cross-posted from: https://discuss.online/post/34255100
Thought I’d create a distinct thread from the previous one asking about daily use, because I really do want to hear more on people’s pain points. Great to know people are generally sounding pretty positive in those posts who recently switched, but want to know your difficulties as well! This way old and new users can share their thoughts, hopefully to inspire a respectful discussion.
Everything is working in my daily use. But there are still little things that pop up less regularly, mostly around hardware.
I’ve got a USB SSD that I can’t use, because I need to “unlock” it in a windows device first. I can’t even re-partition it in linux.
I can’t update the firmware on my monitor because it can’t simply be done with a USB stick and on screen menus, but actually requires a windows only application.
And when I first started daily driving linux, my Nvidia GPU was a regular source of frustration, but it’s resolved now
Every one of these problems are because of manufacturers artificially locking hardware down, but they’re still problems. One can only hope that a growing linux using consumer base will shift their priorities
I’m so curious about this: can you tell us the make/model of the USB SSD please? That seems so hostile!
It’s a Samsung Portable SSD T5 1TB
Do you think the USB SSD issue could be because of the partition format? Example, Windows NTFS support can be enabled on Linux so you can then mount it. You can check partition type using a tool like
fdisk -l. Perhaps that might help.Nope. If it were that, I’d still be able to trash the partition.
The issue is apparently because it’s encrypted at the drive level and can’t even mount in windows without their proprietary software unlocking it first
I think it’s a Self Encrypting Drive. https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Self-encrypting_drives There are basically two standards out there, the most common should be OPAL:
Install sedutil https://github.com/Drive-Trust-Alliance/sedutil/wiki/Command-Syntax Check #sedutil-cli scan This should list your drive with the locked state. You can unlock it using this tool if you remember the password - or reset it using the PSID (long number a sticker on NVMes, here possibly internal so you’ll have to open the case or read it from Samsung Drive Magician?) with the aptly named “yesIreallywanttoERASEALLmydatausingthePSID”.
Also in Samsung Drive Magician there should be an option for “Secure Erase” - which does the same thing and removes the password protection. But not for some drives, had the issue with a EVO Pro 990 - but the OEM variant, which Drive Magician macically no longer recognizes as a Samsung drive and refuses to cooperate.
Is this Bitlocker FDE? Have you tried using Dislocker?
If that doesn’t work, I recommend building a gparted live USB. Once you’re up and the SSD is visible, create a new partition table
Complete this step with no other changes. This shouldn’t care if the partitions on the disk or encrypted, it will reset the partition table which will make the disk appear blank, as if it was never formatted. You should then be able to create any new partitions you want in the available space.
! THIS IS DESTRUCTIVE !
But if you couldn’t access the encrypted partition then the data was effectively destroyed already.
There’s no data on it, and I don’t care about the disk particularly. If I really need it at some point, I’ve got a dual boot windows PC in the lounge room that serves as a media PC for the family that I can use to unlock it.
I bring it up mostly because it’s indicative of the hardware pain points. It’s also typical of them in that it’s annoying, relatively minor, and generally the fault of proprietary locking down, rather than a true compatibility issue.