PowerEdge: Securely use Cryptographic Erase for Drives in the Lifecycle Controller

Summary: Securely erase SAS, SATA, or NVMe drives and SSDs using Lifecycle Controller Repurpose or Retire Feature and confirm erasure in logs.

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Instructions

Step 1: Initiate Erase in Lifecycle Controller.

  1. Boot into the F10 Lifecycle Controller
  2. Choose Hardware Configuration > Repurpose or Retire.

There is an option for Cryptographic Erase Disks. All current shipping of servers come with either self-encrypting drive (SED) or instant secure erase (ISE) drives and are capable of a Cryptographic Erase. If you have an older platform before such drives were shipped, you have a Standard Disks Overwrite Data option. 

Repurpose or retire system in the lifecycle congtroller 

Component selection in repurpose or retire system 

  1. You can View Storage and Disks to show all media that is set for erase.

Viewing storage and disks to shao all media that will be erased 

  1. You receive several dialog boxes warning you it is an unreversible process. 
  2. Once complete, it reboots and you can watch the task progress.

Warning message about system erase 

Erase progession 

Step 2:  Confirm using the logs.

LCC logs have entries that show the process starting and finishing.

SYS162:  Turning on the server for System Erase Tasks.
SYS146:  Start Cryptographic erase-capable operations.
SYS201:  Disk Erases Operation.
SYS151:  Completed Systems Erase

Log confirmation on erase

Additional Information

Reference Documentation:

Watch this video:

Affected Products

Lifecycle Controllers, Dell Lifecycle Controller 1.2, Dell Lifecycle Controller 1.5.5

Products

C Series, HS Series, Modular Infrastructure, Rack Servers, Tower Servers, XE Servers, XR Servers, Lifecycle Controllers, OEM Server Solutions, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Version 1.4.8, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Version 1.7.5 , Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Version 1.00.00, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Version 1.0.8, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Version 1.1.1, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Version 1.1.5, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Version 1.4.2, Dell Lifecycle Controller 1.3, Dell Lifecycle Controller 1.4, Dell Lifecycle Controller 1.5, Dell Lifecycle Controller 1.5.5, Dell Lifecycle Controller 1.6, Dell Lifecycle Controller 1.6.5, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Release 1.1, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Release 1.1 Remote Services, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Version 1.3.0, Dell Lifecycle Controller 2 Version 1.4.0 ...
Article Properties
Article Number: 000201526
Article Type: How To
Last Modified: 10 Mar 2025
Version:  8
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