USB adapters that contain a SATA controller chip that supports ATA pass through for secure erase/HPA/DCO/smart data

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Table of USB adapters that support ATA pass through, specifically drive configuration overlay (DCO), host protected area (HPA) detection and setting a password and commanding a ATA secure erase by the drives firmware. Also a list of those that don't provide this ability.

If you have a USB adapter that you would like added to either table, please add a comment to this discussion, with all the details as required in the table. These are the tests you want to do:

• sudo hdparm -I /dev/sdx Check the drive is NOT locked, enabled or frozen. You will get errors if it's enabled because you pulled the power in the middle of a secure wipe which will give you false results. In which case you will need to probably restart the secure erase and let it complete to unlock the drive.
• sudo hdparm -N /dev/sdx, does it respond with sensible data for sectors? and no SG_IO errors?
• sudo hdparm --dco-identify /dev/sdx, does it respond with real max sectors and no SG_IO errors. This won't work on some newer drives especially Seagate.
• sudo hdparm --user-master u --security-erase-enhanced p /dev/sdx (See https://grok.lsu.edu/article.aspx?articleid=16716 for the full procedure)
• Run lsusb, this will show all USB devices, it should be fairly obvious which is your adapter but if you are not sure, you can work out which one is your USB adapter by running lsusb with the adapter plugged in and also unplugged, note the difference, this will provide the chip used and the 8 digit device number.

Why would I want a USB adapter with ATA pass through?

If the adapter doesn't support ATA pass through then ShredOS/nwipe/hdparm won't be able to detect hidden sectors, or perform secure erase using the drives own build in eraser in firmware. Drive temperature won't be visible and smart data won't be retrievable for the PDF reports.

These USB adapters allow ATA passthrough. (Recommended for ShredOS and recent Linux Distros)

Picture	Make	Model	DCI (Y/N)	HPA (Y/N)	ATA Secure Erase	chip	link/note
	Unitek	S1232A	Y	Y	Y	Chip unknown, deviceID 152d:b581	https://amzn.eu/d/08vWdHXW Requires -d sat option for smartctl See note 1
	Unitek	Y-1039-EU, supports UASP	Y	Y	Y	ASM1051E, 174c:55aa	https://amzn.eu/d/4bm4x1R Obsoleted by S1232A above
	SSK	2.5" enclosure	Y	Y	Y	JMicron, JMS580 152d:0580	https://amzn.eu/d/fTQDDCU

Note 1: The Unitek S1232A will respond with /dev/sda: Unknown USB bridge [0x152d:0xb581 (0x4403)] Please specify device type with the -d option. Using the command sudo smartctl -d sat -a /dev/sda will produce the smart data.

These USB adapters allow some ATA passthrough but have some special requirements and may not provide ATA pass through on recent Linux distributions. They are generally older and may not support USB V3.x so may be slower. (NOT RECOMMENDED)

Picture	Make	Model	DCI (Y/N)	HPA (Y/N)	ATA Secure Erase	chip	link/note
	bipra	-	Y	N*	Y	JM20337, JMicron, 152d:2338	Obsolete, *requires CONFIG_IDE_TASK_IOCTL and IDE kernel support, deprecated in recent kernels.
	Many brand names	A83HQ	Y	N*	Y	JM20329, JMicron, 152d:2329	Obsolete, *requires CONFIG_IDE_TASK_IOCTL and IDE kernel support, deprecated in recent kernels.

These USB adapters DO NOT allow ATA passthrough (NOT RECOMMENDED for hidden sector detection or secure erase)

Picture	Make	Model	DCI (Y/N)	HPA (Y/N)	ATA Secure Erase	chip	link/note
	Fideco	PL319	N*	N	N	IS611, Innostor Technology Corporation, 1f75:0611	https://amzn.eu/d/6CBDvUb *DCO yes on SATA, no on IDE
	Unitek	Y-3324A	N*	N	N	IS611, Innostor Technology Corporation, 1f75:0611	https://amzn.eu/d/6CBDvUb *DCO yes on SATA, no on IDE
	Eckbuy	-	Y	N*	N**	JMS578, JMicron, 152d:0578	*Generates SG_IO errors, requires CONFIG_IDE_TASK_IOCTL and IDE kernel support, deprecated in recent kernels. **SG_IO error bad missing sense data but starts wiping disc but will leave the drive in a locked and security enabled state, sense data reports recovered error, even so it's no good, You'll need one of the recommended USB bridges to unlock the drive AVOID!. https://amzn.eu/d/isZwhRw

[Firminator]

Oh yeah, very interested here for the result. If true than I would think UASP is doing the magic here and be responsible for making it work. If that's the case then any UASP adapter should work pretty well. We all have been buying the wrong adapters over the years :(

For later reading... USB Attached SCSI Protocol: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USB_Attached_SCSI

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So far so good. I've been using it with hdparm for commands such as hdparm -N and hdparm --dco-identify and it's working well just as if I was hooked up directly to SATA. Haven't had any SG_IO: bad/missing sense data errors. smartctl -a works well too.

I want to test it further with the following commands including

• restoring the DCO
• setmax sector DCO
• hdparm -Npxxxxxxx etc.

Nwipe still won't display temperature for USB but that's because temperature is being supplied by hwmon. I need to pull the temperature data in via ID194 in the smart data to get USB drive temperatures working (with the proper USB adapter) like this one.

So yep, I've not been disappointed so far. :-)

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According to one of the reviews it's very fast too !

Pros: Works well for 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch drives. The power adapter is only required for the 3.5 inch versions which need 12V power. It's also really fast, I clocked my Samsung 870 Evo 2TB SSD going at 551/492 MB/s (read/write) on SATA and 445/410 on this thing. I have another adapter that presumably doesn't support UASP and it runs at half the speed with the same drive.

Cons: 5V power is only provided by the USB port, not the included power adapter (there is no buck converter built-in). This means that your drive must use less than 900 mA on the 5V rail, or else this won't work. USB 3.0 ports cannot provide more than that, though I've not tested it with a USB Y-splitter. Sadly, the optical drive I wanted to use this with requires 1.5 A on the 5V rail, so it wouldn't even boot up. I've seen people on here saying they did get their optical drives to work so I imagine some use less power than mine does. Just be sure yours uses less than 900 mA on 5V before you buy this for it.

Overall, this is a very fast and versatile USB to SATA adapter for SSDs and HDDs, but your mileage may vary for optical drives.

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For reference this USB to SATA adapter contains a ASM1051E chip

lsusb
ASMedia Technology Inc. ASM1051E SATA 6Gb/s bridge, ASM1053E SATA 6Gb/s bridge, ASM1153 SATA 3Gb/s bridge, ASM1153E SATA 6Gb/s bridge

1. Compliant with USB3.0 Specification Revision 1.0
2. Compliant with USB Specification Revision 2.0
3. Support USB Super-Speed, High-Speed and Full-Speed Operation
4. Bus bandwidth of USB up to 5Gbps
5. Support USB Mass Storage Class, Bulk-Only Transport Specification Revision 1.3
6. Compliance with Serial ATA Specification Revision 2.6
7. Bus bandwidth of Serial ATA up to 3Gbps
8. Support ATA/ATAPI Packet Command Set
9. Support ATA/ATAPI LBA48 addressing mode
10. Support 20MHz External Crystal
11. Support I2C NVRAM for Vender Specific VID/PID of USB Device Controller

Datasheet
ASM1061-ASMedia.pdf

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BTW, this device works perfectly for ATA pass through so commands such as hdparm --dco-identify, hdparm --dco-setmax, hdparm --dco-restore and hdparm -N. Which is important for nwipe and ShredOS as in the next release nwipe/ShredOS will be using those commands to detect and correct any hidden area at the end of the disc.

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Here's another that works perfectly with nwipe's HPA/DCO detection, i.e hdparm -N, hdparm --dco-identify, --dco-restore It's running the following chip:

JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. JMS567 SATA 6Gb/s bridge
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08V1H2KZ2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

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@Firminator Thought I'd start building that table of USB adapter that provide full support for the commands we need for HPA/DCO and secure erase and also a table of USB adapters that don't support ATA pass through. #128 (comment)

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Updated the table above with new Unitek USB M.2/SATA adapter that fully supports HPA/DCO and secure erase via USB for the SATA connection. https://amzn.eu/d/08vWdHXW