HDPARM Keeps giving Input/Output Error

I’ve been trying to set the password on my Seagate drive: sudo hdparm –user-master m –security-set-pass pwd /dev/sda I get Issuing SECURITY_SET_Pass command, password=”pwd”, user=master, mode=high SECURITY_SET_PASS: Input/output error Why do I keep getting that error? Answer @Glad: Did you check if the drive was frozen? I figured out from the ata specs that it … Read more

HDD Power-Up in Standby: prevent from spinning up

On my Linux Mint 17.1 system I am using a Western Digital WD20EZRX HDD for backup. To minimize power consumption and to extend drive endurance, I want the HDD to normally be in spun-down standby state, and to only spin up when explicitly needed. This can be achieved in two ways: The trivial approach would … Read more

What is an alternative to Linux utility hdparm on Windows 8? [closed]

Closed. This question is off-topic. It is not currently accepting answers. Want to improve this question? Update the question so it’s on-topic for Super User. Closed 6 years ago. Improve this question Is there a utility similar to hdparm that can be run natively on Windows 8? Answer You can download both 32bit or 64bit … Read more

hdparm vs /dev/zero in hdd erase

So, what is more secure and why? hdparm –security-erase-enhanced NULL /dev/sdX or dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdx Answer They use different methods, and the effectiveness may depend on the drive. The former uses the ‘newer’ ATA secure erase command and the latter just overwrites it with zeros. For really old drives that don’t have ata secure erase … Read more

hdparm error: SG_IO: bad/missing sense data

I’m trying hdparm in Kali Live to add a ATA password to my Micron M600 Self-encrypted SSD, I use: hdparm –security-set-pass PASSWORD sda But I get: sda: Issuing SECURITY_SET_PASS command, password=”PASSWORD”, user=user, mode=high SG_IO: bad/missing sense data, sb[]: 70 00 05 00 00 00 00 0a 04 51 60 00 21 04 00 00 00 … Read more

What do different values of hard drive’s Advanced Power Management feature (hdparm -B) affect, except spin-down?

hdparm‘s -B parameter is documented as: Get/set Advanced Power Management feature, if the drive supports it. A low value means aggressive power management and a high value means better per‐ formance. Possible settings range from values 1 through 127 (which permit spin-down), and values 128 through 254 (which do not permit spin-down). The highest degree … Read more