What does the System Erase Utility actually do?

[Dwayne Skinner]

We need to wipe the drives on a server in such a way that the data cannot be recovered. We've used the System Erase Utility in the past but it runs so fast I can't believe its really erasing all the drives. I've been asked by management what the System Erase utility really? Does it just delete the indexes? Also, does anyone know of a good tool to wipe drives of data so that it cannot be recovered and that will recognize the array controllers from HP?

[Rob Leadbeater]

Hi,

I'm not too sure on the System Erase Utility, but it's probably just getting rid of the array configuration, rather than any data.

If you need to wipe data, then take a look at DBAN, www.dban.org

This gives you a bootable CD that will allow you to wipe drives to US Military standards. I'm fairly certain it recognises SmartArray controllers.

Cheers,

Rob

[Dwayne Skinner]

I downloaded the dban software. I'll test it out on one of our HP test boxes and confirm whether the array can be seen.

Thanks

[Kevin Moore_7]

Did you ever test this to see if it had the Smart Array drivers? If so, what server(s) did you test? Thanks!

[Dwayne Skinner]

We test this on a ML 370 G4 and a ML 530 G2. I know the 530 was using a Smart Array 5300. Another admin did the 370 so I'm not sure what controller it was using. I'm pretty sure we used whatever came standard on that model so maybe you can look up what kind it used.