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Low level format drive that is primary, from bootable CD/USB?

idata
Esteemed Contributor III

I've been out of the tech world since before SATA became the norm, but back then we were able to boot any computer to a cd with a low level format utility on it and write zero's to an IDE drive that was the primary drive in the system...no drive removal, nothing...just back the system up, low level it, reload - done.

I now have a T410 laptop that has an Intel SSD 160GB 1.8" (Model SSDSA1M160G2LE) drive in it. I've reloaded the system 2-3 times, various reasons, none relating to the drive in it, and because of this I want to low level it to ensure it's REALLY wiped and clean.

I know I can use the Intel SSD Toolbox to do it, but since that only runs in Windows that means I have to *somehow* make this drive a slave/secondary drive on the laptop it's in OR connect it to another system running windows as a secondary drive...But, I don't have the hardware to do that and just to run a "utility" I would prefer to not have to spend money on the hardware to do it.

Is there a utility that I can just put on a bootable CD/USB flash drive that will do it without windows/drive removal etc?

There has to be, right?

I've googled the crap out of this and can't find a way, figured I'd check in here.

Thanks!

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