Windows 7: How to restore performance of a secondary ssd drive inside Windows

I have an SSD drive mounted as a secondary master on my motherboard that has lost performance. I did have some things on the drive that I ended up deleting because load times were painfully long. I did not format the drive using the format options in Windows as I know this further degrades performance for SSDs, but there is nothing on the drive at all right now.

My question is, is there a way to secure erase the drive while still inside Windows? All the info I've found regarding secure erasing a drive has to to with having to boot the computer with some disc (insert title), unplugging the sata cable to the drive and plugging it back in, running said program, and erasing the drive. I understand this if the drive is the Primary Master and Windows is to be installed on the drive, but this is not the case for me.

Is there a way to do this inside Windows since its a secondary drive, meaning Windows is on a completely different drive, or is there a program or something for SSDs where you can restore performance inside Windows.

See here: How to securely erase an SSD drive | How To - CNET

Hello Rebirth68, welcome to Seven Forums!


Windows will do what you want natively, no third party SW neeed; have a look through Method One of the tutorial linked below and be sure to post back with any further questions you may have and to keep us informed.

Secure Erase / Wipe : Definition and Methods

BFK, This is good enough for HDDs but not for SSDs. You need a similar operation as Trim and garbage collection - at least that is my understanding.

Garbage Collection and TRIM in SSDs Explained - An SSD Primer - The SSD Review

Thanks mate, I'll have a look into that.

OK, no problem.

Okay, first, thanks for the replies. That's cool. However, I have a Parted Magic disc already that I have used on my SSD before and I will say it definitely works! The problem with it is that I have to open my case, pull the SATA cable for the SSD drive, let the system "refresh" the change, plug the cable back in, another "refresh" so the drive is then listed as available, then I can go about secure erasing the drive, after which I close my case up and go about my business. If this is the only way it can be done then cool and like I said before if I were dealing with the primary drive that windows is going on then it all actually makes sense. But I'm not. It's just another storage drive under the hood.
So to clearify, is there a way to do this without having to use a boot disk and without having to pull cables?