tableau-parm(1)

💖 tableau-parm — the manual, but make it bestie 💖

okay so bestie, you found the tableau-parm(1) page, and ngl it's kind of a niche icon, but we're gonna get you fully caught up. it's a Tableau Write-blocking Bridge Query/Command Utility, and it's giving forensics main character energy 🕵️♀️✨

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🌸 NAME 🌸

tableau-parm — Tableau Write-blocking Bridge Query/Command Utility

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🎀 SYNOPSIS 🎀

tableau-parm [-r] device

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🦋 DESCRIPTION 🦋

so like, tableau-parm is literally designed to talk to write-blocking forensics bridges made by Tableau, LLC. that's the whole vibe. it can query those bridges for all kinds of bridge and device data, and it can also disable DCO regions. periodt. 💅

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✨ OPTIONS ✨

tableau-parm accepts the following parameters, and yes we're going through every single one:

• -r — tells tableau-parm to permanently remove a DCO, if one exists. THIS WILL MODIFY THE STATE OF THE DRIVE. USE AT YOUR OWN RISK! 😭 and for real, it's recommended for forensics investigations that you take a full drive image before running this command, and then again afterward if a DCO was detected originally. also, heads up: after you run this, you'll need to restart the Tableau bridge for it to correctly detect the changes. no cap.
• device — Required argument, bestie, don't skip it. this specifies the device file for the bridge/drive to be queried. it must be a device presenting SCSI emulation. under Linux, all USB and FireWire mass storage devices behave like SCSI devices (iconic, honestly). once a bridge and drive are plugged in and powered on, you can generally find out what the device got dynamically mapped to by running:

dmesg | tail -20

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👑 OUTPUT 👑

tableau-parm generates simple output with one data value per line, interspersed with blank lines and section headers. and the way that it works? adorable. but also: this output format is subject to change, so don't get too attached 🙈

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🌈 EXAMPLES 🌈

to query a bridge which is mapped to /dev/sda:

tableau-parm /dev/sda

to remove a DCO from the hard drive on /dev/sda:

tableau-parm -r /dev/sda

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💀 BUGS 💀

older versions of ATA and SATA Tableau firmwares didn't properly handle HPA and DCO on some types of drives. so be sure to upgrade your blockers' firmwares using the firmware update utility, version 4.2 or later, which was released on July 5, 2007. ⭐

and this one is not really a bug, it's just something to note: when a drive has both an HPA and DCO section, and the DCO is removed, the HPA is removed with it. 😭 that's literally just how the bridge firmware works, and it isn't something controlled by tableau-parm. just something to be aware of. iykyk.

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🫶 CREDITS 🫶

Copyright (C) 2007,2009 Timothy D. Morgan

Copyright (C) 1999,2001,2006,2007 D. Gilbert

tableau-parm was written by Timothy D. Morgan using portions of SCSI example code written by D. Gilbert.

Tableau, LLC cooperated in the development of this tool by providing documentation on the proprietary SCSI interfaces and assisted in testing. without their help, this tool would not have been possible. that's so sweet actually 🥹 Tableau, LLC does not endorse or warrant this code in any way. noted. 💜

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🧚 LICENSE 🧚

please see the file "LICENSE" included with this software distribution.

this program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. see the GNU General Public License version 3 for more details.

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🌟 SEE ALSO 🌟

• hdparm(1)
• sdparm(1)

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and that's the whole page, bestie!! this one came from the Forensics Utilities, dated 30 September 2009, and you officially know tableau-parm now. go forth and query responsibly 💖✨🎀