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reserved DDF blocks

Posted: October 20th, 2011, 22:03
by benji
Is either Wipe or Low Level Format utilities capable of distroying the DDF blocks which are stored on a disk which has been used on a SAN.
This information is typically stored outside any partitions and is located in the last 32MB of space on a hardrive. Typically used to store raid configuration ect.
I am trying to revert a disk back to factory condition and make it appear as if it has never been used.

Thanks

Re: reserved DDF blocks

Posted: October 20th, 2011, 22:29
by Vulcan
benji wrote:Is either Wipe or Low Level Format utilities capable of distroying the DDF blocks which are stored on a disk which has been used on a SAN.

Yes, provided that the disk is attached to a non-RAID controller (because while the disk is attached to a RAID controller which uses the DDF data, then that area is hidden from normal host access by the RAID controller).

In my experience, you only need to overwrite that area for a DDF-compliant RAID controller to treat this as a new disk - a wipe of the whole disk or a "low level format" is overkill, but would also work (if you don't mind wasting time :) ).