ElectroStatic Discharge, ESD is simply the discharge of built up static electricity.ESD should not be taken lightly as this is one of the few things an individual can do to damage or destroy their computer or hardware components.It is like when you rub your feet on the carpet and you touch something metal.ESD can occur without the user feeling a shock and will occur when only working on the inside of the computer or handling hardware.
How to help prevent ESD
The best method of preventing ESD is to use an ESD wrist strap or a grounding mat or table.However, because most users do not have access to these items, we have included the below steps to help reduce the chance of ESD as much as possible.
To learn more about ESD and how to protect your electronics, please refer to the below site.
ESD Association
https://www.esda.org
FAQ: KTC-Gen-ESD
This guide will walk you through securely erasing your Kingston SSD using Linux tools.
SATA Secure Erase Procedure
Please make sure to have a full backup of any important data before you proceed!
Prerequisites
Instructions
1. Find the device name (/dev/sdX) of the drive you wish to erase:
# lsscsi
2. Make sure drive security is not frozen:
# hdparm -I /dev/sdX | grep frozen
If the output shows "frozen" (instead of "not frozen") then you cannot continue to the next step. You must try to remove the security freeze by trying one of the following methods:
Method 1:
Put the system to sleep (suspend to RAM) and wake it up. On most distributions the command to suspend is:
# systemctl suspend
Now issue the hdparm command again. If it worked the output will show "not frozen" (instead of "frozen").
Method 2:
Hot plug the drive. This is done by physically unplugging the SATA power cable from the drive and plugging it back in while the system is powered on. You may need to enable hot plug in BIOS. Not all systems support hot plug.
Now issue the hdparm command again. If it worked the output will show "not frozen" (instead of "frozen").
3. Set a user password on the drive. The password can be anything. Here we are setting the password to "p":
# hdparm --security-set-pass p /dev/sdX
4. Issue the secure erase command to the drive using the same password: 1234567890 - 1234567890 -
# hdparm --security-erase p /dev/sdX
This command may take a few minutes to complete. The drive password is removed upon successful completion.
If the secure erase is interrupted or otherwise fails your drive may become security locked. In this case you can remove the security lock using the command below and then try the secure erase procedure again:
# hdparm --security-disable p /dev/sdX
Warning
Please make sure to have a full backup of any important data before you proceed!
Prerequisites
Instructions
1. Find the device name (/dev/nvmeXn1) of the drive you wish to erase:
# nvme list
# nvme format /dev/nvmeXn1 --ses=1
This command may take a few minutes to complete.
FAQ: KSM-SE-LIX
FAQ: KFC-012611-GEN-09
Trim and garbage collection are technologies that modern SSDs incorporate to improve both their performance and endurance. When your SSD is in its fresh out of box condition all of the NAND blocks are empty so the SSD can write new data to the empty blocks in a single operation. Over time most of the empty blocks will become used blocks that contain user data. In order to write new data to used blocks the SSD is forced to perform a read-modify-write cycle. The read-modify-write cycle hurts the SSDs overall performance because it now must do three operations instead of a single operation. The read-modify-write cycle also causes write amplification which hurts the SSDs overall endurance.
Trim and garbage collection can work together to improve SSD performance and endurance by freeing up used blocks. Garbage collection is a function built into the SSD controller that consolidates data stored in used blocks in order to free up more empty blocks. This process happens in the background and is completely handled by the SSD itself. However the SSD may not know which blocks contain user data and which blocks contain stale data that the user has already deleted. This is where the trim function comes in. Trim allows the operating system to inform the SSD that data has been deleted so that the SSD can free up those previously used blocks. For trim to work both the operating system and the SSD must support it. Currently most modern operating systems and SSDs support trim however most RAID configurations do not support it.
Kingston SSDs take advantage of both garbage collection and trim technologies in order to maintain the highest possible performance and endurance over their lifetime.
FAQ: KSD-011411-GEN-13
This is common for flash storage, whether internal SSD or external USB storage, and is due in part to a variance in how flash memory vs spinning platter hard drive manufacturers calculate megabyte. Hard drive manufacturers calculate a megabyte (or 1,000x1,000 bytes) as 1,000KBs, whereas the binary calculation for flash-based storage is 1,024KBs.
Example: For a 1TB flash-based storage device, Windows will calculate it as having a capacity of 931.32GB. (1,000,000,000,000÷1,024÷1,024÷1,024=931.32GB).
Furthermore, Kingston reserves some of the listed capacity for formatting and other functions such as firmware and/or controller-specific information, and thus some of the listed capacity is not available for data storage.
FAQ: KDT-010611-GEN-06
Self-Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Technology (S.M.A.R.T.) is a built-in monitoring capability in hard drives and SSDs. It can allow users to monitor the health of a device. It does this through monitoring software designed specifically for the S.M.A.R.T. feature. All of our SSDNow drives support S.M.A.R.T.
FAQ: KSD-011411-GEN-10
Performance decrease has been reported on some of the SSDNow drives. If you have an older SSD drive that does not have effective Garbage Collection, SSD drive performance will drop over time.This is due to the way the system overwrites data that has been flagged for deletion.
Try using the Secure Erase tool like HDDErase to wipe the drive and restore it to original condition.
FAQ: KSD-011411-GEN-12
In Windows - Open the control panel, open administrative tools and then open computer management. Click on Disk Management and see if the SSD drive is seen in the right window pane. If it is, right click on where it is labeled as disk 1, disk 2, etc and select "Initialize disk" (this may come up automatically when you go to Disk Management). Next, right-click on the area to the right of the disk label and choose "New Simple Volume". Continue with the wizard by choosing the size, drive letter and formatting of the partition.
In macOS - A "disk insertion" window will appear. Click on the "initialize" button. This will take you to the disk utility. Select the Kingston drive from the list of drives on the left side of the Window. From the actions available, choose partition. For the "Volume Scheme", choose "1 partition". For the format, choose MacOS extended for a permanent drive. Choose ExFAT for an external drive (available on MacOS 10.6.6 and above). Click Apply. A warning windows will appear stating you will erase all data from the drive. Click on the partition button at the bottom.
FAQ: KSD-060314-GEN-14
Kingston realizes the importance of keeping our customers’ personal data and information confidential and secure. Kingston takes measures to ensure the security of all of our customers’ personal information when a Solid State Drive (SSD) is returned to our RMA facility for warranty replacement or repair. When an SSD reaches our repair center, it will undergo a thorough testing process. During the first phase of testing, an ATA Secure Erase is performed on the SSD which erases all data and information.ATA Secure Erase is federally-approved by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST 800-88) for legal sanitization of confidential user data. If the SSD is not in a functional state and not capable of undergoing an ATA Secure Erase, the SSD is dismantled and the NAND Flash Memory is destroyed.
FAQ: KSD-022411-GEN-15
Any of our SSDs can be used in RAID. But due to endurance specifications, only certain part numbers should be used in RAID. For servers, please contact Kingston to determine the best Kingston SSD to use for your workload.
FAQ: KSD-052511-GEN-17
FAQ: KSM-001125-001-00
FAQ: KSM-001125-001-01
FAQ: KSM-001125-002-01
FAQ: KSD-001525-001-00
Caution! The workarounds below will break RST RAID arrays and could lead to data loss. If your system has RST RAID arrays you should consider an alternate solution.
Workaround 1: Disable RST Control in BIO
This workaround requires BIOS options to enable or disable RST Control and is not available on all systems
Note: Please backup all important data before you proceed!
Once these steps are completed you may optionally switch back to "RST Controlled" in BIOS.
Workaround 2: Switch from RAID to AHCI in BIOS
This workaround is to change your system storage mode from RAID to AHCI and should work on all systems.
Note: Please backup all important data before you proceed!
Once these steps are completed you may optionally switch the storage mode back to RAID in BIOS.
FAQ: KSD-001525-001-01
When the SSD is recognized in the BIOS, but Windows 7 installation does not detect the drive, follow these steps:
Disconnect any other hard drives or SSDs. Boot the Windows 7 installation disk. Choose repair, then advanced, then command prompt. Type: "diskpart" without quotes and press Enter. You will see a prompt labeled "diskpart". Type the following commands and press enter after each one.
Diskpart > Select Disk 0
Diskpart > Clean
Diskpart > Create Partition Primary Align=1024
Diskpart > Format Quick FS=NTFS
Diskpart > List Partition
Diskpart > Active
Diskpart > Exit
Then reboot the computer to the Windows 7 installation disk.
FAQ: KSD-100214-GEN-20
First, open an Elevated Command Prompt window.
To open an Elevated Command Prompt window: Click on Start Orb > Type "CMD.exe" in Search box > Right click on "CMD" and select "Run as Administrator" (If you receive a prompt confirmation, click YES)
To verify the TRIM command is enabled, type the following and press enter in the Elevated command:
fsutil behavior query disabledeletenotify
The results will be as follows: DisableDeleteNotify = 1 (Windows TRIM commands are disabled) DisableDeleteNotify = 0 (Windows TRIM commands are enabled)
To enable the TRIM command,type the following and press enter in the Elevated command:
fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 0
To disable the TRIM command,type the following and press enter in the Elevated command:
fsutil behavior set disabledeletenotify 1
FAQ: KSD-072211-GEN-18
FAQ: KSD-092917-GEN-21
SSDs do not require defragmentation. Since there are no physical disks, there is no need to organize the data in order to reduce seek time. Therefore defragmenting an SSD is not effective. Also, defragmenting an SSD can put undue wear on specific areas of the drive. SSDs are designed to write data as evenly as possible over the entire drive to reduce undue wear to any one location. Nonetheless defragmenting your SSD drive a couple of times will not harm it. However if it is done continuously over a long period, it may reduce the life of the drive.
FAQ: KSD-011411-GEN-03
The Windows Experience Index (WEI) merely measures the relative capability of components. The WEI only runs for a short time and does not measure the interactions of components under a software load, but rather characteristics or your hardware.
Thus the WEI does not measure performance of a system, but merely the relative hardware capabilities when running Windows 7. An article about the WEI can be found here: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/e7/archive/2009/01/19/engineering-the-windows-7-windows-experience-index.aspx
In Vista, the WEI scores ranged from 1.0 to 5.9. In Windows 7, the range has been extended upward to 7.9.
FAQ: KSD-011411-GEN-08
Encrypted solid state drives utilize the hard drive security command available on most business class computers and motherboards. It is accessed through the BIOS. This will allow you to create a password for many HDD’s and SSD’s and to securely erase the drives if needed. Some computers will not have this feature. If this is the case, the drive can still be used, just without these security features. Be sure not to confuse BIOS password with the hard drive security password.
FAQ: KSD-011411-ENC-01
You can but you first must disable the security for the drive in the original computer. Then you can enable it again in the new computer.
FAQ: KSD-011411-ENC-02
No. If you forget the password for this drive, it cannot be accessed.
Be aware that forgetting your password is not covered under Kingston's warranty.
The only exception to this is using a master or administrative password for the drive.
The BIOS would have to support this and it would have to be enabled at the time you initiated the ATA security for this drive.
Using a master password would allow an administrator to reset the drive.
KSD-011411-ENC-03
FAQ: KSD-011411-ENC-03