I have a ThinkPad T520 and a Samsung 840 EVO 256GB SSD that I'm trying to secure erase.
I cannot secure erase the drive because I cannot unfreeze the drive because I cannot remove then reinsert the drive without the computer rebooting itself (and re-freezing the drive).
I'm sure the concept of "freezing" SSDs and requiring a power cycle to unfreeze makes sense to the autistic basement-monkeys that thought that one up, but I need to find a way to actually perform this task.
Things I've tried so far:
- Samsung Magician secure erase USB boot disk. Reboot machine, drive is frozen, program instructs disconnect + reconnect drive without powering off machine. I remove drive from internal bay. I reinsert. Machine reboots on reinsert. Drive is re-frozen.
- Boot to Linux from USB, hoping it was some OS level driver thing. Similar result.
- Disable SATA AHCI in BIOS. I don't know why this would have an effect but I was grasping at straws. Similar result.
- Samsung Magician to secure erase drive via USB enclosure. Secure erase not supported over USB, as expected.
- I already have the latest BIOS. Lenovo has an old BIOS extension for secure erasing SSDs but it does not support the T520, it only supports older machines.
The reboot on reinsert does not occur when I hotplug a Crucial M4. It only occurs with the Samsung 840 EVO. These are the only two drives I have, so I don't know which one is the exception.
My questions:
- Why does the machine reboot when I plug in the Samsung and how can I stop this from happening?
- If I can't, is there a less ridiculous way to unfreeze an SSD?
- If not, is there some way to secure erase an SSD over USB?
- If not, how do I secure erase this drive short of purchasing a new computer?