sanitize Issue the SCSI SANITIZE command to the named device.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
ALL data in the cache and on the disk will be destroyed or
made inaccessible. Recovery of the data is not possible.
Use extreme caution when issuing this command.
The `sanitize' subcommand takes several arguments that modify
its default behavior. The -q and -y arguments can be useful
for scripts.
-a operation
Specify the sanitize operation to perform.
overwrite Perform an overwrite operation by
writing a user supplied data pat-
tern to the device one or more
times. The pattern is given by the
-P argument. The number of times
is given by the -c argument.
block Perform a block erase operation.
All the device's blocks are set to
a vendor defined value, typically
zero.
crypto Perform a cryptographic erase oper-
ation. The encryption keys are
changed to prevent the decryption
of the data.
exitfailure Exits a previously failed sanitize
operation. A failed sanitize oper-
ation can only be exited if it was
run in the unrestricted completion
mode, as provided by the -U argu-
ment.
-c passes
The number of passes when performing an `overwrite'
operation. Valid values are between 1 and 31. The
default is 1.
-I When performing an `overwrite' operation, the pattern
is inverted between consecutive passes.
-P pattern
Path to the file containing the pattern to use when
performing an `overwrite' operation. The pattern is
repeated as needed to fill each block.
-q Be quiet, do not print any status messages. This
option will not disable the questions, however. To
disable questions, use the -y argument, below.
-U Perform the sanitize in the unrestricted completion
mode. If the operation fails, it can later be exited
with the `exitfailure' operation.
-r Run in ``report only'' mode. This will report status
on a sanitize that is already running on the drive.
-w Issue a non-immediate sanitize command. By default,
camcontrol issues the SANITIZE command with the imme-
diate bit set. This tells the device to immediately
return the sanitize command, before the sanitize has
actually completed. Then, camcontrol gathers SCSI
sense information from the device every second to
determine how far along in the sanitize process it
is. If the -w argument is specified, camcontrol will
issue a non-immediate sanitize command, and will be
unable to print any information to let the user know
what percentage of the disk has been sanitized.
-y Do not ask any questions. By default, camcontrol
will ask the user if he/she really wants to sanitize
the disk in question, and also if the default sani-
tize command timeout is acceptable. The user will
not be asked about the timeout if a timeout is speci-
fied on the command line.