topic Re: Repurpose NetApp H610s-4 in SolidFire and HCI

Repurpose NetApp H610s-4

dlowe — Sun, 03 May 2026 05:54:31 GMT

We have decommissioned all of our NetApp H610s-4 nodes since they are coming up eol for support. We wanted to use them in a test/dev environment as ESXi hosts with vSan. Sadly, after removing these and the MNodes we discovered we cannot use the drives in these systems. They appear to be locked. I tried several ways to try unlocking the drives with nvme-cli and other similar tools but I have not come across a way to unlock them. Our maintenance support has lapsed so I cannot download the Element Software to try RTFI and I cannot log into Ember directly since the MNode is offline.

Are there any known methods or nvme-cli commands that work to unlock these drives? Any assistance will be greatly appreciated.

Re: Repurpose NetApp H610s-4

elementx — Sun, 03 May 2026 18:17:38 GMT

Not many at NetApp repurpose those for use with vSAN (probably no one does), so I don't think you'll find a KB, but I'd try to boot from a "live CD" with Linux and see if `hdparm` can be used to wipe those disks.

https://community.netapp.com/t5/SolidFire-and-HCI/SolidFire-cluster-secure-erase/m-p/435959

Re: Repurpose NetApp H610s-4

dlowe — Wed, 06 May 2026 04:32:31 GMT

The purpose isn't really relevant. I am just looking to unlock these drives for whatever we decide to do. I have not tried 'hdparm' yet so I will give that a shot. If there is anyone else that has had success with this, any further info would be grateful.

Re: Repurpose NetApp H610s-4

elementx — Wed, 06 May 2026 12:34:42 GMT

> The purpose isn't really relevant.

My point was it's unlikely there are official KBs or recipes for DIY reset because no one uses that approach to reset appliances (regardless of their purpose), so if you don't get much help it won't be because no one wants to share the info.

RTFI* is the official process and tool for this and that's what people use for SolidFire lifecycle operations (among other reasons, it the officially supported method for secure erase). Without the RTFI ISO, the DIY approach remains but most SolidFire users are unlikely to have first-hand experience with it.

* https://docs.netapp.com/us-en/element-software-123/hardware/task_rtfi_deployment_and_install_options.html

Re: Repurpose NetApp H610s-4

dlowe — Thu, 07 May 2026 02:10:20 GMT

Ahh, thanks. I am trying to get my hands on the RTFI ISO but not getting a response from my agent or support. Still trying. Thanks for this information.

Re: Repurpose NetApp H610s-4

dlowe — Thu, 14 May 2026 23:38:07 GMT

To close this out for anyone running across this. I was able to unlock those disks with a PSID printed on the disk label. If you have any of these and you do not have access to the RTFI ISO then do the following.

Take a picture of all the disks so the PSID and serial numbers are clear.
Boot to linux (I used Ubuntu)
Install nvme-cli: sudo apt install nvme-cli (for ubuntu)
Run the following to list the disks: sudo nvme list
Run the following modifying the nvmeXnX matching the serial number and PSID: sudo nvme sed revert --psid /dev/nvmeXnX
Choose Yes, Yes, then enter the PSID and press enter.

This will unlock these drives.

For those disks without a PSID, I could not find a way to unlock these outside of the RTFI ISO. Thankfully my co-worker knew where an old 12.0 RTFI ISO was on our network and I found it easy to unlock any with that. With RTFI i waited for the unlock disks message to come up and when for the disks finish formatting. I just powered down the system at that point and all were unlocked.