SG210 / XGS2300 without HDD

Sophos (I assume "Cisco" is a typo here) firewalls are heavily cusomized linux systems running from a HDD so it's understandable.

Depending on the previous owner's security needs it's common not only to wipe the disks but physically destroy them.

In short: you need new disks. Older systems were equipped with INTEL SSDSC2BW12 industrial grade disks, newer models have the cheaper consumer grade AData ASU800SS-256GT-2. So grab one of these (they run about 30€) and install it. Using different brands, speeds or sizes might return in problems with the install (see below).

The software is distributed in ISO form but can also invoked using a bootable USB stick.

For the SG210 watch out for the asg-9.716-2.1.iso (or a previous release), for the XGS3200 you need the HW-19.5.3_MR-3-652.iso

Run the installer, it will recognize the hardware and give you a clean OOTB install.

Detailed instructions can be found here:

https://support.sophos.com/support/s/article/KB-000034331?language=en_US (about UTM)

https://support.sophos.com/support/s/article/KB-000036812?language=en_US (About XG)

thanks a lot for your support, I will try that in the nexts days !