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Need Help w/ "Secure Erase"

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

Ok, I am trying to finish my AMD FX Zambezi system build, I wanted to securely erase my Intel 320 SSD so I could add it to my new system and start installing Win7 on it. I know that the Intel 320 SSD has to be set as a secondary drive and can not be bootable. It currently is set to my secondary drive now and Win7 is no longer on it, however I still can not securely erase it. See below..

1) First issue was, it was showing "seperate partitions" on it, the main drive partition and then another "100 mb system reserve" partition, no matter what though, I can not delete or do anything else to this "100 mb system reserve" section.

2) Next, I booted from my Win7 CD and went into the install / format options, I then selected all partitions associated with my Intel SSD and "deleted them" then booted back up from my VelociRaptor, however.. guess what re-appeared? The "100 mb system reserve" partition.

I have successfully securely erased this Intel 320 SSD before, but I can not remember the exact steps I took, I also do not recall this 100 mb system reserve showing up. I know if I just put this Intel 320 SSD in my new system and start installing Win7 that during the bootup process it will show two Windows 7 OS's to choose from, even though one no longer exists and that is annoying.

Any ideas what I am doing wrong? If my Intel SSD is a "secondary drive" now and no longer has Windows 7 on it ... how the heck can I securely erase it with the Intel SSD toolbox?

I am at the point to where I am just going to format it with Windows 7 and be done with it .. not sure how badly that will effect the drive or not, but I am getting annoyed. I do not see why Intel just does not make this simplier, by that I mean putting a CD / DVD in with each SSD they sell that will allow you to securely erase the drive each time you want to format it and re-install Windows?!?

11 REPLIES 11

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

that´s what i did

Vegan
New Contributor III
New Contributor III

unfortunately your SSD is toast, send it back for a replacement,get a return material authorization (RMA) from Intel