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Device configuration overlay (DCO) is a hidden area on many of today's hard disk drives (HDDs). Usually when information is stored in either the DCO or host protected area (HPA), it is not accessible by the BIOS (or UEFI), OS, or the user. However, certain tools can be used to modify the HPA or DCO.
Formatting a disk for use by an operating system and its applications typically involves three different processes. [e]Low-level formatting (i.e., closest to the hardware) marks the surfaces of the disks with markers indicating the start of a recording block (typically today called sector markers) and other information like block CRC to be used later, in normal operations, by the disk ...
If they happen to contain data, the contents must be erased before a write operation. An SSD write operation can be done to a single page but, due to hardware limitations, erase commands always affect entire blocks; [11] consequently, writing data to empty pages on an SSD is very fast, but slows down considerably once previously written pages ...
Data erasure tools can also target specific data on a disk for routine erasure, providing a hacking protection method that is less time-consuming than software encryption. Hardware / firmware encryption built into the drive itself or integrated controllers is a popular solution with no degradation in performance at all.
The host protected area (HPA) is an area of a hard drive or solid-state drive that is not normally visible to an operating system. It was first introduced in the ATA-4 standard CXV (T13) in 2001. [ 1 ]
The two main use cases are Data at Rest protection, and Cryptographic Disk Erasure. For Data at Rest protection a computer or laptop is simply powered off. The disk now self-protects all the data on it. The data is safe because all of it, even the OS, is now encrypted, with a secure mode of AES, and locked from reading and writing. The drive ...
An example of a USB flash drive that supported write protection via a switch is the Transcend JetFlash series. Secure Digital (SD) cards have a write-protect tab on the left side. Extensively, media that, by means of design, can't operate outside from this mode: CD-R, DVD-R, Vinyl records, etc.
A hard disk drive failure occurs when a hard disk drive malfunctions and the stored information cannot be accessed with a properly configured computer. A hard disk failure may occur in the course of normal operation, or due to an external factor such as exposure to fire or water or high magnetic fields , or suffering a sharp impact or ...