I'm planning to wipe my drive and do a fresh reinstall of Windows because I got stuck in a boot loop after trying to update my BIOS. Windows seems to be missing some files and attempts to download them but fails. I can't really do much in that state, so I'm hoping a clean slate will help. When I try using the Asus SSD secure erase, it only shows a partition size of 512 bytes instead of 4KB, and I'm worried if this will affect anything. Just for context, I have a PCIe Gen 4 SSD, so I thought the 4KB option should be available. Also, when I mentioned partition sizes, I meant the LBA formatting.
3 Answers
You don’t actually need to do a secure erase. Just go ahead and delete the existing partitions during the Windows installation process, then create new ones and format them. It's all you'll need to do unless you plan on selling the SSD or your whole computer.
You really don’t need to worry about the secure erase; installing Windows itself is enough to 'erase' it. Essentially, when you delete data on an SSD, it doesn’t really get wiped out; it just indicates that space is available. A fresh Windows install lets you delete all partitions, which makes it look like the data is gone, so secure erase is redundant. Plus, that leftover data won't impact any of your PC issues.
When you mention 'wiping the drive,' just clarify if you mean completely erasing everything. A drive is a physical thing that can have multiple partitions or volumes on it. If you want to start completely fresh, just remove the partitions and create new ones. Simple as that!
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