Perform secure erasure to render SSD unrecoverable.
Perform secure erasure to render SSD unrecoverable.
Hi everyone, I tried to perform a Secure Erase on my SSD through the BIOS settings. It guided me through the process, but instead of entering the Secure Erase dialog, the system just restarted normally and then rebooted again. When I tried Secure Boot, it reported that no SSDs were detected and displayed a normal boot to BIOS instead of Windows. This happened even though my motherboard is an MSI PRO B760M-P with the latest BIOS. Did the Secure Erase process fail? And what should I do next?
I haven't performed a secure erase before, so I'm not entirely sure what it does in real life. I think the drive will switch to another state until the erase is complete, which might explain why it isn't visible right now. Perhaps the failed attempt triggered it. It would be better to keep the system running with an SSD powered for a while before trying to restart. If the drive still processes the secure erase, it could finish and then appear again. You'll need to guess how long to leave it on depending on its size—it won't match the write speed exactly, but it might give a good approximation.
The Secure erase interface that appeared after the initial restart when choosing Secure Erase should have displayed a progress indicator, indicating completion. If it didn’t show such feedback, it likely failed to confirm the operation properly.
The system came back online after a short break, allowing it to recognize itself and boot Windows properly, indicating Secure Erase didn’t occur. Repeating the process still failed, possibly due to power issues or wear on the SSD. It worked yesterday, so the problem might be with the current condition of the drive.
If your BIOS secure erase did not complete, then you should probably look for alternatives. There are some software utilities that can do the job, even if this is your boot drive. Also, why do you need to secure erase your SSD ? Unless you have very sensitive information stored on it and a high of having your computer stolen because someone knows that information was there, a simple long format should be geed to go. Anyway, good luck !
I had to perform a Secure Erase initially thinking it was the sole solution for another problem, but it resolved the issue effectively. When I encountered the same concern again, I reused the Secure Erase method. Now that I’ve found a more appropriate fix for the original issue, I no longer rely on Secure Erase, though I’m still addressing the lingering concerns from before.
I submitted a ticket to MSI support regarding the Secure Erase issue, but they advised me on troubleshooting actions such as resetting CMOS and applying optimized defaults. I followed those steps, yet the board still doesn’t recognize the SSD and won’t boot.