Question Wiping HDD's in an old IBM server ?

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slippyjim

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Feb 28, 2012
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Hi,
I decided it would be a good idea to say yes when asked if I could wipe the hard drives in this old IBM server.I have no server experience but work in IT with home PC's every day so figured I would work it out....... hmmmmmm......
It is an IBM 7383 which i believe is IBM System x3500 M4 (7383), it has 5 600GB 2.5" SAS with VMWare Esxi installed, no one knows any of the admin or root passwords.
As I understand it I need to delete and recreate the RAID array and then use a secure erase tool like DBAN to wipe the drives

I have read this https://systemx.lenovofiles.com/help/index.jsp?topic=/com.lenovo.sysx.7383.doc/t_configuring_raid_arrays.html but I do not get a "Press F1" prompt when i power on the server.

Any help appreciated, thanks!!
 
I have just discovered that it has a serveRAID m5110 PCI-e controller so can I just remove this card and plug it into a nomral PC and wipe the drives like that?
 
The PCI card will have its own bios, which means that it will have the same settings on any PC.
So if you can't do anything on the server you probably also won't be able to on a different system.
Why do you need to delete and recreate the raid?! Because of the passwords?
If those are from the pci card that will prevent you from doing that.
The drives themselves could also have passwords in which case you would have to find a way to hack them to do anything with them.
 
I found some settings and have been going through them all and looks I found a secure erase in these pics
https://imgur.com/a/hrZQtdI
View: https://imgur.com/a/hrZQtdI

https://imgur.com/p8q6WGi
View: https://imgur.com/p8q6WGi



The operation progress is a bit strange as it only seems to update when I leave that screen and then go back into it

What does "unconfigured good" mean underneath the drive details?

When selected drive erase it gave me 3 options - simple, normal & thorough. Do you know what the difference is the exactly between them?

Thanks
 
Last edited:
slippyjim said:
What does "unconfigured good" mean underneath the drive details?

When selected drive erase it gave me 3 options - simple, normal & thorough. Do you know what the difference is the exactly between them?

Thanks
Click to expand...
1. probably unconfigured type, as in not formated or no set raid type.
And the good means that the health status is good.

2.This will be how many times it will delete and validate each bit of the drive, simple will be the least amount of times, maybe just once, while thorough could be 3 and up. Should be in the manual.
 
VMware is software that has to be installed for it to ask to be logged into.
Looks like the system can't find anything to boot from which is the normal outcome of formatting everything bootable.
I don't know if it's normal that it reboots instead of staying on a screen telling you that there are no boot devices though.
 
I was assuming it was all gone as nothing loaded but just wanted to check as I didn't know if a server would have some weird trick up its sleeve
I was a bit surprised it rebooted, I'll check it again

Thanks for all your help
 
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