Here is how to properly erase a computers hard drive before selling/donating/disposal etc.
Mar 27, 2019 7:34:52 GMT
Post by mslo79 on Mar 27, 2019 7:34:52 GMT
In short... a hard drives built in 'Secure Erase' function is the proper way to erase a hard drive before disposal or donating it to another person etc as it helps ensure there is no sensitive data left on it that could be recovered by a shady person. Secure Erase is at least as good as, if not better than, popular data wiping programs like DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) given how it works. but I would say in most cases using DBAN will be good enough and it's probably a little less risky (like for potential problems turning up) given my experience (see my comments below). so if you want things a bit simpler to permanently delete ALL data that was ever on a hard drive beyond any way if recovery, just use DBAN. NOTE: don't use DBAN on a SSD (Solid State Drive) as it's not made for those as Secure Erase (either through method I describe below or using the manufacturer's tool etc) is your only choice for a SSD!
Now for the long portion...
I recently stumbled into more of a proper way to wipe a hard drive (or SSD) before donation or disposal etc. basically it completely removes any sensitive data from a hard drive beyond any possibility for data recovery like if you got sensitive info on it like credit card info or any other info you don't want getting into the wrong hands. but I suspect a lot people are not even aware of this so I figured I would make a post here for others to benefit from.
because for years I used DBAN (i.e. "Darik's Boot and Nuke" ; sourceforge.net/projects/dban/files/dban/dban-2.3.0/ (download the ISO file)) to wipe hard drives and while that is likely 'good enough' in most cases, since it wipes all of the user accessible area of the hard drive, it appears a more proper method (or a method that's at least as good as if not better than DBAN) is to use a hard drives built-in 'Secure Erase' feature as apparently a program issues the proper command to the drive in which case it activates the drive itself to wipe everything inside of the drive by writing zero's to it including areas that normally cannot be accessed by general software instead of using software like DBAN etc to wipe it etc. it appears that Secure Erase function has been built into hard drives etc since 2001 on drives roughly 15GB or larger I think, which pretty much means just about anyone reading this would be within that standard.
also, don't use DBAN on SSD (Solid State Drives) as it's not made for those as Secure Erase is what you need for SSD's. you can possibly use the official manufacturer tool to wipe a SSD as if you got a Samsung SSD (which are popular SSD's) you can possibly use the Samsung Magician software etc. but for those using Win8/Win10 it appears the Samsung Magician pretty much does not work (as it appears Win8/Win10 block the 'Secure Erase' stuff etc) as it appears Windows 7 is better suited for that etc (but I don't really use Win7 anymore as Microsoft is dumping support of it in Jan 2020). I did not look into this too much as using the stuff I did is just easier, pretty much.
Now for the long portion...
I recently stumbled into more of a proper way to wipe a hard drive (or SSD) before donation or disposal etc. basically it completely removes any sensitive data from a hard drive beyond any possibility for data recovery like if you got sensitive info on it like credit card info or any other info you don't want getting into the wrong hands. but I suspect a lot people are not even aware of this so I figured I would make a post here for others to benefit from.
because for years I used DBAN (i.e. "Darik's Boot and Nuke" ; sourceforge.net/projects/dban/files/dban/dban-2.3.0/ (download the ISO file)) to wipe hard drives and while that is likely 'good enough' in most cases, since it wipes all of the user accessible area of the hard drive, it appears a more proper method (or a method that's at least as good as if not better than DBAN) is to use a hard drives built-in 'Secure Erase' feature as apparently a program issues the proper command to the drive in which case it activates the drive itself to wipe everything inside of the drive by writing zero's to it including areas that normally cannot be accessed by general software instead of using software like DBAN etc to wipe it etc. it appears that Secure Erase function has been built into hard drives etc since 2001 on drives roughly 15GB or larger I think, which pretty much means just about anyone reading this would be within that standard.
also, don't use DBAN on SSD (Solid State Drives) as it's not made for those as Secure Erase is what you need for SSD's. you can possibly use the official manufacturer tool to wipe a SSD as if you got a Samsung SSD (which are popular SSD's) you can possibly use the Samsung Magician software etc. but for those using Win8/Win10 it appears the Samsung Magician pretty much does not work (as it appears Win8/Win10 block the 'Secure Erase' stuff etc) as it appears Windows 7 is better suited for that etc (but I don't really use Win7 anymore as Microsoft is dumping support of it in Jan 2020). I did not look into this too much as using the stuff I did is just easier, pretty much.
but instead of worrying about all of that BS, one can use a free bootable CD (or USB) to do this stuff called 'Ultimate Boot CD' (i.e. www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html ) which runs from a bootable CD (or USB) and then you got a couple of options which is you can try using the 'HDDErase v4.0' (accessed from the 'HDD' part once the Ultimate Boot CD initially loads up) which was apparently made with the help of the NSA, but it's last known released was from 2008 (so it's kind of old now but should still be okay if your hard drive etc works with it). but that seems to be more limited on support which is why I suggest using the other method which is more likely to work over a wider range of hardware which is using the 'Erase Disk' option on the desktop once you boot to the CD and select 'Parted Magic 2013_08_01_i586' (NOTE: apparently this is the last donation free version available (which is from the year 2013) as there are newer versions of this Parted Magic available but requires a $11 donation. but the one included with this for free is good enough(besides it pretty much appears it's just automating 'hdparm' Linux tool commands)) and after it loads briefly it will go to another screen and you can just press enter there which will then load a bunch of crap from the CD(or USB) all into the computers RAM and after some time (as it's loading a bunch of crap from CD) it will automatically eject the CD from the drive and at this point you will be at the desktop at which point you can then run the 'Erase Disk' icon and then select the bottom option on the menu that pops up that reads 'Internal Secure Erase command writes zeros to entire data area' and then you basically select the hard drive you want to issue the Secure Erase command to and it will eventually get to a screen that reads "NULL" (without the ") and you should enter something like 'temp' (without the ') there and don't forget this as you might need it (you probably won't but it's best to be sure). but anyways it will eventually reach a point that it will put the computer into a 'sleep' type of mode (it will appear the computer is pretty much powered off) which is only done to power cycle the hard drive as it powers down and then back on a moment later (once it powers down just press a key on the keyboard (say the 'spacebar' for example) to wake it back up) as that apparently has to be done because hard drives by default won't allow issuing commands like Secure Erase as it helps prevent potential viruses etc from infecting sensitive areas of the hard drive but this temporarily bypasses it (with the power cycle of the hard drive while your computer is still on) as it appears when many computers are powered on the PC's BIOS upon initial boot up issues some sort of command to the hard drive to auto-block these kinds of Secure Erase stuff etc. but anyways, once it powers back up from the temporary power off you can then proceed to complete the secure erase of the drive by following simple instructions on screen. but note that once the actual Secure Erase process starts (which the following screenshot is what you see once the actual Secure Erase process is going) you should NOT stop it til it completes as here is a screenshot I took of it in progress (I think this was on a old 160GB IDE hard drive I have) and upon completion...
(NOTE: if your on a laptop, make sure it's plugged into a AC power source so it just don't power off due to lack of battery power etc)
but when doing it on a 400GB SATA hard drive I got it took pretty much 2 hours to finish and some other smaller hard drives I got seems to be around 1hr15min or so. so that will give you some rough idea on how long it will take to complete as even the one I tried a moment ago (the one from the screenshot above) took just shy of 1.5hrs to complete as you can see in the 2nd screenshot above.
but I noticed on the couple of hard drives (400GB SATA and a 250GB SATA) I have used that process on, one of them seemed to end up getting locked to where it was temporarily unusable until I booted the Parted Magic program from that CD and from the terminal (which can be accessed easily) I had to issue a couple of commands and now it's back to normal again, which is basically what I did...
on the desktop of the Parted Magic program... load up the 'Disk Health' and then left click on whichever drive is the problematic one and it should show it's location there (i.e. something like... 'Drive Information: /dev/sda') and using that info you can then, close that program, and then do the following from the terminal...
"hdparm -I /dev/sda" (without the ") and press enter. which should output something like...
Supported
Enabled
Locked
not Frozen
not Expired: security count
then basically do this...
"hdparm --security-disable NULL /dev/sda" (without the ") and replace NULL with whatever password you used when doing the Secure Erase in which case I suggested 'temp' (without the ') and press enter. so in my specific case, since I used the word 'temp' for a temporary password when doing that Secure Erase process, I had to type... "hdparm --security-disable temp /dev/sda" (without the ") and press enter which removed the lock the drive somehow got stuck on as normally that should not happen but if your drive is suddenly unusable through normal Disk Management/Format methods the drive is likely locked and needs to be unlocked for it to function like normal once again. but if after running that secure erase and it completes and then you power down the PC and then proceed to use the drive like usual, and it works like usual, then everything is good and you don't have to worry about manually doing that 'hdparm' stuff I typed above as that's just a way to fix it should it act up like it did in my case on one drive which was the 400GB SATA drive. because prior to learning that hdparm stuff I could not access the 400GB drive after the ATA Secure Erase process to get it setup or format it or transfer any data to it as it was like it was somewhat dead as it would power up like normal but Windows 10's Disk Management would not even see the drive at all but once I did the hdparm stuff everything is back to good running order once again.
NOTE: the "/dev/sda" (take note of the 'a' letter) needs to be correct (as it could be /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc etc) to the problematic drive otherwise it won't work!
as for my comment on 'HDDErase v4.0' being limited... it seems to be only able to access 'Primary Master/Slave, Secondary Master/Slave' (basically the first four devices (like hard drive or DVD-ROM etc) that the computers BIOS lists) which on the older PC I used(which I originally built in 2006), the only hard drives it can see are limited to my IDE connection (since those are the first four connections basically and beyond that is the SATA connections which are 5/6/7/8) and not the more modern SATA connections (which are pretty much standardized for many years now) since the way the motherboard setup things and being my first four connections the BIOS lists first are the old IDE connections (NOTE: IDE connections is what computers generally used before SATA connections came along) that seems to stop any SATA drives from being wiped because that program cannot see them. the other method (described above) does not have this issue and I suggest most people use that instead as it does basically the same thing but in a easier way that's likely not to have any of the issues that the HDDErase v4.0 program does.
also, it appears another thing I read that's better about Secure Erase is that say your hard drive has developed some bad sectors, a standard data wiping program like DBAN etc simply won't write anything to those bad sectors(since the hard drive itself stops the OS(or any general program) from writing data to those areas in general otherwise you could have data corruption etc) and will simply skip over those which potentially could contain some sensitive data but with Secure Erase, from what I understand, wipes data even in those areas (along with some other areas that you normally cannot access).
I just thought I would post this info because I suspect a lot of people are not aware of the sensitive information that could be left on their computers before selling/donating them and some shady person could possibly recover it and this will help so that does not happen since it wipes the drive of any trace of data that was on it in the past.
but for the more paranoid type (which can't hurt if you want to be extra safe) one could do both... use the 'Secure Erase' and after that's done, reboot, then use DBAN on it. this is probably a bit overkill though to use both as a Secure Erase should be enough (and I suspect DBAN is enough in most cases which is easier to use than Secure Erase (and potentially less risky)).
also, I noticed whatever happened on my old 200GB IDE hard drive I can't say if it was because of Secure Erase or not but it was reporting as about 137GB of storage space (from within the PC's BIOS and from within any OS(operating system) to) instead of the full 200GB but here is what I did to fix it... after looking around online I finally figured it out in that I had to use 'hdparm' to fix it and restore the hard drive back to the full capacity. basically at this link... superuser.com/questions/642637/harddrive-wipe-out-hidden-areas-like-hpa-and-dco-also-after-malware-infectio ; strictly under the section where it shows 'To use HDPARM to clear the HPA' is what I did to fix it and restore the full capacity of the 200GB IDE hard drive. but obviously you need to slightly tweak what's typed there so it fits your own hard drive as getting that number exactly correct is important... like in their example, "max sectors = 78125000/78165360, HPA is enabled" ; so the important number here is the second one listed (i.e. 78165360). but obviously your drive will be different since the capacity will vary from hard drive to hard drive.
but I noticed on the couple of hard drives (400GB SATA and a 250GB SATA) I have used that process on, one of them seemed to end up getting locked to where it was temporarily unusable until I booted the Parted Magic program from that CD and from the terminal (which can be accessed easily) I had to issue a couple of commands and now it's back to normal again, which is basically what I did...
on the desktop of the Parted Magic program... load up the 'Disk Health' and then left click on whichever drive is the problematic one and it should show it's location there (i.e. something like... 'Drive Information: /dev/sda') and using that info you can then, close that program, and then do the following from the terminal...
"hdparm -I /dev/sda" (without the ") and press enter. which should output something like...
Supported
Enabled
Locked
not Frozen
not Expired: security count
then basically do this...
"hdparm --security-disable NULL /dev/sda" (without the ") and replace NULL with whatever password you used when doing the Secure Erase in which case I suggested 'temp' (without the ') and press enter. so in my specific case, since I used the word 'temp' for a temporary password when doing that Secure Erase process, I had to type... "hdparm --security-disable temp /dev/sda" (without the ") and press enter which removed the lock the drive somehow got stuck on as normally that should not happen but if your drive is suddenly unusable through normal Disk Management/Format methods the drive is likely locked and needs to be unlocked for it to function like normal once again. but if after running that secure erase and it completes and then you power down the PC and then proceed to use the drive like usual, and it works like usual, then everything is good and you don't have to worry about manually doing that 'hdparm' stuff I typed above as that's just a way to fix it should it act up like it did in my case on one drive which was the 400GB SATA drive. because prior to learning that hdparm stuff I could not access the 400GB drive after the ATA Secure Erase process to get it setup or format it or transfer any data to it as it was like it was somewhat dead as it would power up like normal but Windows 10's Disk Management would not even see the drive at all but once I did the hdparm stuff everything is back to good running order once again.
NOTE: the "/dev/sda" (take note of the 'a' letter) needs to be correct (as it could be /dev/sdb or /dev/sdc etc) to the problematic drive otherwise it won't work!
as for my comment on 'HDDErase v4.0' being limited... it seems to be only able to access 'Primary Master/Slave, Secondary Master/Slave' (basically the first four devices (like hard drive or DVD-ROM etc) that the computers BIOS lists) which on the older PC I used(which I originally built in 2006), the only hard drives it can see are limited to my IDE connection (since those are the first four connections basically and beyond that is the SATA connections which are 5/6/7/8) and not the more modern SATA connections (which are pretty much standardized for many years now) since the way the motherboard setup things and being my first four connections the BIOS lists first are the old IDE connections (NOTE: IDE connections is what computers generally used before SATA connections came along) that seems to stop any SATA drives from being wiped because that program cannot see them. the other method (described above) does not have this issue and I suggest most people use that instead as it does basically the same thing but in a easier way that's likely not to have any of the issues that the HDDErase v4.0 program does.
also, it appears another thing I read that's better about Secure Erase is that say your hard drive has developed some bad sectors, a standard data wiping program like DBAN etc simply won't write anything to those bad sectors(since the hard drive itself stops the OS(or any general program) from writing data to those areas in general otherwise you could have data corruption etc) and will simply skip over those which potentially could contain some sensitive data but with Secure Erase, from what I understand, wipes data even in those areas (along with some other areas that you normally cannot access).
I just thought I would post this info because I suspect a lot of people are not aware of the sensitive information that could be left on their computers before selling/donating them and some shady person could possibly recover it and this will help so that does not happen since it wipes the drive of any trace of data that was on it in the past.
but for the more paranoid type (which can't hurt if you want to be extra safe) one could do both... use the 'Secure Erase' and after that's done, reboot, then use DBAN on it. this is probably a bit overkill though to use both as a Secure Erase should be enough (and I suspect DBAN is enough in most cases which is easier to use than Secure Erase (and potentially less risky)).
also, I noticed whatever happened on my old 200GB IDE hard drive I can't say if it was because of Secure Erase or not but it was reporting as about 137GB of storage space (from within the PC's BIOS and from within any OS(operating system) to) instead of the full 200GB but here is what I did to fix it... after looking around online I finally figured it out in that I had to use 'hdparm' to fix it and restore the hard drive back to the full capacity. basically at this link... superuser.com/questions/642637/harddrive-wipe-out-hidden-areas-like-hpa-and-dco-also-after-malware-infectio ; strictly under the section where it shows 'To use HDPARM to clear the HPA' is what I did to fix it and restore the full capacity of the 200GB IDE hard drive. but obviously you need to slightly tweak what's typed there so it fits your own hard drive as getting that number exactly correct is important... like in their example, "max sectors = 78125000/78165360, HPA is enabled" ; so the important number here is the second one listed (i.e. 78165360). but obviously your drive will be different since the capacity will vary from hard drive to hard drive.
but once that was fixed, just to see if Secure Erase was a possible issue... I then powered off the computer and then went through the Secure Erase process again and then after it completed I powered off the computer, waited a few seconds, powered it back up and then checked the PC's BIOS to see the drives capacity and it still remained as 200GB (which is good). so it must have been some weird issue with the drive but that drive is pretty old and does have some bad sectors on it etc but at this point I am simply just using it to store a backup copy of some data I have and then after I transffered that data to it, just to make sure none of the data was corrupted I then did a compare of the data (after booting up from a Linux Mint v19.1 Xfce bootable DVD etc) using Linux's 'diff' command (i.e. for example... 'diff -rq /media/4TB_HDD/OriginalData/ /media/200GB_IDE_HDD/BackupData/' (without the ') ) from the terminal just to ensure the data transferred properly without any alteration from the source transfer as the drive is pretty close to full as if there are any differences it will report which files are not the same in the terminal window and if all of the files are identical it will simply just return to the prompt when completed and mine returned to the prompt without any differences in files, which is good as that means the data is intact. but then I just did a small test on the side just to make sure the 'diff' command worked with a couple of text files that were identical and it returned to the prompt like usual but just to make sure it would list the difference between files I then took one of the files (a couple of small text files for a quick test) and altered it slightly and then ran the 'diff' command again and sure enough it listed that they were different from each other so I know it was working properly.
with all of that said... given my experience playing with this stuff recently it might potentially be a little complicated for the average person due to some issues that happened with one hard drive being locked (i.e. 400GB SATA) and another (i.e. 200GB IDE) having the capacity of the hard drive being quite a bit lower than it should be (but I can't say for sure whether it was like that prior to my Secure Erase stuff or not). so ill say this... use secure erase at your own risk! ; so if the Secure Erase sounds a little too intimidating for you, you can likely just use DBAN on the hard drive and odds are no one will be able to recover any data from it as it's nice and simple and safe (safe as in no risk of any issues turning up(besides it deleting ALL data on the hard drive obviously)), but it takes many hours to finish (it does give one a estimated time remaining while it's running though) in it's default erase mode (and the bigger the hard drive the more time it will take to complete the erase).
NOTE: another thing ill say about DBAN (or even the use of Secure Erase) for the common person... my advice to be extra safe when using it, disconnect ALL devices (like hard drives or USB memory sticks etc) from your computer that you don't want to lose any data from as this way you can guarantee nothing important will get permanently deleted on accident! ; you should be okay if you do things right, but disconnecting other drives will guarantee nothing gets deleted from them on accident so it's safer for me to tell you this!
also, I guess I should mention for noobies... when you have a file on your computer (say something sensitive) and delete it, then empty the recycle bin, that data is not actually permanently deleted at that point as it's still possible one could recover that data as all Windows basically does when you empty the recycle bin is tell the computer that new data can be written to that area once again as it basically just forgets that file is there. but things are that way because it's easier and will use less resources and less wear/tear on the hard drive. because if something actually deleted it, as in overwrite the area of the hard drive containing that file, it would spend more time and system resources doing it since the hard drive would have to overwrite that section of the hard drive etc to permanently remove it. but you can permanently delete specific files with programs like Eraser (i.e. eraser.heidi.ie/ ; which is free software for Windows) but that's only effective for people still using regular hard drives as it's NOT made for SSD's. either way, if your donating or trashing a hard drive... I recommend you AT LEAST run DBAN (or the ATA Secure Erase command) on it as it wipes the ENTIRE hard drive so it's completely blank without any data and whatever data was on it at any point in the past is permanently gone as no one can retrieve it.
so the bottom line... at the very least if your donating your computer/hard drive to someone else or trashing it etc you should at least run DBAN on it before doing so as it pretty much guarantees no one will be able to recover any sensitive information from it that you might have had on it at one point in the past. or if you got a SSD (Solid State Drive) instead of a regular hard drive... run a 'Secure Erase' on it is pretty much your only option with these.
p.s. I plan on running that Secure Erase on a SSD I have soon enough as I have not tested one of those yet but I suspect it will go smoothly.
with all of that said... given my experience playing with this stuff recently it might potentially be a little complicated for the average person due to some issues that happened with one hard drive being locked (i.e. 400GB SATA) and another (i.e. 200GB IDE) having the capacity of the hard drive being quite a bit lower than it should be (but I can't say for sure whether it was like that prior to my Secure Erase stuff or not). so ill say this... use secure erase at your own risk! ; so if the Secure Erase sounds a little too intimidating for you, you can likely just use DBAN on the hard drive and odds are no one will be able to recover any data from it as it's nice and simple and safe (safe as in no risk of any issues turning up(besides it deleting ALL data on the hard drive obviously)), but it takes many hours to finish (it does give one a estimated time remaining while it's running though) in it's default erase mode (and the bigger the hard drive the more time it will take to complete the erase).
NOTE: another thing ill say about DBAN (or even the use of Secure Erase) for the common person... my advice to be extra safe when using it, disconnect ALL devices (like hard drives or USB memory sticks etc) from your computer that you don't want to lose any data from as this way you can guarantee nothing important will get permanently deleted on accident! ; you should be okay if you do things right, but disconnecting other drives will guarantee nothing gets deleted from them on accident so it's safer for me to tell you this!
also, I guess I should mention for noobies... when you have a file on your computer (say something sensitive) and delete it, then empty the recycle bin, that data is not actually permanently deleted at that point as it's still possible one could recover that data as all Windows basically does when you empty the recycle bin is tell the computer that new data can be written to that area once again as it basically just forgets that file is there. but things are that way because it's easier and will use less resources and less wear/tear on the hard drive. because if something actually deleted it, as in overwrite the area of the hard drive containing that file, it would spend more time and system resources doing it since the hard drive would have to overwrite that section of the hard drive etc to permanently remove it. but you can permanently delete specific files with programs like Eraser (i.e. eraser.heidi.ie/ ; which is free software for Windows) but that's only effective for people still using regular hard drives as it's NOT made for SSD's. either way, if your donating or trashing a hard drive... I recommend you AT LEAST run DBAN (or the ATA Secure Erase command) on it as it wipes the ENTIRE hard drive so it's completely blank without any data and whatever data was on it at any point in the past is permanently gone as no one can retrieve it.
so the bottom line... at the very least if your donating your computer/hard drive to someone else or trashing it etc you should at least run DBAN on it before doing so as it pretty much guarantees no one will be able to recover any sensitive information from it that you might have had on it at one point in the past. or if you got a SSD (Solid State Drive) instead of a regular hard drive... run a 'Secure Erase' on it is pretty much your only option with these.
p.s. I plan on running that Secure Erase on a SSD I have soon enough as I have not tested one of those yet but I suspect it will go smoothly.
EDIT: I just tried the Secure Erase on a SSD (Samsung brand) using that Ultimate Boot CD stuff and it failed using the usual method that works on a regular hard drive as during the 'sleep' process and then re-awaking the computer normally works with the Secure Erase command. but it was still in a 'frozen' state which means it won't proceed with the Secure Erase. but anyways, I ended up using the official Samsung tool which it creates a bootable USB stick and then rebooted, booted to the USB stick, and proceeded to follow the on screen instructions (which are simple) and the drive was in a 'frozen' state initially but then it said to remove the SATA power cable from the drive (with the computer still running), I wait a few seconds after removing the SATA power cable from the SSD, and then I reconnected the SATA power cable and proceed to do a Secure Erase at which point it worked (it only took maybe a second or two to complete).
so then I got to thinking... I then tried doing a similar method with the Parted Magic program that I used to Secure Erase a typical hard drive and it worked as I did not even need to issue that 'sleep' mode that normally works on regular hard drives but instead just loaded up the initial screen before it tried to issue the Secure Erase command (basically where you put a check mark in the box of the drive you want to issue the Secure Erase command to) at which point I simply disconnected the SATA power cable from the Samsung SSD and waited a bit and plugged it back in but it was not working initially as it took some tries before it finally worked as I don't think I left the power disconnected from the SSD drive long enough initially. but then I waited something like 5-10 seconds before reconnecting it and ran a 'hdparm -I /dev/sda/' (without the ') on the drive and it showed 'not frozen' at which point I reloaded the 'Erase Disk' icon on the desktop of the Parted Magic at which point it finally proceeded as I had a option of a standard secure erase and a 'enhanced secure erase' but it appears the program claims it's a bit more risky to use the 'enhanced secure erase' in general so I just stuck with the standard Secure Erase method but even with that program it took like 2 seconds tops to complete and that's that. I just wish I would have known to try that before hand as I could have saved some time screwing with with the official Samsung Magician BS and having to reinstall Win7 on a old PC etc. o well, at least I learned some more crap and all is good now as it works well with regular hard drives and SSD's it seems. so all is good, that Parted Magic seems to work well on everything I tried it on so far.
EDIT #2: but after looking around some more I suspect this is why my Samsung SSD's Secure Erase is so quick (as in like 2 seconds or less) to complete...
SSD Secure Erase
SSD manufacturers understand the need for an easy way to sanitize an SSD, and most have implemented the ATA command, Secure Erase Unit (used with SATA-based SSDs), or the NVMe command, Format NVM (used with PCIe-based SSDs) as a fast and effective means of securely erasing an SSD.
SSDs that support secure erasing use either a block erase to completely erase the media, including flash memory in the FTL and out-of-band areas; or, if the SSD makes use of encryption built into the controller, the secure erase command will change the internal encryption key, resulting in a crypto-erase, leaving all data encrypted with no means to decipher the encryption; essentially, looking like a collection of random and unrelated data. Some SSDs that have built-in encryption support both full media erase and crypto-erase.
SSD manufacturers understand the need for an easy way to sanitize an SSD, and most have implemented the ATA command, Secure Erase Unit (used with SATA-based SSDs), or the NVMe command, Format NVM (used with PCIe-based SSDs) as a fast and effective means of securely erasing an SSD.
SSDs that support secure erasing use either a block erase to completely erase the media, including flash memory in the FTL and out-of-band areas; or, if the SSD makes use of encryption built into the controller, the secure erase command will change the internal encryption key, resulting in a crypto-erase, leaving all data encrypted with no means to decipher the encryption; essentially, looking like a collection of random and unrelated data. Some SSDs that have built-in encryption support both full media erase and crypto-erase.