HGST sas3 ssd encrypted - need help erase

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davehob

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Oct 29, 2020
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Hi all

I bought a lot of 24 x HGST sas3 ssds from someone local. He initially told me that they are formatted in the wrong sector size and he couldn't figure out how to reformat them.

Model: HUSMR1619ASS231link to drive

After some trials, I figured out that the drives were actually encrypted.

Using this post: Utility for Unlocking HGST SED Disk Drives with MSID I was able to rescue 21 out of the 24 drives. Booted in a dell poweredge R730xd with a H730mini raid card in it. Entered raid card with ctrl + R and inside plugged drive, pressed f2 and did "secure erase" and after that converted the drive in hba mode available.

Though I suspect that the other 3 drives previous owner tried something that placed the drives in a slightly different state.

Things I tried for the other 3 ssds with no success:
- H730 raid does not recognize those 3 drives shows as unknown (not secure)
- sg_format under centos 8 says that can't format cause data is protected
- bought a partedmagic license, tried to unlock using PSID displayed on the drive though it says that the PSID I entered is not valid (trippled check that I entered right)
- tried the secure erase utility from this link Secure Erase but after answering a few times Y to the question before it displays the drives prompt gets stock in different systems
- I used a different utility under linux but I can't recall the name of it

Willing to send $200 to anyone who can help me erase these 3 drives!

Thank you in advance
 

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CyklonDX

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Nov 8, 2022
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try connecting them to some other box more directly without raid controller; and use testdisk to erase/drop everything on them.
WD should have tooling that should help you with low level formatting. Secure Erase process could be still running on the disk firmware - so there's that. (HGST has been fully merged into WD)
 
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davehob

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Oct 29, 2020
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try connecting them to some other box more directly without raid controller; and use testdisk to erase/drop everything on them.
WD should have tooling that should help you with low level formatting. Secure Erase process could be still running on the disk firmware - so there's that. (HGST has been fully merged into WD)
thank you for your feedback. I just tried testdisk with no luck. It says "access denied". I did try this in a it mode controller (sas3 lsi 3008).
 

CyklonDX

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Nov 8, 2022
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can you make a screenshot? (of access denied) also have you tried wd drive utilities?
(there's also digital dashboard, and wd security tools - something may be there.)
 

davehob

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Oct 29, 2020
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I have installed the WD Software utility under windows 10 but it doesn't see the drive

I am attaching screen shots of windows 10 utility to format that says access denied.

In centos 8 when I do sg_format --format it says "data protected"
 

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gb00s

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Jul 25, 2018
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would have tried to sanitize the drives and not just reformat them
sg_sanitize --crypto /dev/sd[x]
You can check the status o fthe drive with
sg_readcap -l /dev/sd[x]
before the sg_sanitize command.

Once you 'sanitized' the drive, without reformating the drive shall stay as 'unusable'. So you need to re-format it and /or overwrite it with the same protection parameters. I hope I did not confuse something here.
 
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davehob

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Oct 29, 2020
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would have tried to sanitize the drives and not just reformat them

You can check the status o fthe drive with

before the sg_sanitize command.

Once you 'sanitized' the drive, without reformating the drive shall stay as 'unusable'. So you need to re-format it and /or overwrite it with the same protection parameters. I hope I did not confuse something here.
Re installing centos 8 on a different machine and will get back to you on results.

I did try sg_sanitize before with no luck but will try on this machine too
 

davehob

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Oct 29, 2020
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would have tried to sanitize the drives and not just reformat them

You can check the status o fthe drive with

before the sg_sanitize command.

Once you 'sanitized' the drive, without reformating the drive shall stay as 'unusable'. So you need to re-format it and /or overwrite it with the same protection parameters. I hope I did not confuse something here.
no luck

Updated: more on this error on a google search:

the device reports a SCSI status of "reservation conflict". This implies that some other initiator holds a reservation on this device; that reservation may block writes or almost all access to that device via the current initiator
 

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davehob

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Oct 29, 2020
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Just curious what a would give you with shown
Code:
[root@localhost ~]# sg_format --format --fmtpinfo=0 /dev/sdb
    HGST      HUSMR1619ASS231   B1C0   peripheral_type: disk [0x0]
      << supports protection information>>
      Unit serial number:         0SYAYX4A
      LU name: 5000cca06cbd09f8
MODE SENSE (10) command: Reservation conflict
    try '-v' for more information
sg_format failed: Reservation conflict
getting this reservation conflict error
 

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gb00s

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Jul 25, 2018
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can you try
sg_persist --out --release --param-rk="YourKeyInTheScreenshot" --prout-type=0 /dev/sdb
to release the reservation and/or
g_persist --out --clear --param-rk="YourKeyInTheScreenshot" /dev/sdb
to clear the reservations.

EDIT: It may not work while its not the same machine but you can at least try.

Btw what is
sg_persist --in -k -d /dev/sdb
showing?
 
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davehob

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Oct 29, 2020
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can you try to release the reservation and/or to clear the reservations.

EDIT: It may not work while its not the same machine but you can at least try.

Btw what is showing?
no luck with that either

Code:
[root@localhost ~]# sg_persist -r /dev/sdb
  HGST      HUSMR1619ASS231   B1C0
  Peripheral device type: disk
  PR generation=0x0, Reservation follows:
    Key=0x5b73252800000002
    scope: LU_SCOPE,  type: Write Exclusive, registrants only
   
[root@localhost ~]# sg_persist --out --release --param-rk=0x5b73252800000002 --prout-type=0 /dev/sdb
warning>>> --prout-type probably needs to be given
  HGST      HUSMR1619ASS231   B1C0
  Peripheral device type: disk
PR out (Release): Reservation conflict
sg_persist failed: Reservation conflict

[root@localhost ~]# sg_persist --out --clear --param-rk=0x5b73252800000002 /dev/sdb
  HGST      HUSMR1619ASS231   B1C0
  Peripheral device type: disk
PR out (Clear): Reservation conflict
sg_persist failed: Reservation conflict
[root@localhost ~]# sg_persist --in -k -d /dev/sdb

  HGST      HUSMR1619ASS231   B1C0
  Peripheral device type: disk
  PR generation=0x0, 2 registered reservation keys follow:
    0x5b73252800000002
    0x5b73252800000002
[root@localhost ~]#
 

CyklonDX

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Nov 8, 2022
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while this is hgst/wd/hitachi disk - seatools for dos/cli may also provide some insights (if secure erase is still active on the device - and blocking all r/w to it.)
 

Whaaat

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Jan 31, 2020
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Wow, so many unsuccessful attempts. I had to simply connect this SSD to the PERC H700 and remove foreign security configs once booted. Even firmware revision of my drive is the same
ssd_husmr.PNG
 
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davehob

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Oct 29, 2020
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Wow, so many unsuccessful attempts. I had to simply connect this SSD to the PERC H700 and remove foreign security configs once booted. Even firmware revision of my drive is the same
I was successful with 21 of the drives (there was a batch of 24 drives that I bought), just like you said. Booted in raid controller and did secure erase.

though these last 3 drives, I think something else was done to them by the previous owner cause they are not recognized when I boot in the raid controller