Lenovo P-series Workstations Secure Erase [en, ar, bg, cs, da, de, el, es, fi, fr, he, hr, hu, id, it, ja, ko, nb, nl, pl, pt, pt, ro, ru, sh, sk, sl, sv, th, tr, uk, zc, zh]

Lenovo P-series Workstations Secure Erase

ThinkStation: P920-P720-P620-P520-P520c-P340-P330-P320
ThinkPad: P1-P15-P15v-P15s-P17-P14s-P53-P72-P73

Contents

OVERVIEW
SECTION 1 – HOW TO SECURELY ERASE SATA and M.2 NVMe DRIVES

USING THINKSTATION BIOS
SECTION 2 – HOW TO SECURELY ERASE DRIVES USING THINKPAD

THINKSHIELD
SECTION 3 – DOCUMENT REVISION HISTORY

Overview

The purpose of this document is to provide guidelines for users on how to
securely erase SATA and M.2 drives in Lenovo ThinkStations P920, P720,
P620, P520, P520c, P340, P330, P320 and Lenovo ThinkPads P1, P15, P15v,
P15s, P17, P14s, P53, P72, P73.

Section 1 – How To Securely Erase SATA
Drives Using ThinkStation BIOS

The following instructions will cover the steps required to use ThinkStation
BIOS to securely erase SATA HDD/SSD.

Note 1: Images represent newer platforms with graphical BIOS setup screens.

BIOS interface on older platforms might appear different than the images
shown.

Note 2: For the integrated secure erase feature to function correctly, any drive

to be erased MUST be attached to one of the system’s onboard SATA ports.
To avoid erasing incorrect drives, Lenovo recommends the users to remove
any drives not targeted for secure erase to ensure only intended drive is
erased.

1. With the target drive connected to the system correctly, power on the
system and keep pressing “F1” at the Lenovo splash screen to enter the
BIOS setup.

2. Navigate to the “Devices” tab and select the “ATA Drive Setup”. Press
enter.

3. Make sure the “Configure SATA as” option is set to “AHCI”.

4. For users referring this document to securely erase NVMe drives,
navigate to the “Devices” tab and select the “NVMe Setup”. Press enter.

5. Make sure the “NVMe RAID Mode” is set to “Disabled”.

6. Use the arrow key to highlight the “Security” tab.

7. Use the down arrow to select the “Hard Disk Password” option, then
press enter.

8. In order to secure erase a drive permanently, a password must be
assigned to the drive. If a password is already assigned to the drive,
skip to STEP 10. Otherwise, highlight “SATA Drive X Password” or “M.2
Drive X Password” (In case erasing M.2 drive. Where X = drive number
to be erased) and press enter.

9. A “Setup Confirmation” box will appear. Select “User” and press enter.

Note: Users can also select User + Master password option. At
minimum, a user password is required for the secure erase feature to
work.

10. A “Set User Password” box will be prompted. Choose a temporary
password and confirm it. Press enter or select “Yes” to continue.

11. A “Setup Notice” box will be prompted displaying that the changes have
been saved. Press “Continue”.

12. At this point, the system needs to be rebooted for the changes to take
effect. Press “F10” function key to save and exit the BIOS setup.

13. Once the system starts to reboot, press “F1” at Lenovo splash screen to

enter the BIOS setup again. If the system prompts to enter the “Hard

Disk Password”, enter the temporary password created in STEP 6.

14. In the BIOS setup, navigate to the “Security” tab and open “Hard Disk
Password” option.

15. Highlight the “Security Erase HDD Data” and press enter. Select “Erase
SATA Drive X Data” to wipe the drive.

Warning: In case of multiple drives present in the system, users need to
make sure of selecting the correct drive for secure erase.

16. A “Setup Warning” box will appear as a final warning to the user before
erasing the data from the drive permanently. Select “Yes” to proceed.

17. Input the temporary password created in STEP 6, and press enter.

Warning: Proceeding with this step will erase all data from the selected
drive and cannot be undone.

18. A progress bar will appear to display the secure erase progress.

Note: Users should not unplug the system during this process.

19. Once the secure erase process completes, a new confirmation box will

be prompted stating “System will reset to make changes take effect”.

Press enter to reboot the system.

20. At this point, the erase procedure is complete. The system can be
powered down, and the drive can safely be removed from the system.
Repeat the process for any additional drives that might need to be
securely erased.

Section 2 – How To Securely Erase Drives
Using ThinkPad’s ThinkShield

The following instructions will cover the steps required to use ThinkShield
feature in ThinkPad BIOS to securely erase storage drives.

1. Boot into BIOS by pressing function “F1” key at the Lenovo splash
screen.

2. Once inside the BIOS setup, tab over to the “Security” menu and select
“ThinkShield secure wipe”.

3. Confirm the “ThinkShield secure wipe in App Menu” is set to enabled.

4. Save and exit the BIOS setup by pressing the “F10” function key. On
reboot, boot into the “boot menu” by pressing the “F12” function key at
the Lenovo splash screen.

5. Tab over to the “App Menu” and select “ThinkShield secure wipe”
option.

6. Select the storage device to be erased and press “Next”.

7. Select an appropriate method from the dropdown menu to securely
erase the chosen drive and press “Next”.

Note: ATA Secure Erase method resets all data in the standard way,
while ATA Cryptographic Key Reset method resets the internal
encryption key thereby making the drive data completely unreadable.

8. A warning will appear to confirm if the user wants to continue with the
secure erase process. Select “Yes” to proceed.

9. A progress window will appear displaying the data wiping process. Do
not power off until the process is complete.

10. On completion of the process, a confirmation message will be
displayed. At this time, drives are wiped successfully, and the system
should be rebooted for the changes to take effect. Select “Reboot”.

11. At this point, the erase procedure is complete. Repeat the process for
any additional drives that might need to be securely erased.

Version

Date

Author

Updates

1.0

03/22/2021

Sayali Pawar

Initial launch release

Section 3 – Document Revision History