Wiping Hard Drive With HDDErase via SECURE ERASE Firmware Command ?

[Bint Box]

Hi,

I would like to wipe a SATA 500gb hard drive using a specific program called HDDErase which utilises the drive firmware "SECURE ERASE" command.

I have created a bootable USB stick with the HDDErase.exe program on it, however when booting and starting the program it goes through a few screens of Y/N prompts then does not progress further. It halts at a point before displaying which drives are available.

Would anyone please know if there is there some configuration setting I need to set in the BIOS or any other tips to get the program working?

Any help most appreciated.


Rgds
Bintos

 

[rpstewart]

My understanding is that secure erase is an SSD only function. To do the equivalent on an HDD you'll need to use something like dban to physically overwrite the disk contents.

 

[Bint Box]

My understanding is that secure erase is an SSD only function. To do the equivalent on an HDD you'll need to use something like dban to physically overwrite the disk contents.

Thanks for the reply.

secure erase is not an SSD only function, it was around before SSD's were in production and has been part of the firmware command set for HDD's since around 2001. DBAN is not as complete and secure as secure erase.

http://cmrr.ucsd.edu/people/Hughes/HDDEraseReadMe.txt


Rgds
Bintos

 

[Bint Box]

As a heads up to anyone else having issues with the HDD internal firmware secure erase command using HDDErase, I got it to work OK on my 500gb SATA HDD by changing the BIOS IDE mode for SATA to "Compatable" and it proceeded OK.


Rgds
Bintos