Extreme Pro USB 3.1 "Secure Erase" support?

Hi,

I face write performance issues with SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1, which degrades every time the device is used.
Following user report has interesting related info :
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/customer-reviews/R1LNBBAH6DDGZL

I then tried to “Secure Erase”.
I did it on other devices, such as the SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0, and write performance is immediately restored.

Using hdparm, let’s then first set a security password :

# hdparm --user-master u --security-set-pass p /dev/sdb
security_password: “p”
/dev/sdb:
Issuing SECURITY_SET_PASS command, password=“p”, user=user, mode=high

As you can see security is properly enabled :

# hdparm -I /dev/sdb
(…)
Security:
Master password revision code = 5
supported
enabled
not locked
not frozen
not expired: security count
supported: enhanced erase
Security level high
2min for SECURITY ERASE UNIT. 2min for ENHANCED SECURITY ERASE UNIT.

Finally, let’s erase the drive.
Unfortunately, as shown below, an Input/output error is returned, as if password was not accepted :

# hdparm --user-master u --security-erase-enhanced p /dev/sdb
security_password: “p”
/dev/sdb:
Issuing SECURITY_ERASE command, password=“p”, user=user
SECURITY_ERASE: Input/output error

The only way to disable security is then to use an empty password, which is rather strange :

# hdparm --user-master u --security-erase-enhanced “” /dev/sdb
security_password: “”
/dev/sdb:
Issuing SECURITY_ERASE command, password=“”, user=user

However, unfortunately, erase is not performed (data is still on disk).
And of course write performance is not restored.

I also tried SanDisk SSD Dashboard.
SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 is properly recognized, as it is “SSD based” (SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 is not).
I then tried both “Secure Erase” and “Sanitize” options.
Unfortunately, as above, they do not work.
Using hdparm, I can see that the drive stays in a security-enabled state, and I need to run the command with the empty password as above to be able to use the device again.

Sounds then like SanDisk Extreme Pro USB 3.1 does not support “Secure Erase”.
Leading to unavoidable write performance degradation…

Which is really not expected with such a high-end device…

This behavior is rather strange, as it correctly works with lower range devices (SanDisk Extreme USB 3.0 for instance).

Here’s another report of Input/output error (un)setting security :
https://forums.sandisk.com/t5/All-SanDisk-USB-Flash-Drives/SED-Opal-support-for-SanDisk-Extreme-Pro-USB-3-1-256GB/m-p/368767

SanDisk support / dev team, any way to correctly support “Secure Erase” ?
Through a firmware update ?

Thank you very much for your support !

I can confirm that the latest version from SANDisk (Nov 2020) still does not work. The tool they provide which creates a bootable linux system for PSID, Secure Erase, Sanitize, etc. only allows secure erase to work. It often fails as it tries to set the pass to something like “ssd123”, but this drive will only accept a “NULL” password. So if you set it to anything else it will succeed, but to issue a Secure erase or Secure erase Enhanced, unlock, or disable the password, a “NULL” password must be sent and the command will succeed. However, the data is NOT erased.

Their tool (WDC “Dashboard”) will identify the drive and show no newer firmware available. SMART reports the drive is bad due to issues with missing life indicators. Sanitize is listed as supported but does not work (Sanitize accepted but fails Block Erase). My average read/write speeds for a plain 00 / FF value is around 300MB/s. The drive does get very hot; probably due to the controller hence the physical larger size and partial metal housing.