponding pcie pins. If you tried to add a third card, you'd see that it will not work.

 

I'd personally avoid running them in software raid.

 

[Kilrah]

6 hours ago, Broth3rz said:

I have noticed how slow things are with my old drives... They were meant to be 7000/5100, these new ones are 7100/6800, or so they say. They aren't installed yet. Going to do it tomorrow. The thing is since I've been doing the tests the read is down 800.. we will see tomorrow I guess.

 

Like I said, best way is to do a 4TB soon so everything is getting those speeds. This is more so a workstation.

You really need to look at actual drive transfer speeds in task manager while loading your apps/sets/data. Most likely it is not going to be anywhere close to those speeds but limited by processing.