Windows 10: secure erase + messing up my pc

I went into bios today and i clicked secure secure erase+ Now when i try to boot my pc it says “Reboot and select proper media boot device or insert boot media” I tried switching my boot option but there is only one boot option. Can someone please help.

:)

 

Securely erasing old SSD - Ubuntu

Very inexperienced with Linux and have been playing around lately with Ubuntu 17.10 successfully recovering data from a bad HDD, quite impressed by it also.

First question is. I have an old OCZ Vertex 3 120GB that has been lying around forever and want to wipe it to factory settings and install Ubuntu on it (so I don't need to run Windows side by side on my current OS drive). I'm assuming the easiest way to do this is to do the following?

• Boot Ubuntu from USB installer
• Select 'Try Ubuntu before you install it'
• Open the Terminal and
• Use the Command-line to Simple Secure Erase i.e. hdparm --security-erase PASS /dev/sdX

My second question is, if the above will work do I then need to format the entire SSD in ext4 or does the installer by default format/partition the SSD when 'Erase disk and install Ubuntu' is selected?

 

Samsung Magician Secure Erase

This blog details the meticulous steps, trials & errors, one person took to attempt to securely erase and then verify a secure erasure of various SSD erase operations.
Ways to Securely Erase a Solid State Drive (SSD) | Ray Woodcock's Latest
It's quite a read, and really helps to understand what's going on, as well as a bit startling as to some of the results he saw. Some of the comments are also eye-opening.

I also learned that TRIM does not work on a USB-connected SSD.

 

Secure Erase question.

I should have used Secure Erase before I sent my Asus board back but I didn't think about it at the time. I was wondering if using Drive Wipe in CCCleaner would achieve the same results as Secure Erase. Asus say that Secure Erase helps bring back some of the performance that can be lost over time on a SSD. Surely it isn't anything much different to the drive wipe function in CCCleaner? Will using CCleaner to wipe free space (not the complete drive) improve it's performance?