Solid-State Drives (SSD)

[technojunkie]

I have a Crucial 64GB M225 SSD with 1819 firmware that I would like to change back to 1571 firmware as I am experiencing the same problems as many others with aapprox 35% drop in performance since first installing the drive a week ago.

I am running Windows 7 Pro 64 bit and this is the only OS in my system. I know that changing to 1571 will be data destructive so what is the best way to reformat the SSD and installl 1571 prioir to re-installind Win7 ?

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice.

[technojunkie]

Can anyone please offer any helpful advice on this ?

Thank You

[targetbsp]

Basically, follow the instructions under the heading "Firmware 1711 - Important Notice:"

on this page: http://www.crucial.com/support/firmware.aspx  

[technojunkie]

Thank you for the post targetbsp. My problem is that I only now have one OS in my system.

Basically what I now want to do is completely erase my SSD, change the firmware back to 1571 and then re-install Windows 7 letting Win7 partition and format the SSD so that it is correctly aligned. When I originally installed Win7, I had already partitioned and formatted the SSD using XP installed on an old hard drive. Having read this thread :

http://www.forum.crucial.com/t5/Solid-State-Drives-SSD/Re-alignment-without-data-loss/td-p/4829

I understand that my SSD will probably not be aligned correctly as I did not let Win7 partition the drive during installation.

Is there a tool that will enable me to completely wipe the SSD (including removing the partition) via a boot CD so that I can then change back to 1571 and the reinstall Win 7 ?

Thanks again for the post.

[targetbsp]

I believe the destructive flashes are windows console apps rather than a dos program so it would have to be run from a windows environment rather than a dos boot cd.  I don't know if recovery console from the windows setup disc or a bart pe boot disc will do the job.  I wouldn't like to recommended it having never tried it due to the fact the last thing you want is for a firmware upgrade to go wrong.  Maybe someone else will have a better idea.

Safest bet will be to add it as a second drive to another Windows PC

[technojunkie]

Thanks for the post targetbsp.

Ok, I'll install Win7 OS on a spare hard drive and reformat the SSD from their.

Can you recommend a tool for completely erasing all the data on the SSD so that I am starting with a "clean as new" drive ?

I have noted that the 1571 firmware download is an ISO file but the instructions on reverting back to 1571 clearly state that it is an *.exe file that can be opened from within Windows ! Does anyone have a lik to the *.exe file rather than the ISO file ?

Thanks again.

[targetbsp]

You should be able to just take the file out of the iso.  Anything that will mount an iso will do it. Some compression programs will. Winrar worked for me in getting the 1819 upgrade from its iso.

There is a program called Sanitary Erase for wiping Indilinx based SSD's but I've never used it myself.

[technojunkie]

Thank you for all the advice targetbsp.

I'll give it all a try and report the results back on this thread in a few days.

[technojunkie]

If I make a System Image and back-up disk of the SSD using the software built into Win7, will I be able to get the SSD back to exactly the way it was before I erased it and changed the firmware from 1819 back to 1571 ?

Thanks again.

[targetbsp]

I think so - but I don't know because the Windows backup wouldn't let me backup my hard disk to my mechanical drive.  Kept insisting part of Windows was installed on the drive I was trying to backup to.  I used http://www.drivesnapshot.de/en/ in the end