Drive Eraser 6.6.0 / Drive Eraser Configuration Tool 2.5.0 - Release notes

Features:

• ALBUS-5814, ALBUST-435 -  Automatic fallback for NIST standards
  • BDE can be configured to fall back to the "NIST 800-88 Clear" standard in case the "NIST 800-88 Purge" standard is not supported or fails.

  • For customers requiring compliance with NIST Purge or Clear. Requires BDECT 2.5.0 or higher.

• ALBUS-2038, ALBUST-442 - SMART tests for ATA drives
  
  • Self-monitoring tests can be executed before the erasure on ATA drives that support them (HDD, SSD). 3 tests are available (Short, Extended, Conveyance).

  • These tests monitor the mechanical/electrical properties of the drive and perform read/verify checks in order to identify if the drive is defective. Tests can be preconfigured with BDECT 2.5.0 or higher.

• ALBUS-5757 - New digital signature for reports
  • The BDE 6.6.0 reports include a new digital signature using state of the art encryption and hashing algorithms.

  • For increased security and compliance with the ANSSI certification. Requires Blancco Management Console 4.8.0 or higher! The 6.6.0 is not compatible with BMC 4.7.1 or lower!

• ALBUS-5754 - Display the erasure time left per drive
  • Each drive displays the time left to complete the erasure. Both the erasure percentage and the time left are displayed in alternation under each drive.
  • When BDE is run in "Report-per-Drive" (Appliance) mode, this helps to identify which drive will be erased first in order to know when to unplug it and plug a new one.
    
    
• ALBUS-5811 - Generic hardware appliance package
  • The BDE 6.6.0 is the first release that provides a generic "hardware package" that can be installed on any machine, in addition to the Blancco Hardware Appliances.

  • Installing the BDE 6.6.0_HW package on a machine provides improved stability and allows storing the erasure reports on the internal drive. BDE 6.6.0 is installed along BMC 4.8.0.

    Ensure that the machine onto which you install the 6.6.0_HW package meets the minimum requirements (available in the "Known Issues & Recommendations" section).
    
    
• ALBUS-5939 - Canadian Police "RCMP TSSIT OPS-II" erasure standard
  • New erasure standard doing 7 overwrites.
  • For customers requiring compliance with this standard.
    
    

Bug fixes/Improvements:

• ALBUS-5996 - If "NIST 800-88 Purge" is not supported and the NIST fallback is enabled, the Purge standard will be reported with an exception.
  • Reporting a non-supported standard helps to understand the fallback logic and is useful in case of a report auditing.
    
    
• ALBUS-5946  - The execution of the Sanitize Overwrite command has been optimized and can be carried out in a few hours instead of a few days (the erasure time has divided by ~15). Effects the "NIST 800-88 Purge" standard on ATA HDDs supporting the Sanitize Overwrite command. The final erasure time depends on the drive capacity and speed.
  • This is the continuation of the feature ALBUS-5864 (Enable Sanitize Overwrite on ATA HDDs) added in v6.5.2.
    
    
• ALBUS-5923 - USB (and USB-C) to Ethernet adapters were not well supported when booting BDE via PXE. This has been fixed in 6.6.0.
  • This is the continuation of the feature ALBUS-4625 (PXE booting improvements) communicated along with v6.5.2.
    
    
• ALBUS-5961 - Improving the security of the user preferences embedded in the BDE image.
  
  
• ALBUS-5885 - If the battery test fails due to a low voltage, the report will show a clear error message.
  
  
• ALBUS-5971 - The digital signature of the Fingerprint report has been removed.
  
  
• ALBUS-5468 - The booting option is always visible in the splash screen.
  
  
• SHARED-298 - The new digital signature consists of 344 characters (compared to the 64 characters of the old signature). This digital signature is still reported in the PDF report with a smaller font.
  • This is part of the feature ALBUS-5757 (New digital signature for reports).
    
    
• ALBUST-463 - Support for BDE/B5 versions < 5.7.0 will be dropped in future versions of BDECT, loading an erasure client < v5.7.0 will display a message informing about this.
  • Effects future BDECT releases (> 2.5.0).
    
    
• ALBUST-453 - Custom fields defined with a regular expression cannot be preconfigured.

  • Preconfigured values did not necessarily verify the regexp and could end up in the final report.

    Available in BDECT 2.5.0 or higher.
    
    
• ALBUS-5864 - The minimum requirements to install and run the BDE 6.6.0_HW software are:
  • • - Processor: 64bit
    • - RAM: 4 GB
    • - Internal storage: 50 GB
    • - HBA/RAID: use a controller that is supported
  • If you are connecting several drives for erasure and/or if you are running both BDE and BMC, adding more RAM and using a good processor is recommended. The internal drive capacity depends on the amount of drives you are processing, use an SSD drive to increase the R/W speed. You can find more information on the BDE user manual.

Known issues & Recommendations:

We have noticed a problem when erasing more than one ATA HDD. The conditions to reproduce:

• - One of the drives erased is a Seagate.
• - SMART tests are executed before the erasure.
• - The Sanitize Overwrite command is executed (through "NIST 800-88 Purge"). 

The outcome is that the Sanitize Overwrite command on the Seagate drive will fail (aborted).

The problem appears to be disk specific (only affects Seagate drives, the tested model was ST1000NX0443). The problem has been reproduced with both the Short and the Extended SMART tests.

When accessing the BDE Configuration Tool, it is recommended to avoid using Firefox 64.0 under Windows 10, this combination is known to experience issues with downloading ISO images.