# Wiping used PM981 NVME M2



## Vario (Apr 23, 2019)

I bought a used Samsung PM981 1TB NVME SSD  for $100.  The part number suggests it came from a Lenovo ultrabook.  I am planning on using this drive as a steam game library.  I was figuring before I install and format it, I remove all drives from my machine, insert just the PM981, and use a USB bootloader software to wipe the drive.  What software is recommended for this?  As far as I know, the Z370 Taichi doesn't have a secure erase built into the bios.


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## Ferrum Master (Apr 23, 2019)

Vario said:


> I bought a used Samsung PM981 1TB NVME SSD  for $100.  The part number suggests it came from a Lenovo ultrabook.  I am planning on using this drive as a steam game library.  I was figuring before I install and format it, I remove all drives from my machine, insert just the PM981, and use a USB bootloader software to wipe the drive.  What software is recommended for this?



Just WHY? TRIM will basically wipe the drive itself, it ain't a magnetic hard drive.


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## Vario (Apr 23, 2019)

Ferrum Master said:


> Just WHY? TRIM will basically wipe the drive itself, it ain't a magnetic hard drive.


Not sure what it is on the drive.  I'd like it clean before I boot into windows.


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## Flaky (Apr 23, 2019)

Any bootable linux will do with nvme-cli package.
With this you can even change the sector size on certain NVMe drives! Cool feature, but almost completely useless.


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## Ferrum Master (Apr 23, 2019)

Vario said:


> Not sure what it is on the drive.  I'd like it clean before I boot into windows.



You can boot into windows installer via USB and call in CMD via shift + F10 and then diskpart. Or use the graphic UI just don't wipe your own drive. Check if the latest EXA7 FW present. I have the same drive too.


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## Vario (Apr 23, 2019)

Ferrum Master said:


> You can boot into windows installer via USB and call in CMD via shift + F10 and then diskpart. Or use the graphic UI just don't wipe your own drive. Check if the latest EXA7 FW present. I have the same drive too.


Alright, I'll try it out, I'll remove my 970 pro first to avoid wiping my OS drive.


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## xrror (Apr 23, 2019)

diskpart
>list disk
(will show list of disks in system)
>select disk x (x being the number of the target disk you want to clear
>clean
>exit


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## bonehead123 (Apr 23, 2019)

Just don't try to use sammy's own toolkit, as the secure erase function doesn't work on OEM drives, of which the PM series is 

Better to use one of the other tools already suggested above ^^


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## king of swag187 (Apr 23, 2019)

Could just boot the windows installer and delete the partitions on the drive, or use G-Parted on linux if you prefer a nuking of it


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## R-T-B (Apr 23, 2019)

If he's concerned about actually wiping the data on the partitions, I don't think just deleting them is sufficient.

Sedutil can help you here.  It's a linux commandline tool though, not the most friendly, and it insists on the libata.allow_tpm=1 flag being set, which can be awkward if not using it's own rescue environment.


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## Ferrum Master (Apr 23, 2019)

R-T-B said:


> If he's concerned about actually wiping the data on the partitions, I don't think just deleting them is sufficient.
> 
> Sedutil can help you here.  It's a linux commandline tool though, not the most friendly, and it insists on the libata.allow_tpm=1 flag being set, which can be awkward if not using it's own rescue environment.



Do you know how TRIM works on SSD lol? It will be zeroed after mins of deletion. If not that, then internal garbage collection.


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## R-T-B (Apr 23, 2019)

Ferrum Master said:


> Do you know how TRIM works on SSD lol? It will be zeroed after mins of deletion. If not that, then internal garbage collection.



The filesystem driver needs to support trim on a deletion event for that to happen.

None of that happens in a blanket partition delete.

It's probably gone beyond general recovery yes, but strictly speaking, this way described may leave bits and pieces to a dedicated foe.

Yes, I'm aware that is irrelevant to his use case.  My inner security nut keeps popping out, sorry.


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## eidairaman1 (Apr 23, 2019)

Does Magician with Secure Erase work on it?


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## Ferrum Master (Apr 23, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Does Magician with Secure Erase work on it?



Magician doesn't support this drive as such. It as an OEM product.


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## bonehead123 (Apr 23, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Does Magician with Secure Erase work on it?



Repeat:

"Just don't try to use sammy's own toolkit, as the secure erase function doesn't work on OEM drives, of which the PM series is 

Better to use one of the other tools already suggested above ^^ "


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## Vario (Apr 23, 2019)

I'll just pull all other drives, use a Win 10 iso on a usb and do the disk part to format it, then reinstall the 970 pro and the 1tb mechanical. Once I boot back to windows 7 I will image my WD blue 1tb over it.


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## eidairaman1 (Apr 23, 2019)

Ferrum Master said:


> Magician doesn't support this drive as such. It as an OEM product.



Probably need to refer to Lenovo for support. Good ol good ol proprietary stuff...


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## R-T-B (Apr 23, 2019)

eidairaman1 said:


> Probably need to refer to Lenovo for support. Good ol good ol proprietary stuff...



Lenovo will ask which computer you got it out of so they can void it's warranty, and hang up.

There's nothing mystical about these drives, they ship in prebuilt notebooks generally and are just as standards based as anything else.  Just don't work with Magician due to contractual reasons.


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## juiseman (Apr 23, 2019)

Can't you do a secure erase within windows 10?

I'd just install it and boot from your normal drive;
then wipe the drive...that would be the fastest approach.
I guess that's just me...I live on the wild side.


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## R-T-B (Apr 23, 2019)

juiseman said:


> Can't you do a secure erase within windows 10?



Not easily, no.  I mean technically, maybe, you could.  You'd need to port some third party linux tools or something.  But not easily.


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## juiseman (Apr 24, 2019)

https://www.easeus.com/partition-master/erase-or-wipe-ssd-windows-10.html

https://www.techrepublic.com/article/perform-a-secure-disk-wipe-with-windows-10s-format-command/

https://www.wepc.com/how-to/securely-erase-an-ssd-drive/


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