On Tue, Feb 8, 2011 at 8:07 AM, kibalama francis <[email protected]> wrote:
> Oh thanks, some set it on the HDD from the bios and then forgot it. > > If it is an ATA password set on the drive itself it is difficult and possibly impossible to unlock. I encountered a laptop harddrive locked by an ATA password just last week. It's the first time I'd ever seen one- I didn't even know drives could be locked like that. The locked drive I encountered was a Hitachi and after about two days of persistent effort I was never able to unlock it. Modern Hitachi drives in particular cannot be unlocked if there is no Master password set and the User password is lost. I found these technical specs for the drive very helpful: http://www.hitachigst.com/tech/techlib.nsf/techdocs/67F5F5E8E5FE84E0862573FB0060E854/$file/TS5K320_OEM_Spec_r14.pdf Section 12.9 on page 58 details their implementation of the ATA security feature set. Basically there is a Master password, and a User password. There are two security levels a drive can be set in: High Level and Maximum Level. >From the specs: High level: When the device lock function is enabled and the User Password is forgotten the device can be unlocked via a Master Password. Maximum level: When the device lock function is enabled and the User Password is forgotten then only the Master Password with a Security Erase Unit command can unlock the device. Then user data is erased. Unfortunately Hitachi drives don't come with a default Master password set, so losing the User password leaves the drive 100% bricked. Western Digital drives sometimes come with a default Master password of "WDCWDCWDC".. repeated for 32 characters. Useful links: MHDD- Very low level hard drive diagnostic tool that can help you read the 'Host Protected Area' where some drives store the User password: http://real-world-systems.com/docs/MHDD_en_manual.html HDDGuru Forums- By far the best forum for threads involving unlocking drives. Make sure you search the forums very thoroughly before you make any post asking for help. A simple post like 'Please unlock my drive' won't get any response. But if you say "I tried the technique listed in thread x and this happened, then I tried the technique in thread y and this happened, etc..." then people will be more willing to help out. http://forum.hddguru.com/ Good luck, but be aware the drive may be a total loss. David -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.
_______________________________________________ The Uganda Linux User Group: http://linux.or.ug Send messages to this mailing list by addressing e-mails to: [email protected] Mailing list archives: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ Mailing list settings: http://kym.net/mailman/listinfo/lug To unsubscribe: http://kym.net/mailman/options/lug The Uganda LUG mailing list is generously hosted by INFOCOM: http://www.infocom.co.ug/ The above comments and data are owned by whoever posted them (including attachments if any). The mailing list host is not responsible for them in any way.
