HELP !! X25-M - Corrupt Master Boot Record ?

[idata]

Hi

I bought an X-25M a few weeks ago for a new build. The rest of the new hardware was not here yet so I installed it in my old machine running XP, formatted it for NTFS with 4K clusters which I read was the best size for speed. That worked fine so I copied one little text file to it as a test. Fine.

Since then its been sitting waiting for its new host machine. Now the new build is done so I connected the X-25M and tried to update the firmware. The new BIOS recognized it fine. I downloaded the firmware, burned an ISO image. Booted from that disc. The utility ran but would not complete the update. It kept saying Updated not completed - either enable Legacy [it was], set to AHCI [I tried that - same thing] or disable disk passwork [I never set one].\

So, I decided to remove it and re-connect it to my old machine so I could try running Intel Tool Box to do the firmware update. I connected it and booted. When XP came up, the SSD was not listed in My Computer but Disk Manager opended. The SSD showed up as Disc 0 - not initialized. I initialized it and rebooted. Then it showed up as Disc 0, unallocated. So I tried to format it [again]. Now it says there is only 8Meg total space !!! This is an 80G SSD!!.

I looked at it with Intel Toolbox - it sees it fine. The Toolbox wanted the disc formatted so I formatted it - all 8M of it as NTFS. The Optimizer said that was not enough space to do anything with.

Where did my 80G go? Why when I put it back in the old machine did it show up as not formatted? I did format it - even copied one litle file to it just to test.

HELP !!

Thanks

Message was edited by: EVGABuzzer

[idata]

Update - From reading on the net, it seems that other have had this problem. The Master Boot Record gets screwed up [by attempting the firmware update]. If I run Intel Toolbox, the serial number of the SSD reads No Context, which is a symptom of the problem. I THINK all I am seeing is the MBR sector - 8Meg. When I first ran Toobox it said it needed the SSD to be partitioned first so I partitioned it and formatted the 8Meg as NTFS. I think that may have hosed it even further.

The fix [if its not a hardware failure] is to restore it to factory condition by using HDDerase or DBan. I have tried to use both. HDDErase runs, but it does not see the SSD [the BIOS does] so I can't select it, so HDDErease can't erase it. DBan is supposed to make a bootable disc. I used a USB Thumb drive. It formats the drive but if I try to boot from it, I get No Boot Disc. If I look at the contents, I don't see any boot files, system files etc. or any .exe files that I could run if it did boot. So I guess I don't understand what DBan is doing.

I tried to run DBan and then copy boot files that I made with drdos.bin but it would not boot from that either. So I can't get either total erase utility to work. Please HELP !!

Thanks in advance.

[idata]

Your best bet is to find a piece of software that can issue a "secure erase" command to the drive. This will erase every single logical block address (LBA) and restore the drive to the factory state.

https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase

[idata]

Thanks.

I tried to use HDDErase but when it runs, it does not see the SSD so it can't erase it. I suspect this probem is related to the main problem. I will try this other utility and see what happens.

[mmokk]

hdderase can be picky about how the drive is connected. for best results, connect it to the first sata port (sata0/port0), then go into the bios and set the sata controller to ide mode. if there is an additional 'enhanced/compatible' setting, set it to compatible.

configured in this manner, i have never had any problems running hdderase on any intel ssd connected to ich9/10 southbridges, with the exception of some prebuilt systems whose bios's blocked the ata secure erase command. you did not mention what motherboard/chipset you're using, so be aware that other chipsets may have issues with hdderase.