topic 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox in Solid State Drives (NAND)

335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

CKrus — Wed, 09 Jul 2014 16:23:24 GMT

I'm trying to 'erase' an SSD using the Intel SSD Toolbox software (to prep it for sale). I'm using a Windows 8 VM via Virtualbox on my 2013 iMac to access the appropriate utilities in the Toolbox software. The drive appears in Windows just fine (My Computer, Disk Management, etc) and I can write files to it. However, it does not appear in the Intel Toolbox software. Any ideas?

A few additional details in case they help:

1) I'm using a Thermaltake Blacx (usb 2.0?) dock. Dock and cables work fine (tested on multiple machines).

2) Windows wouldn't recognize the Mac OS Journaled formatted drive, so I reformatted to NTFS to get Windows to recognize it

3) The Windows 8 VM is the "Modern IE" developer version used by us front-end developer types to cross-browser test

I have access to some older Windows boxes via family members (albeit not immediate access), but since the VM allowed Windows to read/write to the drive, I'm assuming it's a quirk with the Toolbox software itself and not the VM setup?

Thanks in advance!

Re: 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

Silvia_L_Intel1 — Thu, 10 Jul 2014 22:28:29 GMT

Hello Ckruse, thanks for contacting us through the Intel Communities.

I'm afraid to tell you that this has never been tested by us so I'm not sure how this is going to behave.

The architecture on MAC OS is based on UNIX and Windows on a complete different architecture.

For further troubleshooting you can check with the virtual software developer has an option to install drivers that would affect the virtual machine only.

If you create a virtual machine on a Windows environment, you would be able to use the drivers previously installed. However Mac is totally different. This could be the reason why the toolbox is not seeing the SSD.

Re: 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

CKrus — Fri, 11 Jul 2014 13:56:55 GMT

Thanks Sylvia. Seems the best route is for me to just grab a Windows machine. Assuming that works, I'll report back as it probably means it is indeed a Virtualbox/Toolbox compatibility/driver issue. Might help others in the future as I know a bunch of mac friends using Intel SSDs in older macs.

Thanks again.

Re: 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

CKrus — Sat, 12 Jul 2014 19:51:17 GMT

UPDATE :: I'm now on a Windows Vista machine (Toshiba Satellite A205) and I'm having the same problem. The drive appears in Windows, but not in Toolbox.

Does Toolbox require a specific driver?

Re: 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

Silvia_L_Intel1 — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 13:36:45 GMT

How did you connect the SSD on this Toshiba Laptop?

Re: 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

CKrus — Mon, 14 Jul 2014 13:52:15 GMT

It was connected via an external dock/usb

Re: 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

Silvia_L_Intel1 — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 17:11:56 GMT

I'm afraid to tell you that Toolbox cannot communicate with drives connected via USB.

Re: 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

CKrus — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 20:53:50 GMT

Bummer. Appreciate the clarification.

If you have any recommendations on how to go about secure erasing Intel SSDs via USB I'm all ears.

Re: 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

DGond — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 16:53:38 GMT

Have you tried Parted Magic?

Re: 335 Series SSD appears in Windows but not in Toolbox

CKrus — Fri, 18 Jul 2014 22:37:32 GMT

Appreciate the suggestion mutex7. Haven't tried it (yet) but will certainly dig in more. I saw that gParted might be a free alternative. If you have any experience using it vs Parted Magic you'd save me some Googling