Ubuntu ata secure erase

=BIOS ATA Erase Drive=

Read this first for full story
 * Suggest reading this first....

Use the drives inbuilt BIOS function to securely erase it.

=Check if frozen= You need to have the drive NOT frozen

sudo hdparm -I /dev/sdX

This wont work...it is frozen

Security: Master password revision code = 65534 supported not	enabled not	locked frozen not	expired: security count supported: enhanced erase ....snip....

To unfreeze you can try ;

1) Hotplug the drive if you have the board in AHCI node (not IDE)

i.e. boot machine then plug drive to wipe in. Not all boards will show the drive up even in AHCI mode though.

OR

2) Suspend the pc, then unsuspend it - this command will suspend it....

sudo -i echo -n mem > /sys/power/state

If you are lucky it will now be unfrozen when you hit power button to unsleep it.

Yay it's unfrozen.... Security: Master password revision code = 65534 supported not	enabled not	locked not	frozen not	expired: security count supported: enhanced erase ...snip....

Otherwise read the first link as it suggests some rather more unlikely possibilities. One of the above two choices usually work though.

Example - Erase secondary drive /dev/sdb
Assuming it is now unfrozen....you need to first set a password before you can erase it, yes really.

1234 is the password here, but can be anything, don't use NULL !

sudo hdparm --security-set-pass 1234 /dev/sdb sudo hdparm --security-erase 1234 /dev/sdb

$ sudo hdparm --security-set-pass 1234 /dev/sda security_password: "1234"

/dev/sda: Issuing SECURITY_SET_PASS command, password="1234", user=user, mode=high

$ sudo hdparm --security-erase 1234 /dev/sda security_password: "1234"

/dev/sda: Issuing SECURITY_ERASE command, password="1234", user=user

...then when it finishes, it may be immediately available blanked or you may need to reboot or unplug it. (don't worry, password will now be gone , removed at end of erase.)