PowerEdge: Unable to Secure Erase Dell Intel SSDs

Summary: This article provides information about the potential inability to securely erase Dell Intel SSD hard drives due to intentional limitations.

This article applies to This article does not apply to This article is not tied to any specific product. Not all product versions are identified in this article.
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Instructions

Excessive use of Smart Command Transport(SCT) commands may shorten the lifetime of the system band which holds the primary defect list and firmware images. The drive may not enumerate if the system band wears out. Limits are imposed on these commands for reliability purposes.

There are two variations:

  1. Firmware downgrades - Maximum of 30 firmware downgrades are allowed (No limitation on firmware upgrades)
  2. Host Blob save - Maximum of 100 SCT commands (listed below) can be performed

Commands that are considered as a Host Blob are as follows:

  • Setting Max Address
  • Sanitize Commands (Instant Secure Erase)
  • Security Commands
  • Set Feature Command with Power Mode enable
  • SCT Features control commands with feature code 0x1, 0x2, 0xD001, 0xD002
  • Software Setting Preservation Command when setting write cache, if not set
NOTE: The drive continues to accept and perform SCT commands, but the changes are not persistent once the limit is reached. The drive will revert to the last setting before the limit is reached after a power cycle.
List of Dell hard drive model and part numbers

Dell Part Number

Model

Model

1GD2M

S3520

SSDR,150G,SATA6,2.5,I-DV,S3520

3JTF5

S3520

SSDR,1.2T,SATA6,2.5,I-DV,S3520

64TMJ

S3520

SSDR,480G,SATA6,2.5,I-DV,S3520

K49V9

S3520

SSDR,800G,SATA6,2.5,I-DV,S3520

NH81W

S3520

SSDR,240G,SATA6,2.5,I-DV,S3520

R3J3Y

S3520

SSDR,1.6T,SATA6,2.5,I-DV,S3520

VXG5N

S3520

SSDR,960G,SATA6,2.5,I-DV,S3520

3RRN8

S4500

SSDR,3.8T,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

4T7DD

S4500

SSDR,960G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

FH49G

S4500

SSDR,480G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

MFN95

S4500

SSDR,240G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

XCN15

S4500

SSDR,1.9T,2N,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

MWKF2

S4600

SSDR,1.9T,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVM,EC

P7KTJ

S4600

SSDR,480G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVM,EC

TR3MY

S4600

SSDR,960G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVM,EC

V6YD5

S4600

SSDR,240G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVM,EC

43C0X

S4510

SSDR,1.92,2E,IT06,M.2,I-YVR,EC

7FXC3

S4510

SSDR,480G,2E,IT06,M.2,I-YVR,EC

DMC15

S4510

SSDR,240G,2E,IT06,M.2,I-YVR,EC

M8DWW

S4510

SSDR,960G,2E,IT06,M.2,I-YVR,EC

1RHK2

S4610

SSDR,3.8T,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

6JGT5

S4610

SSDR,480G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

C5K17

S4610

SSDR,240G,2E,IT03,2.5,I-YVR,EC

C6K76

S4610

SSDR,1.9T,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

D3HHM

S4610

SSDR,960G,2E,IT03,2.5,I-YVR,EC

F0V0W

S4610

SSDR,240G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

F8N2K

S4610

SSDR,1.9T,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

NND24

S4610

SSDR,480G,2E,IT03,2.5,I-YVR,EC

PK6GT

S4610

SSDR,480G,2E,IT03,2.5,I-YVR,EC

R1PY5

S4610

SSDR,240G,2E,IT03,2.5,I-YVR,EC

T1WH8

S4610

SSDR,240G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

T50K8

S4610

SSDR,960G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

VPP5P

S4610

SSDR,480G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

X31G3

S4610

SSDR,960G,2E,IT06,2.5,I-YVR,EC

Y9N83

S4610

SSDR,960G,2E,IT03,2.5,I-YVR,EC
NOTE: The drive is functioning as designed when issuing a secure erase to the drive. The drive does a NAND level erase on user area, and also crypto erase which deletes the key in the system band area. The crypto erase is aborted when the SCT counter has reached its limit.

Affected Products

PowerEdge XR2, PowerEdge R640, PowerEdge R6415, PowerEdge R650, PowerEdge R650xs, PowerEdge R6515, PowerEdge R6525, PowerEdge R660, PowerEdge R660xs, PowerEdge R6615, PowerEdge R6625, PowerEdge R740, PowerEdge R740XD, PowerEdge R740XD2 , PowerEdge R7415, PowerEdge R7425, PowerEdge R750, PowerEdge R750XA, PowerEdge R750xs, PowerEdge R7515, PowerEdge R7525, PowerEdge R760, PowerEdge R760XA, PowerEdge R760xd2, PowerEdge R760xs, PowerEdge R7615, PowerEdge R7625, PowerEdge R840, PowerEdge R860, PowerEdge R940, PowerEdge R940xa, PowerEdge R960, PowerEdge T350, PowerEdge T360, PowerEdge T440, PowerEdge T550, PowerEdge T560, PowerEdge T640, PowerEdge XE2420, PowerEdge XE7100, PowerEdge XE7420, PowerEdge XE7440, PowerEdge XE8545, PowerEdge XE8640, PowerEdge XE9640, PowerEdge XE9680, PowerEdge XE9680L, PowerEdge XR11, PowerEdge XR12, PowerEdge XR5610, PowerEdge XR7620 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000138111
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 06 May 2025
Version:  6
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