Windows 7: 'Erasing' the SSD before a Win7 reinstall

Hey guys!



So I'm updating hardware and need to reinstall Windows 7, but after some reading I found information about 'Secure Erase' which would get my SSD back to It's factory performance and was a must before reinstalling Windows 7. This because formatting the drive before installation would just make it slower..
The SSD, Corsair X64, is my system disk which means i need to do it through DOS or something like that.
Can anyone shed some light on this process? any guides?

Michael

Formatting the drive (not quick format, but regular) is as good an erase as any. A 'secure' erase usually concerns HDD's and it means resetting the sectors a number of times with different values to deter any data recovery. It's all a matter of privacy. Regarding SSD performance, no erase will help, be it secure or not. SSD's have a wear leveling algorithm that is responsible for extending disk life, and also for performance deterioration, and that cannot be reset. All you'll achieve with an erase is shortening the life of the SSD by 2-4 write cycles for a format, or 6+ for a "secure" erase, of the total of (advertised) 100,000. So, if privacy is not the issue, go with a quick format and save the effort.

Thank you dynu.. was pretty much the answer I was looking for, since the 'secure' erase looks a little out of my league. After some more reading yesterday it seems like a SSD supporting TRIM would not have any lack of performance if you formatted through Windows 7..