Initialize Disk Drives so All Data is Erased Off of a System

Resolving The Problem

This document describes how to remove all data from your DASD on partitioned and stand alone systems.

In some cases, a customer may wish to erase all data off their system. They may want to do this because they are discontinuing the system or just performed a Disaster Recovery test and want to destroy or remove all data on the system.

Note: The initialization of the Load Source (LS) can take hours to complete. If a system is being scratched with the intention to return a system or discontinue use, RAID can be stopped on the LS RAID set prior to initialization to decrease the time the scratch process will take.

Choose one of the methods below to erase all data from the system or partition:

Stand-alone system or HMC managed partition or one Secondary partition:

The procedure for doing this follows:

1.	Do a D Manual IPL using a SAVSYS, full system save, or LIC Install CD.
2.	The first menu will give an Option 1 to Install LIC, Select Option 1.
3.	The Install LIC menu will provide five options. Select Option 2 to Install Licensed Internal Code and Initialize System. Note: Data still remains on the disk units until the following steps are completed.
4.	After the installation of LIC is complete, the system will IPL to the DST primary menu (IPL or Install the System).
5.	Configure all the disk drives by adding them into system ASP (ASP 1). This writes zeroes on the disk drives so only the LIC is loaded. a. Select Option 3 - Use DST. b. Work with Disk Units. c. Work with Disk Configuration. d. Work with ASP Configuration. e. Add units to ASPs. f. Add units to existing ASPs g. Type 1 in front of all the available units. Note: If using the LIC Install CD (I_Base) to install LIC, the default password for QSECOFR will be uppercase QSECOFR.
6.	When that is complete, power off the system.

The system is clean and ready to go.

Legacy Partitioned System (systems that use a Primary partition): (If this is a legacy system with a primary partition, this will remove all partitions and erase all data on drives from all earlier partitions.)

Note: This is true only for legacy systems that use a Primary partition. On HMC partitions the procedure must be done to each partition because they are independent of each other. Steps 5, 6 and 7 below do not pertain to HMC managed partitions.

The procedure for doing this follows:

1.	Do a D Manual IPL using a SAVSYS, full system save, or LIC Install CD of the primary partition.
2.	The first menu will give an Option 1 to Install LIC, and Option 2 to use DST. Select Option 1.
3.	The Install LIC menu will provide five options. Select Option 2 to Install Licensed Internal Code and Initialize System.
4.	After the installation of LIC is complete, the system will IPL to the DST primary menu. Note: If using the LIC Install CD (I_Base) to install LIC, the default password for QSECOFR will be uppercase QSECOFR.
5.	Take the option to Work with system partitions. (This step does not apply for HMC managed partitions.)
6.	Take the option to Recover configuration data. (This step does not apply for HMC managed partitions.)
7.	Take the option to Clear non-configured disk unit configuration data. (This step does not apply for HMC managed partitions.)
8.	Exit back to the DST primary menu.
9	Configure all the disk drives by adding them into system ASP (ASP 1). This writes zeroes on the disk drives so that only the LIC is loaded. a. Select Option 3 - Use DST. b. Work with Disk Units. c. Work with Disk Configuration. d. Work with ASP Configuration. e. Add units to ASPs. f. Type 1 in front of all the available units.
10.	When that is complete, power off the system by pressing and holding the power button for five seconds (on older model systems, you may need to press the power button two times to power off the system) .

The system is clean and ready to go.

Note: The system does not initialize its disk units to the DoD 5220.22-M standard. For more information, refer to the following Technote:

N1019227, Does the IBM System i System Initialize Its Disk Units to the DoD 5220.22-M Standard

Welcome to IBM Disk Sanitizer for i:
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/wikis/home?lang=en#!/wiki/IBM%20Disk%20Sanitizer%20for%20i/page/Welcome%20to%20IBM%20Disk%20Sanitizer%20for%20i%E2%84%A2

N1014286, Sanitize Disk PRPQ Announcement Letter and Readme Information

Note: The 2007 revision of DoD says that overwriting is no longer acceptable for sanitization of magnetic media; only degaussing (disrupting the magnetic field - does not apply to media without a magnetic field such as SSD or flash memory) or physical destruction is acceptable. Disk Sanitizer was available in previous releases to initialize the disk units to the DoD 5220.55-M standard, however this tool is no longer supported.