On Sat, Oct 9, 2010 at 9:29 AM, Linuxguy123 <linuxguy123@xxxxxxxxx> wrote: > On Sat, 2010-10-09 at 02:27 -0600, Linuxguy123 wrote: > >> >> >From man hdparm: >> >> --security-erase PWD >> Erase (locked) drive, using password PWD (DANGEROUS). >> Password is given as an ASCII string and is padded >> with NULs to reach 32 bytes. Use the special password >> NULL to represent an empty password. The applicable >> drive password is selected with the --user-master switch. >> No other flags are permitted on the command line >> with this one. THIS FEATURE IS EXPERIMENTAL AND NOT WELL >> TESTED. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK. >> >> >> In actual use: >> >> # hdparm --security-erase NULL /dev/sdd >> security_password="" >> >> /dev/sdd: >> Issuing SECURITY_ERASE command, password="", user=master >> ERASE_PREPARE: Invalid exchange >> >> Why ???? > > I have this drive connected via a USB adapter. Would that cause this > problem ? Yes in all probability - I have found that this does not work via such adapters. Best bet - either boot a distro like parted.magic so you can work on the internal drive when it is not in use, or remove the drive from the machine and put it in a different machine where you can run a live distro to execute the hdparm commands - note that some BIOSes freeze out access to the Secure Erase commands (presumably so viruses can't erase your drive!) - once you know there is a machine where you can do this it is easy - generally older machines don't have a restriction. -- mike c -- users mailing list users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe or change subscription options: https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/users Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Mailing_list_guidelines
