An archived message from the creator of the Parted Magic disk. He suggests you do not use the 2013.08.01 version. This is the very same version hosted here, which has not been removed despite being warned about it as far back as November 2013. I would direct you to the original message, but once PMagic went to non-free, the developer has been removing all old message archives. ================================================ WARNING! A few sites on the internet are offering a file called pmagic_2013_08_01.iso for free download. This version was released with a very destructive USB corruption bug in the Linux kernel. We removed this file from our official mirrors to minimize the damage and quickly released version 2013_08_10 to replace it. The 2013_08_01 version also included a bug in the OLD Secure Erase GUI that would allow a user to erase an ATA disk through a USB interface. In some cases it would brick the expensive USB device. The OLD GUI would also set the secure erase password to NULL by default and using the disk on a Lenovo BIOS is not possible because a password cannot be entered. Version 2013_11_11 does not contain these flaws and is completely safe to use. Sorry for any inconvenience or loss suffered by using this unofficial/unsupported FREE pmagic_2013_08_01.iso. You have been warned.
All these years later and the DIMWITS at AfterDawn STILL refuse to fix this problem. Is it INTENTIONAL to continue to distribute a dangerously broken version? Because it sure seems that way to me.
