User Manual

Enterprise Self-Encrypting Drive User’s Guide, Rev. B 3

1.0 Introduction

This user guide provides a comprehensive introduction to security and full disk encryption as it is implemented in

Seagate Secure

enterprise Self-Encrypting Drive (SED) models. SED models communicate with a host system using

the standard protocol defined by the Trusted Computing Group (TCG), an organization sponsored and operated by

companies in the computer, storage and digital communications industry.

Most of the published material on this subject is in the form of standards. Standards are documents which provide the

definitive text on the subject and are the ultimate reference for the industry’s design and development teams. These

documents however are hardly fodder for the inquisitive amateur and are not recommended as an alternative to your

favorite night time reading. That’s where this manual comes in. If you have to know about encryption and data secu-

rity as it applies to disc storage, you’ve come to the right place.

This manual forms Part 1 of the Users’ Guide and will introduce and explain the subject matter using a stepped

approach to ease you into the terminology used by the data security intellectuals with as little pain and mathematical

wizardry as possible. In Part 2 of the Users’ Guide, you will find the information necessary to communicate with the

drive using the TCG protocol. In short, Part 1 tells you what you can do with the drive and Part 2 tells you how you can

do it. If you are interested in the SED User Guide Part 2, Trusted Storage Architecture-Training Manual, please request

it directly from your Seagate engineering contact. A Non-Disclosure Agreement is required for Part 2.

If you stay with us all the way to the back cover of Part 1, we can promise you a good working knowledge and under-

standing of

• Data encryption and decryption

•Hashing

• Symmetric and asymmetric keys

• Digital signatures and secure messaging

• Drive locking

•Cryptographic data erase

• Encryption keys and authentication keys

• Security partitions

• Password and data access management

• Taking ownership of the drive and activating the security features

•User data bands

• SCSI security commands

• Authenticated firmware downloads

If this is what you were looking for, welcome aboard.