toughbook "hard disk data erase utility" method of erasing data??

The recovery disks for my CF-30 have a tool called: "hard disk data erase utility"

Does any one know the precise method employed by Panasonic to erase a hard drive? I am hoping it writes all zeros to the drive, which is optimal for returning an SSD to peak, "as bought" performance.

I know tools such as the Ultimate Boot CD (UBCD) include tools to write all zeros to a drive, but UBCD will only work if you can put a sata drive in "legacy" or IDE mode, which cannot be done in the bios of my CF-30.

 

Welcome to the Toughbook forums (noob) ... Have you tried the UBCD? It should work to write zeros to the SSD SATA drive...

 

Thanks... Yes, I have tried the UBCD, and it does not work with my sata Intel x25-m SSD

 

Here is a quote pulled directly from the FAQ on the UBCD website, explaining this:
"
Question: How can I access my SATA HDD from the UBCD?

[Source] You may need to configure your BIOS so that the SATA HDD is detected on either the primary or secondary IDE channel. This can be done by switching the SATA drive from “enhanced mode” to “compatibility mode” in BIOS (compatibility mode is sometimes called “native mode” or “IDE mode” . Unfortunately, not all BIOSes support this feature.
"

Anyone have any ideas?

 

I believe that the erase utility zero fills the drive
I don’t know for sure but it does take a bit of time to complete, so it probably does one pass

Alex

 

I was looking into securely formatting a hard drive a while back I found the program Eraser ( http://www.heidi.ie/node/6). haven't had a chance to try it out, but give it a try anyways!

 

The UBCD comes with at least half a dozen hard drive erase utilities. Which one are you trying? Which version of the UBCD are you using? Since the UBCD is not itself a program, your statement that "it does not work with my sata drive" doesn't give us any information that we'd need to help you.

I've never had any problems using Darik's Boot and Nuke v2.0 prerelease (on the UBCD, versions 5.0b6 and later) to wipe SATA drives.

 

All the programs contained within the UBCD lock up when attempting to load, DBAN included. I even attempted to use DBAN from it's own boot CD, and it failed. It may not be a problem with just being sata, but with being an SSD. Either way, the erase utility on the recovery disk is the only thing that doesn't lock up when I attempt to use it.

 

I used to zero fill drives with a program called Ontrack Disk Manager , but I just use the panasonic erase utility now when I am reloading

Alex

 

It could be an intermittent problem with your optical drive. I've found that drives can have serious problems, yet still work *some* of the time.

I would suggest trying a different optical drive if you have one.

You'd think that a SATA SSD would act just the same (from the computer's perspective) as a SATA hard drive, but then again, new technology always has its quirks. If you have a spare SATA hard drive that you know is functional, try swapping it in, and see if the UBCD's utilities behave differently.

Regardless, what version of the UBCD are you using?