How should I sanitize a SAS drive that I removed from a RAID 5 Array?

I had a disk experience a predictive failure. As a result, I removed the drive and replaced it.

Now that I have the drive removed, I would like to sanitize it. What is the easiest way to go about that?

I have a usb to SATA converter, but I'm not sure if that would work. But all I really want to do is execute the secure erase command.

Solution 1:

You're going to need a host with a SAS controller or an eraser appliance that supports SAS. As Chris S is pointing out, you can use SATA drives with SAS controllers, but not the other way around.

As far as secure deletion, one pass with zeros will stop the amateurs, if you're worried about a TLA, make it one pass with random data, more if you're paranoid. What you really have to watch out for is remapped sectors...if you can't wipe those and the data is sufficiently sensitive, you should probably physically destroy the platters as Kromey suggests. Outfits that deal with classified data usually have special arrangements with the manufacturers so that they only return the part of the drive case with the label when getting warranty replacements.

Note that Guttman patterns were designed for MFM/RLL drives...I think I've read somewhere that he recommends overwriting with random data is the best you can do, but I don't have a citation handy at the moment.

Note also that I'm assuming you're talking about a conventional mechanical drive...an SSD is a whole different deal.

Solution 2:

A USB to SATA converter will not work for erasing a SAS drive. Ditto connecting it directly to a SATA machine. You will need to find another SAS connection to securely erase the disk.

Alternatively, you could physically destroy the disk's platters through any of a million creative (and oftentimes stress-relieving) methods.