Report messages related to special areas handling

Created Date	Updated date	Affects version	Fix version

Created Date	Updated date	Affects version	Fix version
Feb 15, 2019	Sep 24, 2025	N/A	N/A

Drives can be configured to contain special areas (hidden areas such as HPA or DCO, partition areas, protected memory blocks, etc.). Blancco Drive Eraser can detect and handle those areas, although this process may sometimes produce some exception messages in the report

Glossary

HPA: The Host Protected Area (HPA) is commonly used to store the recovery part of the operating system and can contain sensitive data.
DCO: The Device Configuration Overlay (DCO) feature allows to reduce the size of a drive to a certain amount of sectors via the creation of a hidden partition. This special area poses a risk that some data might be left on the drive after the erasure, if the area is left untouched.
RPMB: The Replay Protected Memory Block (RPMB) area on an NVMe drive is designed to store sensitive and security-related data, it ensures the overall security and integrity of the storage device (in a similar manner to a TPM chip). When the area is deactivated, it is normally empty and can be read. When the area is activated, it can only be read and written via successfully authenticated read and write accesses (password required).
NBP: The NVMe Boot Partitions (NBP) are two equal sized special areas in an NVMe intended for system initialization and startup code, e.g. UEFI/BIOS firmware. The NBP area is not part of the user addressable space of an NVMe. The RPMB area, when activated, can be used to write-protect the NBP area. Erasing the NBP area may result in a machine that cannot be booted anymore, especially if UEFI/BIOS information is destroyed.
PMR: Persistent Memory Region (PMR) is an optional area of persistent memory that can be located on NVMe devices, it can be accessed with standard PCIe memory reads/writes. The “IEEE 2883-2022 Purge” erasure standard can sanitize these areas.

#	Exception	Explanation
1	HPA/DCO area removed	This message informs that the hidden area(s) was (were) detected and removed. By “removed”, one must understand that the area was retired/suppressed, therefore it is not on the drive anymore.
2	HPA/DCO area content was erased	This message informs that the hidden area(s) content was erased. By “erased”, one must understand that the area content was overwritten/wiped and does not contain data anymore.
3a	Firmware command failed or cannot be executed	These messages describe the cause of a problem: The software has executed a command to remove the hidden area(s), the command has failed. The software cannot reach the hidden area(s) of the drive. This may be due to the following: The hidden areas exist but they are somehow locked and cannot be accessed. The hidden areas simply don’t exist, however because we are not certain of this we assume they exist.
3b	HPA/DCO area is unreachable
4	HPA/DCO area could not be removed	This message describes a direct consequence of the problem #3: the software cannot remove the hidden area(s) of the drive (because it is unreachable). By “could not be removed”, one must understand that the area cannot be retired or suppressed, therefore it may still exist on the drive.
5	HPA area content could not be erased	This message describes another potential problem: the software cannot erase the contents of the hidden area(s) of the drive. This happens if the drive does not implement any command that can erase it as a whole, or if such command has not been used during the erasure. By “could not be erased”, one must understand that the area content was not overwritten or wiped, therefore it may still contain data.
6	RPMB area detected containing system data.	The RPMB area is detected and is activated (cannot be accessed without a password). RPMB areas are not designed to store user data.
7	PMR presence cannot be determined and area can contain data	The NVMe drive was erased with the "IEEE 2883-2022 Purge" standard, but the presence or absence of a PMR area could not be determined.
8	NBP area content was not erased	The NBP area is detected, can be read, and contains data. NBP areas are not designed to store user data.
9	NBP presence cannot be determined and area can contain system data	It is not possible to determine the presence of the NBP area, this can be due to the Secure Boot feature or some other locking mechanism.
10	RPMB area detected and empty.	The RPMB area is detected, can be read (not activated), and is empty (no data inside).
11	NBP area detected and empty.	The NBP area is detected, can be read, and is empty (no data inside).
12	Persistent Memory Region (PMR) content was not erased	An NVMe drive was erased and a PMR area was detected (but was not erased). The only erasure standard that can erase PMR areas is "IEEE 2883-2022 Purge".

Some combinations:

In a normal case scenario, the messages 1 + 2 will be shown.
Nevertheless, reports may show the messages 3a/3b + 4 + 5 on some drives, this combination occurs if no command that can erase the drive as a whole has been used during the erasure process (the hidden area was not removed and its content was not erased i.e. the area may still contain data).
Other reports may show the messages 3a/3b + 4 + 2 instead, this combination occurs if the drive implements a command that can erase it as a whole and if such command has been executed during the erasure process (the hidden area was not removed but its content was erased i.e. the area does not contain any data).