Dynabook Secure Erase

[Danny_11515]

Hi, I have been working through a pile dynabooks and nearly all of them have had a secure erase option in the bios which has worked brilliantly. However there is a few of the dynabooks when going into the bios as admin and there is no option for secure erase. Is there something I am missing to enable this? 

[synaesthesia]

Geobooks AND dynabooks? Christ, you have been working through some e-waste!

Depending on the model of those though, I believe the storage is usually standard NVME/SATA m.2, so for the few you have it's probably best to crack them open and remove the drives & either physically destroy them or keep them if they're worth keeping as spares.

[Danny_11515]

Just now, synaesthesia said:

Geobooks AND dynabooks? Christ, you have been working through some e-waste!

Depending on the model of those though, I believe the storage is usually standard NVME/SATA m.2, so for the few you have it's probably best to crack them open and remove the drives & either physically destroy them or keep them if they're worth keeping as spares.

Yep this was the e waste that was provided through the government scheme. I have cracked these ones open but strangely enough there is no nvme/sata m.2 where it should be located. This must have been the same model but different type of build. I think I am just need to plan something in the diary over the easter holidays to destroy these physically. 

[synaesthesia]

Ah bum - yeah if those are the DfE covid ones then indeed they're likely soldered storage. If you have time and willing then you could boot from USB with something like Hirens (that's now fully legal so hopefully won't get a slap for mentioning that) and then DBAN to securely wipe them, but that will take a long time. Physical destruction might be the way forward - or, could you not send them to your WEEE provider and get a certificate of data destruction? Most of the decent ones will do that for you, and destruction can either mean physical or software depending on whether they're reusing or not. EnviroElectronics, PRM Green/Restore Technology are two I've used and will provide that level of certification.

[Danny_11515]

Hi, Yep it is through that lovely covid batch. Funny enough I wasn't hear throughout the time they were receiving them. In fact it is my 1st month starting here at this place because this is my old secondary school I used to attend when I was younger and I can tell you the amount of tech that is in storage that is waiting to be recycled blew my mind. It looks like I might have a busy year ahead of me. 

[synaesthesia]

Sounds familiar - I changed schools a couple of years ago, after coming from somewhere that wisely got a load of Chromebooks which will no doubt be in service until 2030 (other than those which got used as frisbees by the kids), I moved to a school which opted for a lovely batch of Geobooks and Dynabooks. I'd love to say we've gotten rid of the last of them, but even last week I found a couple during a laptop hunt & amnesty. The dynabooks won't even take ChromeOS Flex, so their usefulness was zero

[IAmNotMatt]

Dynabooks are the absolute worst. I am trying my hardest to get rid of all of them. Our schools I think also procured them through COVID, But with budgets its difficult especially when some of them are "working" - I use that term loosely. I dunno about the rest of you, but Im seeing multiple failures across the board. Keyboards stop working. Webcam/Mic arrays stop functioning entirely and probably the most common one is they "forget" they have a trackpad and you have to go in and reinstall it. (only for another Windows Update to completely kill it again).

 

But on to your point as someone above mentioned these are usually NVME M.2 Drives so if you're wanting to repurpose them or erase them, physically removing them and doing it externally would be a much easier option.

[MrEprise]

On 27/03/2025 at 08:52, IAmNotMatt said:

Dynabooks are the absolute worst. I am trying my hardest to get rid of all of them. Our schools I think also procured them through COVID, But with budgets its difficult especially when some of them are "working" - I use that term loosely. I dunno about the rest of you, but Im seeing multiple failures across the board. Keyboards stop working. Webcam/Mic arrays stop functioning entirely and probably the most common one is they "forget" they have a trackpad and you have to go in and reinstall it. (only for another Windows Update to completely kill it again).

I dunno, you could be supporting Geobooks where to fix them requires taking the whole thing apart while breaking off bits of plastic in the process, unplug and re-plug the battery before it'll work again.

[IAmNotMatt]

On 31/03/2025 at 14:19, MrEprise said:

I dunno, you could be supporting Geobooks where to fix them requires taking the whole thing apart while breaking off bits of plastic in the process, unplug and re-plug the battery before it'll work again.

 

That does sound particularly awful!