On Wed, Dec 24, 2008 at 11:40 AM,  <[email protected]> wrote:
> I'd like to run DBAN (Darik's Boot and Nuke) on it first.  The docs say
> it doesn't support RAID but to turn the RAID into a JBOD with
> the BIOS utilities...

  There's two things of concern here.  One is the generic problem that
the RAID implementation generaly "hides" things from wipe utilities,
so to be sure you do a proper wipe, you want to disable all the RAID
stuff.  The other is the specific issue that DBAN is a customized
Linux with limited drivers, and no facility to add/update drivers.  So
if DBAN doesn't have a driver for your RAID controller, it won't see
the disks.

> I tried by-passing the PERC by plugging the array cable directly into
> the MB's SCSI port

  That is generally what you will want to do.  Every Dell server I've
ever seen with on-board SCSI embedded either an Adaptec or LSI Logic
host adapter, and DBAN supports those.

> Thing is, I'm having problems getting BIOS to find the disks.

  Explain how you know the BIOS is not finding the disks.

  You may need to go into the motherboard BIOS setup (not host adapter
BIOS setup) and enable onboard SCSI.

  Be aware that onboard SCSI sometimes manifests in two places: An
option in the mainboard BIOS setup to enable/disable it, and then a
separate host adapter BIOS (outside of the mainboard BIOS), as if you
had plugged in a SCSI expansion card.

> other than to forget DBAN and hit the drives with a drill press?

  Heh.  I know you're being facetious, but these days, even a drill
press isn't enough for the US DoD.  (Software like DBAN is no longer
sufficient, either.)  We have to take the platters out of the hard
disks and sandblast them.  I sometimes wonder if we'll eventually be
required to liquefy them.

-- Ben

~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~
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