can and how to access a used sas disk using bash

Fred Caro · 12-11-2010, 11:49 AM

Dear all,
I do a bit for for local charity that refurbishes and repairs computers, the proceeds going to 'steps' at Bolton. A donation of several sas hard drives has come in and I have got the job of wiping the data before re-sale. I have got a sata adapter and been using a live cd/dvd to access said drive but the nearest I've got is for the live disk (cfdisk) to recognise there is something there although it cannot read it. Any suggestions? Or do I need a special motherboard or O/S?

Fred.

AlucardZero · 12-11-2010, 12:47 PM

If all you want to do is wipe the data.. you don't care about accessing it. If you can see the disks (in fdisk or sd* under /dev/), use the "shred" utility on the disk. So like: shred /dev/sdc

Fred Caro · 12-12-2010, 07:22 PM

I don't want to read it as such, I want to erase it but the apparatus will not read a drive designation so I cannot erase/shred it. Is there a bash script for this happy event?
'apparatus'= knoppix,slamp,usb caddy and fedora 14 cd asking for an identifier of which there seams to be little indication on the drive. Connecting rogue hard drive to the motherboard and running the system via a live cd.
If it sounds like I am struggling then that is because I am, could be a few quid in it for 'steps' though.

Fred.

syg00 · 12-12-2010, 07:30 PM

Immediately after plugging in the caddy, run this and post the output (root/sudo in need)

Code:

dmesg | tail -n 20
fdisk -l

Fred Caro · 12-17-2010, 12:02 AM

Thanks for the replies but have since found out I was a bit optimistic. The 'caddy' set up was not a true usb arrangement and the motherboard lacks a controller for sas drives, it does not show up on the bios. I should have checked this first. My apologies.

Fred.