Drive Eraser 6.5.2 / Drive Eraser Configuration Tool 2.4.1 - Release notes

Features:

  • ALBUS-5826, ALBUST-436 - Allow to turn off the network completely. The network connectivity (LAN, WLAN, SSH) can be turned on/off via the BDE UI and the BDECT. To achieve compliance with the BSI certification. Configurable via BDECT 2.4.1 or higher.
  • ALBUS-4625 - PXE booting improvements. BDE can now be booted through the network on UEFI machines, including Apple machines. Request the instructions to configure your PXE server from the Blancco Support.
  • ALBUS-5742 - Improved battery test. The battery test has been improved to succeed even if the detected battery voltage is below the voltage specified by the vendor. In addition, the battery charge cycles count is also reported. The battery test will fail if the current voltage is below the discharge cutoff voltage, which corresponds to ~75% of the minimum design voltage.
  • ALBUS-5864 - Enable Sanitize Overwrite on ATA HDDs. The Sanitize Overwrite command is now supported on ATA HDDs. This command achieves purge-level erasure as defined by NIST.
  • ALBUS-5696, ALBUST-446 - Configurable threshold on read errors to fail the erasure. There is a new threshold on read errors count. If the amount of read errors reaches the threshold, the verification will fail right there. This permits the erasure to fail quickly. The default value for this threshold is 5 errors. The default value of threshold on write errors count has also been dropped to 5. Requires BDECT 2.4.1 or higher.
  • ALBUST-444 - Configurability for the Report Standard/Advanced mode. The Report Standard/Advanced mode can be preconfigured via the BDECT. There is also an option to lock the mode. Requires BDECT 2.4.1 or higher.

Bug fixes/Improvements:

  • ALBUS-5852 - The battery test failed occasionally even when the capacity was above the threshold. Due to a detected voltage lower than the expected voltage. Fixed via ALBUS-5742.
  • ALBUS-5252 - The verification was not always consistent in case of verification errors (identical tests but different amount of errors reported). Fixed via ALBUS-5696.
  • ALBUS-5860 - Some localizations did not work on PDF reports. Happened with a few languages like Korean.
  • ALBUS-5820 - Some keys did not work in the Keyboard test if the keyboard layout was set to Japanese. The keys in question were "=", "@", and ":".
  • ALBUS-5697 - The Ethernet connection of the docking station of the Dell Latitude 5285 tablet did not work.
  • ALBUS-5859, ALBUST-434 - Fix for some missing translations in BDE 6.5.1 and BDECT 2.4.0.
  • ALBUS-5880 - Improving the error message in the report in case the write error count reached the configured threshold. The new message provides the threshold, the write error count and the total amount of written sectors. Providing the total amount of written  sectors allows the user to know what is the percentage of the drive that fails the overwrite. To differentiate a drive that fails because of a few write errors from a drive that fails because it cannot be written at all.
  • ALBUS-5926 - The Optical Drive Read Test failed instantly. Occurred on the 6.5.1 release only.
  • ALBUST-433 - BDECT did not allow using usernames under 5 characters (BMC settings). BMC allows usernames between 3 and 64 characters long. Available in BDECT 2.4.1 or higher.
  • ALBUST-441 - During the configuration import/export from one image to another, the memory test setting was not exported. Available in BDECT 2.4.1 or higher.
  • ALBUST-443 - During the configuration import/export from one image to another, the new configured image was occasionally saved with the name "create". Available in BDECT 2.4.1 or higher.

Known issues & Recommendations:

  • ALBUS-5853, ALBUS-5854 - There are some issues supporting some network interface cards (mainly PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet Controller from Realtek Semiconductor). The machine cannot get an IP address. The fix requires upgrading the kernel. In the meantime, there is a workaround: boot the machine using e.g. the booting option "Show startup messages" or "Safe resolution" and let the FLR procedure happen after pressing the "Erase" button.
  • ALBUS-5946 - During the testing of ALBUS-5864 (support for Sanitize Overwrite on ATA HDDs), we noticed that this command can take a long time to complete (from many hours to many days, depending on the size of the drive). If you are using the 6.5.2 and the standard “NIST 800-88 Purge” on an ATA HDD supporting the Sanitize Overwrite command and the erasure takes a surprisingly long time to complete, make sure that you leave the machine erasing and wait until the end of the process to prevent bricking the drive. We are investigating ways to reduce the erasure duration as part of the next release.
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