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Forum Discussion
ATA Secure Erase from RAIDar
I wanted to erase the two 4TB drives in my Ultra 2 Plus.
I deleted the shares and then the /c volume in RAIDiator 4.2.24 because why not. Then I ran RAIDar 4.3.8, clicked Setup, and chose "Erase Volume"; I assume this performs an ATA Secure Erase.
That was 74 hours ago, and it's still (apparently) not finished: RAIDar has shown the NAS's status as "Erasing", and both drive LEDs have been lit, since the process started. But even at only 100GB per hour, the process should have finished long ago.
RAIDar can still access the NAS, but FrontView can't (which is to be expected).
I'm reluctant to interrupt the process, because the drives will be password-locked if the Secure Erase really hasn't completed, and I don't know what password RAIDar sets. But if this behavior isn't normal, I guess I'll have to power down and see whether I can get the drives erased using Parted Magic or something.
So... Does anyone know how long the erase process is supposed to take on 4TB drives (Seagate ST4000VN000 and WD40EFRX), or how to safely interrupt the process without locking the drives?
I deleted the shares and then the /c volume in RAIDiator 4.2.24 because why not. Then I ran RAIDar 4.3.8, clicked Setup, and chose "Erase Volume"; I assume this performs an ATA Secure Erase.
That was 74 hours ago, and it's still (apparently) not finished: RAIDar has shown the NAS's status as "Erasing", and both drive LEDs have been lit, since the process started. But even at only 100GB per hour, the process should have finished long ago.
RAIDar can still access the NAS, but FrontView can't (which is to be expected).
I'm reluctant to interrupt the process, because the drives will be password-locked if the Secure Erase really hasn't completed, and I don't know what password RAIDar sets. But if this behavior isn't normal, I guess I'll have to power down and see whether I can get the drives erased using Parted Magic or something.
So... Does anyone know how long the erase process is supposed to take on 4TB drives (Seagate ST4000VN000 and WD40EFRX), or how to safely interrupt the process without locking the drives?
3 Replies
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- Here is how to unlock the drives: https://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=391272#p391272
A secure erase shouldn't be necessary for most people (though some have a legal requirement to do one). mdgm wrote: Here is how to unlock the drives: https://www.readynas.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=391272#p391272
Ah, I should have guessed that the password would be "NETGEAR". Thank you.- Ok, I have finally erased the WD40EFRX (4TB Western Digital Red drive) and ST4000VN000 (4TB Seagate NAS drive) from my Ultra 2 Plus, and also another WD40EFRX.
For anyone who's curious...
The drives all report "510 minutes" (8.5 hours) as the estimated time for an ATA Secure Erase, but that's only because 510 is the maximum that can be reported (the time is stored in units of two minutes, and the range is only 1-255). The actual time required is longer: The WD40EFRXs required just under 10 hours and the ST4000VN000 was slightly faster at about 9.5 hours. The Secure Erase is performed by the drive itself, so those times are independent of the external hardware's speed.
The RAIDar "Erase Volume" command seems unreliable. If I ever need to do this again, I'll just pull the drives out and use Parted Magic, which puts a nice interface on hdparm and automates the whole process.
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