Secure Erase HDDs/SSDs(SATA/NVMe) using hdparm & nvme-cli on Linux

Hey everyone, I wanted to post a new thread dedicated for secure wiping SSD/HDDs after I tried hdparm and nvme-cli. I wasn't willing to share it initially, since it maybe dangerous if used incorrectly! Anyway, I posted this guide after searching many sources and made it as simple as possible! I've linked the sources at the end of the post. For images, I'm using Imgur so if anyone has any issues with images not loading or staying blank, please let me know!

I must warn everyone that incorrect name for example /dev/sdX can wipe out other drives, so backup.. backup... so as to prevent data loss. Don't hold me responsible for lost data.

For newbies, I'd recommend using Ubuntu ISO( I used Xubuntu distro) since it includes all necessary packages without needing to download anything from repos. For people who use other distros Gnome disk utility,gparted and nvme-cli packages are recommended to be installed for ease of use.

Don't forget to Backup your data before proceeding.

1. Open Gnome disk utility aka Disks and see the Disk name sdX you want to erase. My SSD is sdb, so I'm using /dev/sdb and yours might be different.

Code:

hdparm -I /dev/sdb

• The output should look something similar to mine aside from terminal colors and background:

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2. If you see Frozen then you can Suspend the PC just to get rid off it when waking from Suspend state. The command is shown below:

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3. Once its woken from suspend/sleep mode you will see Not frozen when running hdparm -I /dev/sdX, subsitute X with your SSD or disk name.

4. You need to set a Password for Secure erase or Secure Erase enhanced to work. For the sake of simplicity, I'm using 'p' as a password and the command is:

Code:

hdparm --user-master u --security-erase p /dev/sdb

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5. Now lets secure erase SSDs, I'm using Secure SSD Enhanced since my drive supports it. It works for 2.5" SATA and M.2 SATA versions perfectly!

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6. It will take under a minute to secure erase a SSD.
7. I re-initialised the SSD using gparted by using gpt as shown in the link here (optional step) I used it to create a fresh filesystem table so that HPA and other things are reset to defaults just like a new drive.

For NVMe drives:

8. Assuming nvme-cli package is installed, let's query list of NVMe installed in the system using:

Code:

sudo nvme list

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9. Follow Step 2 if you never suspended the Ubuntu or Linux LiveCD environment to un-freeze the disks.
10. Check if the NVMe drives support Secure erase or not: (As always if you've multiple NVMe disks choose appropriate name. If in doubt, check Gnome disk aka Disks or gparted for detailed info.)

Code:

nvme id-ctrl -H /dev/nvme0

Format NVMe support for basic formatting of NVME disk(s):

Secure erase or crypto erase:
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11. Format NVMe drive(s) with Secure Erase command:

Code:

nvme format /dev/nvme0 --ses=1

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You will get a Success message or statement once NVMe secure erase is done, it takes a little more time than SATA so be patient! and once complete, follow Step 7 for best results.

@hmscott @Papusan @jclausius @Dennismungai @Mr. Fox @jaybee83 @VICKYGAMEBOY @judal57 Ultra Male @Dr. AMK @tilleroftheearth @GreatD @rinneh @ssj92 and others...

Sources:

Code:

[/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE][/SIZE]
[SIZE=5][SIZE=4][SIZE=5][SIZE=4]SATA SES:
https://grok.lsu.edu/article.aspx?articleid=16716

nvme secure erase:

http://blog.pythonaro.com/2018/05/how-to-securely-wipe-nvme-drive.html
https://tinyapps.org/docs/nvme-secure-erase.html
https://github.com/linux-nvme/nvme-cli/blob/master/Documentation/nvme-format.txt
https://www.mankier.com/1/nvme-format

Don't forget to Backup your data. Don't say I didn't warn you!

 

Nice info, Brother @Vasudev

 

Awesome, thanks!

 

Agreed. Kudos!!

 

Thanks everyone. Well, I did try to erase my non-backup'ed drive by copy and pasting the same cmds, you'll see in Step 5 where I accidetally hit Enter key and cmd was issued! Fortunately, HDD/SSD were Frozen so those cmds failed. That's why I highlighted Backup important data.
A minor mistake might wipe out the data.
My guide isn't as good looking as Ultra Male's post.

 

@Charles P. Jefferies This thread is similar to Ultra Male's SSD erase guide, but involves lot of manual work using the same internal working of Parted Magic and most Linux distros in a freeware.

 

It's good to have your post/thread here because Parted Magic is more of a point and click experience designed for Windows users and you presented how one would do this using Linux with terminal commands. I actually like using a command line interface. It took me a long time to accept using a Windows GUI and I preferred using DOS (and primarily used DOS as much as possible) until about half way through the life cycle of Windows 98. I never actually liked Windows 3.X or Windows 95, and didn't fully embrace it until Windows XP.

 

Uses the same thing but presented in a nice GUI. Its more bleeding edge than LTS. I always like CMD lines or xterm. I still play dosgames on my PC at ultra pixelated graphics at VGA resolution.

 

@Charles P. Jefferies Can you change title of the thread to "
Secure Erase HDDs/SSDs(SATA/NVMe) using hdparm & nvme-cli on Linux"

 

Done, you can always report your post and ask for a title change.

 

Ok I thought it was for reporting abuse and offensive posts!
I will keep it in mind.

 

Any refinements needed or what? I hope every step is easy to follow.

 

It's perfect.

I have sanitized a couple of WD Blue NVMe SSDs (part number WDS100T2X0C) with these instructions and they work well.
Caution is still advised when using device names (/dev/nvme*) etc as using the wrong path will erase the wrong drives.

 

2 weeks ago I used my guide because I forgot all the damn commands for NVMe Protocol to clean install 19H1, so far so bad on 19H1, Hahaa... Looks like I will switch to Linux next year!

 

I will be on the same path as you.. next year will be Linux year

 

Yeah full time Linux is wonderful idea and windows 10 will be used for MS office and some gaming/benching.

 

My primary concern with a Linux only system is because of the sandbox the browser will not pass info to java apps and visa versa. I use this function lot with e-trade so it keeps me in a Windows machine.

I would get a bigger SSD for the Huawei and run Linux but the above keeps me from doing so. I do not really care for using it to game but would also keep windows for when M$ Office is absolutely required only, open office would suffice for most other times.

 

Thanks a lot, this guide really helped me. The only thing to add is that all nvme commands should be run through sudo.

Sent from my Redmi 7 using Tapatalk

 

I did that intentionally to prevent users from blindly erasing SSDs or HDDs by giving wrong drive paths.
I'm glad the guide helped you!

 

BTW while checking drive params, I noticed my SSD also has secure-erase disabled. Are there many SSDs with this feature on the market?

Sent from my Redmi 7 using Tapatalk

 

I think 95% of SSD sold in the market support Secure Erase protocol.