Formatting old VA

[stefano colombo_1]

I need to format an old VA 7xxx.
I tried to connect with a laptop to the rs232 but couldn't have a prompt .
I set the com to 9600-8-1-xonxoff ( also tried none ) .
I also tried to power down the controllers and power them up with the laptop connected but didn't see any "bootstrap" messages . Also tried different cables .
Might it be a cable problem or there something I'm missing ?

thanks

[Luk Vandenbussche]

I guess it is a cable problem.
Have you tried the cable that comes with the VA7xxx?

[stefano colombo_1]

I guessed the same , unfortunately the customer seems to have lost it .
Is it a strait rs232 cable as the one used for HP network equipment ?

[Crewescontrol]

Hi

From the manual its;

Start a terminal emulator using HyperTerminal or Reflections. Use the
following settings:

â Bits per second: 9600
â Data bits: 8
â Parity: None
â Stop bits: 1
â Flow control: None

You can use serial cable 5182-4794 or a 700/96 Terminal with the cable marked 24542 G on it (dont think thats the cable's spare part number but its the only number shown)

Hope its some use

Adam

[stefano colombo_1]

I found a working cable ,it's one for HP Switch the customer had .

Now to completly erase the disks data it's enough the fmt command ?

thanks

[Torsten.]

If you do a "format" all information about the data layout and location is lost.

If you want to do a new setup - this is enough.

[stefano colombo_1]

This VA has to be returned to Hp and the customer want to be sure that in no way data can be recovered ....

Thanks

[Torsten. · Accepted solution]

The only 100% safe way to destroy data is to destroy disks ;-)

Anyway, I'm absolutely sure HP will take care of this. But if you want, you can create several large LUNs and write random data to it (perhaps several times).

[stefano colombo_1]

Formatted using fmt