Update Diskpart to Include Support for SSDs
I am having a look at updating some of my installation guides when it comes to securely erasing Drives and its become obvious how far Microsoft are behind regarding DiskPart. With Bitlocker now being being more standard in Windows 10 and the use of Solid State Drives being more and more mainstream, is there any plans to update Diskpart to give basic support for the newer technologies. It is lacking in basic functionality, specifically the details it lists per drive could easily be updated:
- Listing the Drive Type e.g. CT1000MX500SSD4 which is shown in the Device Manager
- Listing the Drives Firmware, which is at the End of the Hardware IDs
- Listing the Bitlocker or other Encryption Status. The ability to Unlock a Drive with the Bit Locker Key would also be useful. e.g. using a Command like BITLOCKER UNLOCK KEY XXXXX… where XXXXX is the BITLOCKER Key.
- The Command CLEAN removes all Partitions from a Drive
- The Command CLEAN ALL writes zeros to all segments of a Drive however it is not the best routine to use for SSDs.
- If the SSD supports Santize, it is better to use Sanitize (removes all data plus mapping table). Diskpart should be updated to support the command SANITIZE
- Otherwise it is better to use Secure Erase (removes mapping table only). I have been writing guides to use Parted Magic for this but this functionality should really be incorporated into Diskpart. Diskpart should be updated to support the command SECURE ERASE
- Finally Diskpart should also be able to perform a PSID Revert. There is a third party open source utility called Sedutil, which works okay for this. However unfortunately it does not support Secure Boot and with UEFI Class 3 only systems coming out in 2020 it would be really useful to have a universal utility that passes Secure Boot (preferably inbuilt into Diskpart in the Windows 10 Installation Media) to perform a PSID revert. Diskpart should be updated to support the command PSID REVERT XXXXX… where XXXXX is the PSID.
More details are in the image attached:
Symbol Input Added to Emoji Panel
This has been implemented in Windows 10 Version 1903 alongside added Symbol Input to the Touchscreen Keyboard. In addition the Paste Clipboard is included.
Install.wim of Windows 10 Installation Media Direct Download Links
The install.wim < 4 GB in order to fit on a FAT32 formatted USB Flash Drive to Pass Secure Boot. Direct Download Links for Windows 10 Version 1803 and Version 1809 had install.wims > 4 GB making it harder to make Bootable Media. This issue seems to be resolved in Windows 10 Version 1903.
