Can't format SSHD

[Routemaster]

Hello from Scotland. We have no less than 4 pc’s and laptops in our house, all running Win 10. I am about to dispose of a hard drive, surplus to requirements. And the major problem I have come across is reformatting it! I have tried every way I can think of. Internally, externally, using a sata/usb converter lead. Nothing will touch it. I have googled for hours without success.
Help would be gratefully appreciated. It is a Seagate 2tb Desktop SSHD

 

[davehc]

Hi. Welcome to the forum.
Can you get into it with the disk management facility?

If you can, try deleting the partition(s) and then a format.

 

[Tim Locke]

The classic way to 'dispose' of a hard drive would be to use a sledge hammer.

Are you named after the famous double decker?

 

[Trouble]

I have googled for hours without success

Not sure that we can be of much more help, but.....
Generally I use the Windows native Disk Part utility for cleaning or deleting drives and or partitions.
There are literally hundreds of videos on youtube that step through the process.

I am about to dispose of a hard drive

IF you're instead, talking about binning the thing rather that configuring it for future use.....
I generally use an electric drill and shoot some holes through it to make sure that any data is not recoverable.

 

[Routemaster]

I’m rapidly heading for the sledgehammer and I am indeed named after the bus. After a lifetime of living in London, I emigrated to central Scotland 4 years ago!
One of my hobbies is collecting diecast model London buses.
I am 73 btw

 

[Routemaster]

Nope! Definitely not binning it. It’s relatively new and a 2tb solid state drive is a bit pricey to just chuck away! I shall carry on tomorrow.

 

[Tim Locke]

Serious now. I have a useful Sata to USB3 gadget for plugging in a disk temporarily and you say you do as well. Download and copy to CD as an ISO a Linux distro. Boot it from CD and then mount that drive and use GPARTED on it. Being on an external connection it will have a slightly strange drive name not SDxx but some other letters. I don't have a linux alive at the moment to see what it would be called.



A 2TB SSD is indeed pricey. Don't you have anything older, smaller and spinning to replace with this thing?

 

[Trouble]

http://knowledge.seagate.com/articles/en_US/FAQ/005929en

Please note the warnings in RED in that article. You definitely don't want to wipe the wrong drive.

Seagate 2tb Desktop SSHD

My error, I thought that indicated a Solid State Hybrid Drive not an SSD

 

[Routemaster]

A 2TB SSD is indeed pricey. Don't you have anything older, smaller and spinning to replace with this thing?

I only have. An ide hard drive which won’t fit the motherboard connections

 

[Tim Locke]

You mean you have none of your 4 machines that have a smaller spinning sata drive...laptops usually are greatly improved with an SSD to replace whatever they came with.

 

[Grizzly]

Have you ever heard of DBAN?? Darik's Boot and Nuke? it is a program to erase a hard drive in a way that nothing can be recovered. I use it when I want to throw out drive that I do not use anymore.

https://dban.org/

after that you can reuse the drive as it was fresh out of the package.

NOTE: I have not used it yet on SSD...

 

[Routemaster]

Bummer! DBAN apparently won’t work on SSD Drives! Another alternative. PartMagic. They want $49 before they will part with it. So it looks like it might be the drill and sledge hammer after All!

Many thanks anyway to everyone who contributed and helped.

 

[Tim Locke]

You didnt like the Linux method?


As for DBAN I got the impression that it would zero out an SSD but could not certify that it was cleared.

 

[Routemaster]

It was the DBAN website that stated that it wouldn’t work on SSD’s

 

[Grizzly]

maybe this will help:

https://www.blancco.com/demo/free-trial-request-blancco-drive-eraser/

[edit]
never mind, this is for business only

 

[Routemaster]

Yes. Also just noticed that. Thanks anyway.

 

[Routemaster]

Hey. I’m wondering! What if I got another non SSD hard drive. Installed Windows so that it became the C drive. Then installed the SSD as a secondary drive and changed the drive letter. Should I be able to re format it then?

 

[davehc]

Didn't you sayt in your first post that you could not format it internally? I guess you meant either installed, then, as a secondary or primary.
That prompted my previous suggestion.

 

[Routemaster]

I can’t format it as a C drive and I can’t format it as a usb attachment. I’m hoping that this might be a third alternative.

 

[Trouble]

I'd probably have a look at
https://www.aomeitech.com/pa/standard.html

It allows you to create a bootable resource that will run the program, independent of any operating system or drive letter configuration.

One feature worth mentioning again is the Windows PE version of AOMEI Partition Assistant. With it, you setup partitions with ease even if you don't have an operating system installed. The program is the same as the one that runs in Windows but is instead launched from a disc or USB device, like a flash drive.

You can build this Windows PE disc from the "Make Bootable Media" wizard, which lets you burn directly to a disc or USB device, as well as export the program to an ISO file, which you can then use in a virtual machine or burn to a disc or burn to a USB device yourself.

SOURCE: https://www.lifewire.com/aomei-partition-assistant-standard-edition-review-2624942