If the Samsung Magician secure erase greyed out and cannot secure erase Samsung SSD as expected, you can read this post and learn how to tackle with this issue. Besides, you will know another easier way to erase SSD.
“I just want to sell my 500GB Samsung SSD 840 EVO. Before the transaction, I would like to use Samsung Magician Secure Erase to secure erase the SSD to protect my privacy by permanently destroying all stored data so that data recovery is impossible. However, when I followed the Samsung Magician Secure Erase Instructions both online and on the Secure Erase program to erase my Samsung SSD 840 EVO, the Samsung Magician Secure Erase not working. Why? How can I solve it?”
Samsung Magician is a software package of Samsung that is used for managing Samsung SSD. Its Secure Erase utility creates a bootable USB that can be used to erasing data from all cells on Samsung SSD. Meanwhile, it will reset the SSD to the factory state if there are problems with performance or operation of the SSD, such as running slower than before.
To use Samsung Magician Secure Erase to secure erase SSD, you have to create a bootable USB drive or a bootable CD/DVD DOS with Samsung Magician. And then, boot from the created bootable USB or CD. It should find your Samsung 840 EVO SSD, and after a couple of warnings, erase the drive completely. However, you may meet the problem that the Samsung Magician Secure Erase greyed out, just like the Scenario.
There are many reasons for Samsung Magician Secure Erase greyed out. For example, you will get a message saying the SSD is in a “frozen state”. If you meet the problem, you should replug it and try again. If there still has the problem, you may figure out why it happens or consider finding a workaround.
Thus, you can switch to the AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional as an alternative to easily get around the “Samsung Magician Secure Erase Greyed out” issue. This professional disk manager can secure erase SSD of multiple SSD such as Samsung SSD, Kingston SSD, Hitachi SSD, SanDisk SSD, etc. Just a few clicks can do it. The following are complete steps of erasing Samsung SSD drive:
Preparing: 1. A computer installed with Windows 7 operating system; 2. Connect the Samsung SSD to the Windows 7 computer via SATA port and verify it is detected; 3. AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. You can download the demo version for a free trial.
Step 1. Install and run AOMEI Partition Assistant Professional. Click the “Wipe” button at the top side and select the “SSD Secure Erase” option.
Step 2. It will give you a notice for the operation, read it, click Next. And then elect the Samsung SSD that you want to securely erase and click Next.
Step 3. Here you may see the SSD is in a frozen state and you cannot continue to secure erase it. Thus, you need to perform a hot swap for this SSD to relieve the frozen state*.
Step 4. Click Next after the hot swap. Then Samsung SSD secure erase progress will start.
* Perform a hot swap for SSD 1. If you meet the warning that the SSD is in frozen state, you need to perform a hot swap for the SSD. The following steps can unfreeze the SSD. But you need to follow the steps strictly in order to avoid the unpredictable error. 2. Please open computer case cover. If it is laptop, open its back cover or hard shell; 3. Find the SSD that need to be secure erased; 4. Unplug the power cable from the SSD; 5. Unplug SSD’s SATA cable; 6. Replug the SATA cable to the SATA port of SSD; 7. Replug power cable to the power port. 8. So far, you have finished the hot swap operation, and you can continue to secure erase SSD.
Tips: Do not turn off your computer and applications during the operations.
The AOMEI Partition Assistant should be a great solution to Samsung Magician Secure Erase greyed out and it can help you use SSD better and more flexibly. Besides, you can use it to format SSD, recover lost partition on the SSD drive, perform SSD 4K alignment and more. Moreover, its “Wipe Hard Drive” feature allows you to wipe HDD when necessary.