ATA Secure Erase, if you're not familiar with it, is a feature buried in practically all hard drives/SSDs built in the past ten years: https://ata.wiki.kernel.org/index.php/ATA_Secure_Erase
ATA Secure Erase is a firmware based hard-drive erase feature that writes over every bit on the drive - including HPA, DCO and bad sectors. It's faster than software based methods, it's more thorough than DBAN and it's certified by NIST for legal data destruction requirements(such as to comply with HIPPA laws).
I am building a dedicated harddrive (IDE & SATA) erasing machine, and ATA Secure Erase is my weapon of my choice. However, one of the downsides is that *many* motherboards disable it in the BIOS, which means one has to trick the BIOS or with similar measures.
I want to keep the drives usable, so they have a second life. My goal isn't just to kill the drives, it's to delete the data and keep the drives usable.
My question is: Can anyone recommend a motherboard which has a proven track record for allowing Secure Erase? ALSO I'm looking for one that has a large number of SATA and IDE ports for maximum harddrive erasing goodness.
Software: Parted Magic Live CD, which includes a batch secure erase GUI based on hdparm
ATA Secure Erase is a firmware based hard-drive erase feature that writes over every bit on the drive - including HPA, DCO and bad sectors. It's faster than software based methods, it's more thorough than DBAN and it's certified by NIST for legal data destruction requirements(such as to comply with HIPPA laws).
I am building a dedicated harddrive (IDE & SATA) erasing machine, and ATA Secure Erase is my weapon of my choice. However, one of the downsides is that *many* motherboards disable it in the BIOS, which means one has to trick the BIOS or with similar measures.
I want to keep the drives usable, so they have a second life. My goal isn't just to kill the drives, it's to delete the data and keep the drives usable.
My question is: Can anyone recommend a motherboard which has a proven track record for allowing Secure Erase? ALSO I'm looking for one that has a large number of SATA and IDE ports for maximum harddrive erasing goodness.
Software: Parted Magic Live CD, which includes a batch secure erase GUI based on hdparm
Last edited:
Facebook
Twitter