5 ms·
> So you enter a read-only mode, and then on power cycle you self-destruct, making the intact data inaccessible? In what circumstance is that possibly the right
by mhw 12y ago
> So you enter a read-only mode, and then on power cycle you self-destruct, making the intact data inaccessible? In what circumstance is that possibly the right choice?
I agree with you - I was surprised by the behaviour the article describes. That said, the obvious alternative of entering a permanent read only state is still problematic: how do you dispose of such a drive safely when you can't overwrite the data that remains? You'd need people to be aware of the secure erase command and continue to support that in read only mode.
- Hello71 12y agoor since it's already broken you just bash it with a sledgehammer a few times.
- monochromatic 12y agoStandard drive disposal procedure anyway.
- qwerta 12y agoFilesystem needs to shutdown and sync correctly. I think best way is to make writes slower and slower. FS can still close, and admin will notice something is wrong.
- JohnBooty 12y agoThat's a good idea, although it feels kind of dirty to intentionally degrade performance when S.M.A.R.T. can allegedly provide ample warning. I say "allegedly" because implementation of S.M.A.R.T. attributes is so inconsistent between drives/vendors, and is often totally undocumented. Most manufacturers seem to provide a Windows program that monitors the attributes, but since they're usually undocumented you're kind of out of luck if you're on another OS...
- dmckeon 12y agoAgree about the inconsistency, but >if you're on another OS... try: http://www.smartmontools.org http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net/
- btbuildem 12y agoI dunno.. throw it into a smelting furnace if you're THAT concerned?
- makomk 12y agoThat's just as much of a problem with Intel's current solution though - the data's still present and can probably be retrieved with the correct tools, it's just inaccessable to the user. What's more, the brick mode almost certainly blocks access to the secure erase commands needed to safely dispose of the drive along with every other command, whereas a better end-of-life mode could allow secure erase.
- venomsnake 12y agoYou cannot erase data from SSD and know it is erased. The last time I researched the subject the official DoD policy for secure SSD erasing was - grind them to dust. And I happen to agree with them.
- bcoates 12y agoThere's nothing keeping a properly implemented secure erase from working -- all the data on disk should be written out encrypted so secure erase is just cycling the key. It has the advantage of being much faster and something you can do in software (and repeatedly) Of course, for retiring a drive there's no good reason not to just physically destroy it.