TeraByte Unlimited

I'm booting into IFL 3.04 GUI with DVD on a Macbook Pro (mac boot menu gives me two options for the CD - one being UEFI), and want to Secure Erase a Samsung 850 Pro SSD which is in an external USB enclosure.

When I select the external drive, I am only given the option of OS and not Direct. The Wipe Drive feature lets me select the Hardware option, but I am not sure if it will actually perform a quick Secure Erase of the SSD (ie. send ATA Secure Erase command which deletes the existing encryption key and should complete in a few seconds), or will try to overwrite entire drive with 0's (and so take a few hours).

Will it do a proper secure erase of the SSD (which is what I want), or is my only option to connect it up internally via SATA ?

How can you tell whether BIBM has done proper Secure Erase or just overwritte with 0's ?

hardware option is only enabled and usable if it can access it for those options.

So if hardware option is enabled, it can do a proper Secure Erase ?

BTW, I ran hdparm -I on the USB SSD from the terminal, and it said at the end

[code]supported: enhanced erase
2min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 2min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT.[/code]

The only thing worrying me is when I read the [url=https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase]following:[/url]

[quote]WARNING: Do not attempt to do this through a USB interface! This procedure worked fine when I tried it on my X-25M through the SATA interface. When I tried it again later on the same drive through a USB adapter, it let me password protect the drive, but would not accept the SECURITY-ERASE command. I shut down the system, reconnected the drive to the SATA controller, and found that the drive was bricked - BIOS couldn't recognize it. I will update this warning if I find a way to un-brick the drive. (I've had a similar experience - managed to lock myself out of three drives. Read this experience and learn from it - Chris) [/quote]

In your experience, is it OK to Secure Erase an SSD in a USB enclosure (chipset is ASM1153E) ?

Also, why is Direct not given as an option in IFL Partition Work (even with internally connected SATA SSD) - only OS is given as an option ?

The option to send the command would be through a pass through interface, there shouldn't be a difference, the usb driver may not like the long operation, the drive itself is handling the operation so it would seem more like a firmware issue with the drive. You do need to physically power cycle things. But putting it on a normal controller is always best.