Full formatting of ssd. Install the system from scratch. Methods for formatting a flash drive or disk via BIOS

Quite a long time has passed since the appearance of solid state drives (Solid State Drive - SSD) on the market. Prices for this product are gradually decreasing, making it more and more affordable, and now a 120 GB drive will cost about 4 thousand rubles. In fact, if you want to upgrade your PC now, then buying an SSD will be one of the most cost-effective options. You don’t have to throw away your existing hard drive (it will only partially change its function, becoming a storage for media and other heavy files), and the computer’s performance in almost all operating modes will increase noticeably.

Users who are not particularly interested in the world of hardware may not clearly understand the fundamental difference between an SSD and the usual magnetic hard drive HDD, and they often see the new product as the same HDD, only faster, smaller, lighter and more expensive. It is precisely the lack of understanding of the fundamental differences in the operation of HDD and SSD that can lead to incorrect use of SSD, which in especially severe cases will reduce all its advantages to zero. Yes, the solid-state drive needs to be used correctly, but do not be afraid - the user does not require any painstaking daily deeply technical actions. Rather, it's simply required not to do a few simple things, and today we're presenting a list of "don'ts" for anyone considering powering up their workhorse with a fast SSD.

For the techies who have discerned captaincy here, we ask you to take into account the fact that if you know all this, then you probably also know the fact that there are other people who may not know all this. Replace the usual “thank you cap” with your additional advice, together we will make the Internet more useful.

Don't defragment

There is no need to defragment the SSD. If in the old Windows with FAT32 you defragmented by inertia (although NTFS works fine without it), then with the purchase of an SSD you can and should forget about defragmentation (the SSD itself) altogether.

SSDs have a limited number of write cycles (as a rule, the cheaper the disk, the less resource it has), and such shoveling of its contents will definitely not benefit the lifespan. Yes, recent SSD models have a very large supply of write cycles, and you are unlikely to reach the limit when the disk stops working correctly, even with frequent recording, but the point here is rather that defragmentation itself is pointless for SSDs.

HDDs use mechanical parts. The head that reads the data wanders back and forth across the surface of the magnetic disk. Accordingly, the more specific data is scattered across the disk, the more movements and time it needs to completely read this data. Nothing moves in an SSD, and access to any memory cell is equally fast and does not depend in any way on the relative position of this data.

Don't format

We are accustomed to the fact that in order to completely and permanently delete data from the HDD, it is necessary to use additional tools: formatting, special utilities like DBAN or the Wiper tool included in CCleaner. This is done so that a cunning attacker will not be able to recover the data you deleted from the disk using a utility like Recuva.

In the case of SSDs, everything is different. The point here is not even in the drive itself, but in the operating system. If you are using a more or less current OS (Windows 7+, Mac OS X 10.6.8+, Linux with Linux kernel 2.6.28+), then the system takes over the final deletion of data from the disk, and does it automatically using the TRIM function.

TRIM implements the ability for the OS to “inform” the solid-state drive that the file has been completely deleted and the sectors occupied by it need to be cleared. Some of the first SSD models did not support TRIM, but that was so long ago (and these SSDs were so expensive) that the likelihood of getting into such a drive model tends to zero.

Don't use Windows XP or Windows Vista

New toy - new axis! And the point here is not at all new. It's just that XP and Vista don't support TRIM. In the previous paragraph, we gave the concept of TRIM, and now we need to explain how the absence of this function affects the SSD. If there is no TRIM, then after deleting the file the data will still remain on the disk. As a result, when information is written to the same sectors again, they will first have to be cleared, and only then data will be written to them. Unnecessary untimely operations -> reduced speed.

In modern operating systems, TRIM is enabled by default. The user does not need to do anything. Just leave everything as it is and enjoy the SSD speeds.

Don't fill it to capacity

In order for an SSD to operate at full speed, it must maintain approximately 25% free space on it. It sounds a little unfair: you buy an expensive SSD, it already has little space, the system sees less space in it than what is written on the box, and then they ask you to leave a quarter of the volume in reserve? Unfortunately yes. This is a feature of how SSDs work, and we don’t yet have the best widely available technologies. You will have to accept the rules for the best speed.

From the point of view of internal processes, the drop in performance with a small amount of free space can be explained as follows: a lot of free space means a lot of free blocks. When writing a file, data is written to free blocks. Little free space - many partially filled blocks and few completely free blocks. When writing a file, the system will first have to read the partially filled block into the cache, add new data to it, and then write the already modified block back to disk. And so on for each block.

The 25% limit was not taken out of thin air. This figure was arrived at by the guys from AnandTech, who conducted research on the dependence of SSD performance on its fullness.

In fact, if you use the SSD exactly where it is strongest, then having to leave a quarter of the space free won't bother you. Now we will talk about the role in which an SSD is most effective.

Do not use as storage

Buying an SSD to store a library of music and movies on it is a bad idea. The HDD speeds are quite enough to comfortably record and watch a FullHD movie from them, and listen to Losless music. SSD is needed where access and write speed is most important.

The SSD should be used as a system drive. It should have an operating system, applications and, if absolutely necessary, modern games. Nothing else.

When we understand that an SSD ideally serves as a catalyst for the most demanding processes for fast computer operation (the operation of the OS is the basis of everything, fast operation of important applications, fast reading of data from the “body” of the game), the need to fill it to capacity disappears altogether. SSD is a dedicated fast lane for only the most important things.

If you still want to use a fast SSD as storage, then just calculate the cost of rubles per gigabyte of memory for it and for the HDD.

What if you bought a new fancy ultrabook that only has an SSD, but you want to record movies? Buy an external hard drive with a USB 3.0 or Thunderbolt interface (provided that this standard is supported by the beech itself).

We hope that this information will help you start using SSDs for their intended purpose and as efficiently as possible.

Buying a solid-state drive is not even half the battle. It is important to install it correctly, but most importantly, you need to optimally configure the operating system to improve the performance of the SSD and extend its life. We'll talk about this today.

First, let's define the initial data: the only SSD will be entirely dedicated to the needs of Windows 7. Why the “seven”? Well, firstly, this is the latest and, perhaps, the most successful version of “Windows” over the past 10 years, and secondly, in it you will have to make fewer body movements to achieve the desired result. Of course, no one bothers you to install good old Windows XP on a solid-state drive (this is exactly the combination we saw on the first ASUS Eee PC models). But you will have to tinker with this OS.

Problems arise here: incorrect alignment of partitions on SSDs and the non-optimal cluster size of the NTFS file system for such storage devices. Additionally, XP does not support the TRIM command, which was introduced in the ATA interface specification precisely to improve SSD support. Actually, there is third-party software that allows you to organize “emulation” of this command (in quotes - because in fact we are talking about a function that is not a complete analogue of TRIM, although it does approximately the same thing; how does it function on in practice, I have not checked).

The parameter responsible for the SATA controller mode is usually located in the Integrated Peripherals section in CMOS Setup

This state of affairs is due to the fact that the Windows disk subsystem was optimized for regular hard drives, while SSDs have completely different operating principles. The practical guide does not involve deep excursions into theory, so I highly recommend that you read the article ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/TRIM_(SSD_command) - it is written in sufficient detail about why this command is so important.

Whatever drive you have, you must first connect it physically (by the way, if you have already decided to purchase such a device, but have not yet had time to do so, read the sidebar “About choosing an SSD”). Everything is elementary here, so look for a SATA cable and go ahead. I won’t waste magazine space on describing trivial actions, I’ll just remind you that many modern motherboards have SATA 6 Gb/s controllers (either chipset-based or on a separate chip).

It is to them that the drive should be connected if it is also familiar with this interface revision. And one more point: all SSDs available in retail are made in the 2.5″ form factor. If the PC case does not have mounting slots for such devices, you need to take care in advance of the slides that allow you to install “laptop” drives in a standard 3.5-inch bay. Sometimes such sleds come complete with the SSD itself (of course, in boxed versions).

Device Manager view when SATA controller drivers are installed correctly and AHCI mode is enabled

Now you need to switch the controller to which the solid-state drive is connected to AHCI mode. Only in this case will the same TRIM command mentioned above be effective. Compatibility mode (IDE / Legacy IDE / Native IDE, other options are possible) is not suitable for our purposes. So, go to CMOS Setup and set the appropriate parameter (both in classic “BIOSes” and in UEFI it is usually located in the Integrated Peripherals section, although it may also be in the Chipset Features section; if not found, read the manual for the motherboard).

If you connected the SSD to the controller on a separate board, then the algorithm of actions is similar. Only very budget nameless controllers (usually on Silicon Image chips) do not have the ability to change BIOS parameters, but it is better not to take such hardware at all, and if it is already available, you should immediately and without hesitation give it to the enemy: let him suffer (bloodthirsty smile).

Before installing Windows 7, I recommend going to the website of the motherboard or controller manufacturer, downloading the latest drivers for Windows 7 (usually they exist in two distributions, for 32- and 64-bit versions of the OS) and uploading them to a USB flash drive. There is no point in describing in detail the process of installing the operating system: the main thing is that it “sees” your SSD, after which you can safely give all the unallocated space to the “axis” itself.

When partitioning the drive, the “Seven” must correctly align the partitions, format them for NTFS with a cluster size of 4 KB and enable support for the TRIM command.

If the required drive is not in the list of detected storage devices, you need to slip the newly downloaded “firewood” into the installation program. It happens that during the installation of the OS on a drive connected to an Intel chipset controller, errors occur. If you encounter this, look for a solution here: support.microsoft.com/kb/2466753. By the way, I note that many of the operations described below require administrator rights and when the UAC system is enabled, you need to enter a password.

On a fresh copy of Windows, the first thing to check is whether AHCI mode is actually enabled. For example, I encountered the fact that after installing Windows 7 on storage devices connected to third-party controllers (in particular, JMicron), the system lost the “firewood” that was “fed” to it during the installation.

At the same time, what’s most interesting is that the OS loaded, and the drives seemed to behave normally. The only problem was that in the “Device Manager” there were question marks next to the device “Standard AHCI 1.0 Serial ATA Controller”. It was not possible to find out what this is connected with - and it didn’t hurt, to be honest, since the problem is solved by simply reinstalling the drivers in Windows itself.

“Seven” - if it correctly determines that it is being installed on an SSD - must correctly align the partitions when partitioning the drive, format them for NTFS with a cluster size of 4 KB and enable support for the TRIM command. As a rule, problems do not arise here, so if you do not consider yourself to be the type of person who wants to double-check everything, you can safely skip a few paragraphs and return to reading where the post-installation setup of the operating system is described.

About partition alignment (let me remind you that Windows 7, during a standard installation, creates two volumes, one is boot, the other is system, and the first, small volume, is not assigned a drive letter, and you can “see” it only in the “Control Panel” applet > “ Administration" > "System Management" > "Disk Management"). You can determine the offset using the console utility DiskPart, by running which you need to enter two commands in succession: select disk 0 (here 0 is the number of the disk on which the system partition is located; you can view the entire list with the list disk command) and then list partition.

To greatly simplify and without going into details, I will say that the offset of the first partition should be equal to 1 MB, the second - 1 MB + the size of the first partition, etc. Instructions on how to align partitions using the same command are here: support.microsoft.com/kb/929491 (useful, among other things, for those who want to make hard drives with Advanced Format support, i.e., with a physical sector size of 4 KB, work with Windows XP; be careful - follow the recommendations described in the article Microsoft support will destroy all information on the disk). More about alignment: habrahabr.ru/company/paragon/blog/97436.

The size of the file system cluster is found using the console command fsutil fsinfo ntfsinfo C: (the system partition “seven” is always assigned the letter C:, this can be changed, although it is not recommended - see support.microsoft.com/kb/223188). And to check whether TRIM support is enabled, use the fsutil behavior query DisableDeleteNotify command. If it returns the value 0, then everything is in order, if 1, then TRIM is not activated.

I will also add that there are a number of third-party tools that will help you avoid unnecessary effort. For example, the AS SSD Benchmark utility (alex-is.de), which I recently described in “Small Programs,” shows in its window whether AHCI mode is enabled and whether the partitions are aligned correctly. Another utility, SSD Life Free (ssd-life.ru), will allow you to quickly determine how things are going with TRIM support. Both software are free, and I strongly recommend that all SSD owners add them to their system maintenance software arsenal.

After conducting a series of express tests, I found out that this parameter somehow affects the recording speed, but the results are not repeatable, so I don’t give specific numbers. There are reports on the Internet that disabling caching in some cases allows you to get rid of “blue screens of death” (in fairness, I will say that I did not have to deal with this). Another solution to this problem is changing the drive firmware.

But if you are not ready for such radical measures or your SSD is already loaded with the latest version of the firmware, try caching and actually disable it - maybe it will help? This is done like this: in the “Device Manager” you need to select the desired drive in the “Disk devices” section, click on the “Properties” item in the context menu and on the “Policies” tab enable the “Quick removal” option. After this you will have to restart your PC.

You won’t have to deal with other caching services – Prefetch and Superfetch: in theory, Windows 7 itself should disable them when installing them on an SSD. I will limit myself to just mentioning this, since it is not difficult to find instructions on the Internet, including in Russian, on how to do this manually.

With the right approach, Windows 7 with a typical set of home software can easily fit on a 32 GB solid state drive. But buying such devices is not recommended.

But you will have to stop automatic indexing of files on a partition located on an SSD yourself. Everything is simple here: select the properties of the desired logical drive and uncheck the box next to the item with the tricky name “Allow the contents of files on this drive to be indexed in addition to the file properties.” A new dialog box will open in which we will be asked to make changes only for the root folder or for all subdirectories. Select the second option and click OK.

About virtual memory. If your machine has 8 GB of RAM or more, you can safely disable it - of course, unless you are using software that can eat up all the available RAM. When it comes to an ordinary home computer that is used for a little bit of everything (Internet, text editing, watching movies, games), eight gigs is enough, and I personally, for example, have never encountered a situation where the amount of allocated memory approached this value.

But for 4 GB RAM, I recommend leaving the swap file, but moving it to a partition located on a regular HDD. In both cases, you need to go to “Control Panel” > “System”, click on the “Advanced system settings” item in the left column, select the “Advanced” tab, in it - the “Performance” section, then - another tab “Advanced”, click on the “Change” button in the “Virtual memory” section and, depending on your desire, either check the box next to “Without a page file” for all disks (this is if it is not needed at all), or set it manually for the logical drive located on a regular HDD. The changes will take effect after the system is restarted.

Hibernation mode, in which a Hiberfil.sys file is created in the root of the system partition, equal in size to the amount of RAM installed in the PC, I personally always disable on both desktops and laptops. In the case of ordinary hard drives, it is debatable how correct this decision is. But when Windows 7 is installed on an SSD, this technology generally loses all meaning, since loading the OS “from scratch” takes very little time (for example, my machine takes no more than 20 seconds).

Therefore, we simply type powercfg -h off in the console and press Enter - this will save us both from the mode itself and from the above file, which, by the way, cannot be transferred to another partition (and the free space on the SSD will still come in handy). For those especially gifted, the Redmond corporation has released the Microsoft Fix it 50466 patch, which disables hibernation without requiring manual entry of commands. Find it here: support.microsoft.com/kb/920730.

System Restore is a controversial function (those who have encountered cunning malware will understand what I mean), which, among other things, consumes free space on the partition at an alarming rate. So, for reasons of saving free space on the SSD, we refuse it too. To do this, again go to “Advanced system settings”, on the “System Protection” tab, select drive C: from the list, click the “Configure” button and enable the “Disable system protection” item.

It remains to deal with defragmentation, which Windows, starting with Vista, performs on a schedule in the background in all partitions (these are the default OS settings). For solid-state drives, FS optimization does more harm than good: they do not have the same access time problems as conventional hard drives, and additional write operations only reduce the service life of the SSD. I propose a radical solution: cancel this task altogether. Good free defragmenters with a built-in scheduler (for example, Smart Defrag 2, www.iobit.com/) can easily handle servicing regular hard drives

iobitsmartdefrag.html). If you agree with this approach, then go to Control Panel > Administrative Tools > Task Scheduler and disable the ScheduledDefrag task. However, it can also be modified so that the standard defragmenter does not process logical drives located on the SSD. This is done on the “Actions” tab in the task properties, where instead of the command line argument -c you need to enter -e C:, where C: is the system partition. After this, the “Details” line on the same tab should look like this: %windir%\system32\defrag.exe -e C:.

Sometimes it is also recommended to disable NTFS journaling and recording of the Last Access Time Stamp attribute for logical drives on SSDs. I probably wouldn’t do the first, but the second is possible. True, then you will no longer be able to determine when any application accessed a particular file or folder, but in return you will receive some improvement in the performance of the entire disk subsystem and a reduction in the load on the SSD. So feel free to enter the fsutil behavior set disablelastaccess 1 command in the console - and you’re done (although a reboot will be required).

Now let's talk about free space. It is highly not recommended to “clog” partitions on SSDs to capacity: this not only reduces the data exchange speed, but also, due to the specifics of solid-state drives, leads to accelerated wear of the device and, as a result, a decrease in its service life. There is a rule of thumb: you should leave about 15% of the total free space on such partitions. That is, if the system volume on your SSD is 60 GB, then you need about 10 GB to be unoccupied. Unfortunately, I could not find any justification for this specific figure (15%), but this is the recommendation most often found on the Internet.

What can you do here? Well, for example, move the “My Documents” folder to another logical drive, refuse to store user files in the system partition, install gigabyte-intensive software (games) on other drives, disable the browser cache (in the case of Chrome this is not the case - it’s simple, but still possible: read the note kompkimi.ru/?p=19579 - the translation leaves much to be desired, but this is the most sensible instruction in Russian). But it is better not to use compression of files and folders using NTFS on solid-state drives, as this increases the number of write cycles with all the ensuing consequences.

Storage devices based on NAND memory do not require any special maintenance during operation, but from time to time it makes sense to check their health. All modern SSDs support S.M.A.R.T. technology, which allows you to evaluate the technical condition of the drive. To view the corresponding attributes, I recommend the free CrystalDiskInfo utility (crystalmark.info). And the SSD Life Free program mentioned above can predict the remaining service life of such devices.

As always, there is almost no space left for the final part of the article. So I’ll just say one thing: do not neglect the above recommendations, and a grateful SSD will serve you faithfully for many years (smile). U.P.

About choosing an SSD
Prices for regular HDDs have not returned to their “antediluvian” state, although six months have passed since the flood in Thailand (at the time of this writing). But SSDs continue to get cheaper, so now is a good time to purchase them. In Moscow retail, the most widely represented models are those with capacities of 32/64/128/256 GB (there are also intermediate values ​​- for example, 50 GB).

With the right approach, the “seven”, along with a typical set of home software (with the exception of games with “heavy” graphics), easily fits on a 32 GB SSD. But I don’t recommend buying such devices: they are already beginning to become obsolete, and their performance indicators are somewhat lower compared to more capacious models.

On the other hand, SSDs from 240 GB already cost quite a lot of money. Therefore, if the drive is needed only for the system, then the best option would be a device with a capacity of 64 to 128 GB. I leave the choice of a specific model to the readers. I will only note that it makes sense to focus on solid state drives with a SATA 6 Gb/s interface.

Before going to the nearest store, I also advise you to look for reviews on the Internet about the model you are planning to purchase: quite often there are still problems caused by “crooked” firmware. There is also a banal incompatibility between motherboards and SSDs at the hardware level.

An SSD solid-state drive differs in its properties and method of operation from a hard HDD drive, but the process of installing Windows 10 on it will not be much different; there is a noticeable difference only in preparing the computer.

Preparing the disk and computer for installation

Owners of SSD drives know that in previous versions of the OS, for correct, durable and full-fledged operation of the drive, it was necessary to change the system settings manually: disable defragmentation, some functions, hibernation, built-in antiviruses, the page file and change a few other parameters. But in Windows 10, the developers took these shortcomings into account; the system now performs all disk settings itself.

You especially need to focus on defragmentation: previously it greatly harmed the disk, but in the new OS it works differently, not harming the SSD, but optimizing it, so you should not disable automatic defragmentation. It's the same with other functions - in Windows 10 you don't need to configure the system's work with the disk manually, everything is already done for you.

The only thing is that when dividing a disk into partitions, it is recommended to leave 10–15% of its total volume as unallocated space.

This will not increase its performance, the recording speed will remain the same, but the service life may be slightly extended. But remember, most likely, the disk will last longer than you need even without additional settings. You can free up free interest both during the installation of Windows 10 (during the process in the instructions below), and after it using system utilities or third-party programs.

Preliminary PC setup

In order to install Windows on an SSD drive, you need to switch the computer to AHCI mode and make sure that the motherboard supports the SATA 3.0 interface. Information about whether SATA 3.0 is supported or not can be found on the official website of the company that developed your motherboard, or using third-party programs such as HWINFO (http://www.hwinfo.com/download32.html).

1. Switching to SATA mode
2. Turn off your computer.
3. As soon as the startup process begins, press the special key on the keyboard to go to the BIOS. Typically the Delete, F2 or other hotkeys are used. Which one will be used in your case will be written in a special footnote during the inclusion process.
4. The BIOS interface will differ in different motherboard models, but the principle of switching to AHCI mode on each of them is almost identical. First, go to the Settings section. To move through blocks and items, use the mouse or arrow keys with the Enter button.
5. Go to advanced BIOS settings.
6. In the “SATA Configuration” block, find the port to which your SSD is connected and press Enter on the keyboard.
7. Select AHCI operating mode. It may already be selected by default, but we needed to make sure of this. Save the settings made in the BIOS and exit it, boot the computer to proceed to preparing the media with the installation file.

Preparing installation media

If you already have a ready-made installation disk, you can skip this step and immediately begin installing the OS. If you don’t have one, then you will need a USB flash drive with at least 4 GB of memory. Creating an installation program on it will look like this:

1. We insert the USB flash drive into the port and wait until the computer recognizes it. Open the explorer.
2. First of all, it is important to format it. This is done for two reasons: the memory of the flash drive must be completely empty and divided in the format we need. While on the main page of Explorer, right-click on the flash drive and select “Format” in the menu that opens.
3. We select the NTFS format mode and begin the operation, which can last up to ten minutes. Please note that all data stored on the formatted media will be permanently erased.
4. Go to the official Windows 10 page (https://www.microsoft.com/ru-ru/software-download/windows10) and download the installation tool.
5. Launch the downloaded program. Read and accept the license agreement.
6. Select the second option “Create installation media”, since this method of installing Windows is more reliable, because you can start all over again at any time, and also use the created installation media in the future to install the OS on other computers.
7. Select the system language, version and bit depth. You should take the version that suits you best. If you are an ordinary user, then you should not load the system with unnecessary functions that will never be useful to you; install Windows at home. The capacity depends on how many cores your processor has: one (32) or two (64). Information about the processor can be found in the computer properties or on the official website of the company that developed the processor.
8. In the media selection, select the USB device option.
9. Select the flash drive from which the installation media will be created.
10. We wait until the media creation process is completed.
11. Reboot the computer without removing the media.
12. During startup, enter the BIOS.
13. We change the boot order of the computer: your flash drive should be in first place, not the hard drive, so that when you turn on the computer, it starts booting from it and, accordingly, starts the Windows installation process.

Windows 10 installation process on SSD

1. Installation begins with choosing a language; set the Russian language in all lines.
2. Confirm that you want to start the installation.
3. Read and accept the license agreement.
4. You may be asked to enter a license key. If you have it, then enter it, if not, then skip this step for now and activate the system after installing it.
5. Proceed with manual installation as this method will allow you to configure the disk partitions.
6. A window will open with disk partition settings, click on the “Disk Settings” button.
7. If you are installing the system for the first time, then all the SSD disk memory will not be allocated. Otherwise, you need to select one of the partitions to install and format it. Divide unallocated memory or existing disks as follows: allocate more than 40 GB to the main disk on which the OS will be located, so as not to encounter it being clogged in the future, leave 10–15% of the total disk memory unallocated (if all the memory has already been allocated, delete the partitions and start forming them again), we allocate all the remaining memory for an additional partition (usually drive D) or partitions (drives E, F, G...). Don't forget to format the main partition allocated for the OS.
8. To begin installation, select the drive and click Next.
9. Wait until the system installs in automatic mode. The process may take more than ten minutes, do not interrupt it under any circumstances. After the procedure is completed, the creation of an account and installation of basic system parameters will begin; follow the instructions on the screen and select the settings for yourself.

Video tutorial: how to install Windows 10 on an SSD

Installing Windows 10 on an SSD is no different from the same process with an HDD drive. Most importantly, do not forget to enable ACHI mode in the BIOS settings. After installing the system, there is no need to configure the disk; the system will do it for you.

Solid State Drives (SSDs) are becoming increasingly popular and it seems like it's only a matter of time before they replace regular HDD drives in computer systems. SSDs operate differently than HDD hard drives, especially when it comes to the processes of reading and writing to the disk. The most effective way to securely delete data on HDD hard drives (overwriting the data space) becomes unusable on SSDs due to their design. Data on HDD hard drives can be deleted by overwriting. This ensures that the data cannot be recovered using data recovery tools. This method does not work on SSDs since it is not possible to specify a location to overwrite.

Which is very problematic for computer users who want to give their computer or sell it to a third party with data on the SSD, which can be restored by the new owner of the disk. Several suggestions have been made on how to permanently delete data on SSDs. We decided to test these methods on an old OCZ Core Series II SSD to see how effective they are.

• Delete files.
• Format SSD.
• Encrypt the entire disk.
• Issuing secure erase command with HDDErase.

The effectiveness of the methods was tested by running Recuva data recovery programs after each method. An effective method should be chosen that can provide without file recovery.

Test systems

• Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
• OCZ Core Series II SSD
• Recuva Software Recovery File

Deleting files

This is a straightforward way to delete files on your SSD. This is the only option in the article that can be used to selectively delete files and folders. Deleting files directly in Windows Explorer is not sufficient to protect data from recovery software. Recuva found almost 100% of files that were deleted in Windows Explorer.

Therefore, deleting files directly in the operating system is not an option for permanently deleting data on SSDs.

Formatting a Solid State Drive

This is the simplest option as it can be done directly without additional software requirements. Windows users need to find the SSD in Windows Explorer, right-click and select Format from the available options.

It is important to uncheck Quick Format and make sure that all data on the disk will be formatted.

Windows Explorer does not display all the files on the drive after a full format is complete. Now we run Recuva to see if files can be recovered from the disk after a full format. Recuva is easy to use. All that is required is to select the SSD and click the Scan button. A Deep Scan will be offered and you must accept it. This scan may take some time depending on the size and speed of the SSD.

The scan found a total of 243 files that were ignored and not shown in Recuva. Files mostly with zero bytes were ignored; in our case, all files that were found were 0 bytes in size. Full Format made it possible to delete files on the disk, except for fatal files. The ignored files that were shown as recoverable had no name and were all 0 bytes.

Alternative formatting software:

Darik's Boot and Nuke is an option for users who just bought an SSD and connected it to a computer or are using a different operating system.

SSD Encryption

Encrypting the entire SSD should, in theory, be enough to make the files unrecoverable. We decided to use True Crypt encryption software to encrypt the SSD. True Crypt (available for Windows, Linux and Mac). Here are the steps to encrypt a drive with True Crypt. Click the Create Volume button in the True Crypt main interface. This opens the TrueCrypt volume creation wizard.

Encrypt non-system partition/drive is an option to encrypt a drive other than the system drive. Select standard TrueCrypt volume in the next window and select the device in the next one. Select the SSD and partition from the list of connected hard drives.

Select the drive to create an encrypted volume and format it, on the next screen leave the default values ​​in the encryption options on the next screen, click Next on the Volume Size screen and select a password after that. Save the default settings from this point, clicking next if available. Click on the Format button, after which a True Crypt warning window will appear, which states that all data on the disk will be deleted. Continue by selecting “Delete all files stored on the partition, creating a TrueCrypt volume.”

True Crypt will format the drive and display a window notifying you that the encrypted volume was successfully created.

Recuva was unable to scan the hard drive, stating that the boot sector of the SSD drive could not be read. Additional recovery programs were unable to recover files. Careful users can format the drive after encryption and run file recovery software to test the effects later. This gave the same results as the regular disk format did.

Issuing secure erase command with HDDErase

The Secure erase command resets all NAND erases, effectively erasing all data from the drive. The command is mainly used to restore factory settings of drives that have decreased performance levels over time. This method is only for advanced users, largely because it requires setting up the BIOS and creating a boot disk.

HDDErase is one of the secure erase command support tools. Latest version of HDDErase 4, which is no longer compatible with Intel SSD. To do this, a boot disk must be created. HDDErase will only work if AHCI is disabled in the computer's BIOS. Safe Erase scans the drive to ensure it supports this command.

The importance of the commands format, encryption and secure deletion of data on disks is irreparable. It says a lot about formatting a solid-state drive, since it is the easiest method of the three possible. There is usually no need to encrypt the data on the drive before formatting, as this will produce the same results as the standard Format. It is highly recommended to check the result with recovery software to ensure that the data remaining behind the scenes can be recovered.

The problem of improperly formatting SSD drives has been discussed many times since these drives entered mass production. And although modern Windows operating systems have already learned to work correctly with solid-state drives, when formatting drives with third-party utilities (or in Windows XP), performance problems are possible, which will be discussed below.

The reason for conducting tests and writing material was not only the desire to personally check the result, but also, to a greater extent, the need to obtain specific numbers, since too many Internet resources, when describing the problem, instead of accurate data on changes in performance, provide vague formulations and refer to other articles, which, in turn, are sent somewhere else. Ultimately, after finding several negative reviews about the impact of partition alignment on SSD performance, it became clear that the situation needed to be sorted out on its own. The material outlines the theoretical foundations and guidance for checking the correctness of partition shifting on an SSD, as well as performance tests.

A little theory
Modern drives are presented to the operating system and programs as memory divided into 512-byte sectors, however, at the physical level, the size of each disk sector is 8 times larger and amounts to 4 KB. To maintain compatibility with older applications, another layer is created above all this, in which each sector is also 4 KB. Microsoft operating systems prior to Windows Vista reserve the first 63 sectors at the beginning of the disk for the MBR (master boot record), and this causes the logical (top-most) and physical (bottom-most) layers of the drive to move relative to each other, and therefore, one logical sector is located on two physical ones at once. It follows from this that all I/O operations will be performed twice, which not only reduces the performance of the SSD, but also consumes its resource faster (as you know, SSDs have a limited number of write cycles). As you might guess, in order for the sectors at the physical and logical levels to coincide, the shift at the very beginning of the disk must be a multiple of 4 KB (4096 bytes).

How to know if a partition is shifted correctly on an SSD
As mentioned above, modern Windows systems can correctly shift partitions when formatting, however, if the initial partition was done in a third-party utility or in Windows XP, then even reformatting in Windows 7 will not correct the situation. In this case, either completely deleting the partition(s) and creating a new one, or shifting the entire disk area using special utilities will help.
To find out whether you need to do all this at all, you need to run the msinfo32 utility, go to the Components->Storage->Disks section and find the Partition Starting Offset value for your SSD drive.


If dividing this value by 4096 results in a non-integer value, then the first section is not shifted correctly. In our case, 32,256/4096 = 7.875, which is what you would expect after formatting the disk under Windows XP.

An alternative way to obtain the same information is to run the following command at the command prompt:
wmic partition get BlockSize, StartingOffset, Name, Index


As you can see, on one drive (SSD in our case) the first partition is shifted incorrectly, but on the second (HDD) it is shifted correctly, since 1048576/4096 = 256 (integer).

How to move a section
If nothing important is stored on the disk, then the fastest way to fix the error is by deleting all partitions and creating them again under Windows Vista/7. Simple formatting is not enough here, since the area does not shift.
If the disk is bootable and the operations described above are undesirable, then you should move the partition. Let's look at how this is done using the free GParted utility.
1 . bootable GParted ISO disk (115 MB) or use one of the Linux distributions in which GParted can be available as a separate utility.
2 . We burn the image to a CD or flash drive and boot from the media.
3 . In GParted, select the first partition of the SSD drive and the Resize/Move command.
4 . Uncheck the box next to Round to cylinders, put “2” next to Free space preceding, click Resize/Move and then Apply.
5 . We repeat the previous point, but instead of “2” in the Free space preceding we put “1”. Click Resize/Move and then Apply.
6 . If there are several partitions on the SSD, then operations 3-5 must be repeated with each of them, which may take several hours.
GParted performs the shift operation without deleting data, but when working with hard drives, it is always recommended to save important files on another medium.

After a reboot, the system will most likely refuse to start, but Windows can quickly be restored to functionality by using the Repair Your Computer command in the first dialog of any boot disk with Windows 7.
After the Desktop appears, check the correct alignment in Msinfo32:


2,097,152 / 4096 = 512 – the section is shifted correctly.

Performance
Before directly measuring performance, an attempt was made to count I/O operations before and after formatting the disk. According to Microsoft Help, the I/O Reads and I/O Writes parameters in Windows Task Manager show the number of corresponding read or write operations for each specific process.
Five times before using GParted and five times after, the same 700 MB ISO file was copied to an SSD using the Altap Salamander file manager. In each case, the number of read and write operations was exactly 22.3 thousand. The lack of difference is most likely due to the fact that Windows Task Manager only works with the top level of the disk and is not able to display the actual number of operations at the base level.
HD Tune and Crystal Disk Mark programs were used to directly measure performance. The Kingston HyperX SH100S3B/240G SSD drive was first tested on a computer with SATA 2.0, and then on a platform supporting SATA 3.0, where it was able to fully reveal its potential: the drive’s performance is at the level of 500+ MB/s, but when using SATA 2.0 it is limited at 200+ MB/s. All measurements were carried out 5 times, and the size of the test file in CrystalDiskMark was 1000 MB.
In HD Tune's Benchmark mode, only the read speed was measured, since writing testing required deleting all partitions from the disk (for the utility to directly access the drive), and this, of course, made the whole test meaningless.

SATA 2.0

It would be logical to assume that a drive whose performance is 2.5 times higher than the throughput of SATA 2.0 would simply be limited by the capabilities of the interface and would not show any improvement on an outdated platform, but this turned out to be completely wrong. An increase, quite significant, was recorded even in this configuration of the test system.
As can be clearly seen in the diagram, the read speed in SATA 2.0 mode remained virtually unchanged, and the determining factor here (with the exception of the last two tests with small block sizes) was the bottleneck of the interface.
A completely different picture emerges in the write speed tests, where in each case an obvious difference in performance was recorded. The minimum performance increase was 12%, and the maximum was 450%.

SATA 3.0

This mode made it possible to reveal the full potential of the drive, and in tests it demonstrated exactly the speeds that the manufacturer indicated on the box (about 500 MB/s in read and write mode).
The reading test again did not bring any special sensations, except that HD Tune in Benchmarks mode seemed to correct the result in the previous test, where instead of a slight increase in performance, a slight, but still strange decrease in performance was recorded. The result of CrystalDiskMark (4K QD32) also stands out, where the difference in speed was not a couple of MB, as in other tests, but much larger.
The recording results are also very similar to those obtained in SATA 2.0 mode. The gain in each test (except for the first and last) is almost identical, and this is easily explained by the fact that the SSD performance in these tests did not depend on the version of the SATA interface. If you do the calculations, the minimum increase was 18%, and the maximum was 310%.

Conclusion
The test results were somewhat unexpected. Firstly, in theory, the drive’s performance should have increased during reading as well, but an obvious improvement in the tests was recorded only during write operations. Secondly, before the start of testing, much more modest growth rates were expected (if expected at all), but despite this, in some tests a 3-4 times increase in recording speed was obtained.
Since checking whether the partitions on an SSD have been correctly shifted takes literally less than a minute, we recommend that all owners of such drives, just in case, check their solid-state drive and, in case of incorrect formatting, configure it correctly to obtain maximum performance. Interestingly, incorrect shifting is also relevant for conventional drives, and there is evidence that the negative impact of this factor is manifested on R.A.I.D. arrays. Therefore, it also makes sense for owners of such storage systems, especially those configured for maximum speed rather than excessive security, to optimize their system.