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Has anyone in the know come accross a decent piece of software that can remove HDD Passwords? Ive tried ATA Password Tool, which would have been fine but this software doesnt support SATA Drives.

Cheers

Mike

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

????

http://www.hammermuseum.org/images/big_hammer.jpg

Hehe, now now, thats not the TM way is it now!

Remember slow and steady wins the race!

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

mike have you tried a gallon of 95 ron unleaded and a swanvesta....lol

will it blend?

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

Ignoring the "destroy it" comments for the moment (I may say the same later.....) what do you mean by HDD password ???

Is the password request before the Operating System, ie in the "BIOS" screens, the first thing you see, plain text, when you start the PC.

Is it a request from the Operating System, ie, like XP asks for a username and password before it will let you in.

Or is it once you're in the Operating System, it asks for a password to access a particular directory and/or drive.

What is the OS and how many disks, is it a problem with just one or all ???

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

The HDD Password is a fairly new feature, you can lock a Hard Disk Via the bios, usually on dells and once this password has been set the only way to unlock it is via the password set or with a master password from dell (the pc manufacturer).

Remember you cant just move the jumpers on the Bios or remove the battery, or format the drive as it will say the disk is write protected, basically it renders the drive useless.

I have contacted dell and since unlocked the drive but this only removes the password, it doesnt display it. I want to display because it as the little b@astard at the school who set the password as a trick may put it in there own name.

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

Right, some clever little b******

"I want to display because it as the little b@astard at the school who set the password as a trick may put it in there own name."

I would have thought that if he/she was clever enough to set a low level system based password, he/she wouldn't have used their own name.....

Locking an individual drive from the BIOS is something I've not seen yet, but my newest PC is 4 years old, seems like overkill considering you can secure most things from the OS.

If Dell have given you the unlock password, can't they tell you how to find the original set password ???

I suspect not, a similar scenario in XP is the administrator's password bypasses (or allows deletion of) users passwords, but doesn't tell you what they are/were....

Schrödinger's cat - so which one am I ???

I have software to do all password even the one im after, but it only supports ata drives not sata. Pita i know.

1/4 Mile 14.3secs 96Mph Terminal 10psi of boost.


Fibreglass Parts? - http://www.tdkracing.co.uk/
Split Rims? - http://www.force-racing.co.uk/

First port of call, slave the drive on a second system you have admin credentials on and try taking ownership of root using file and folder permissions.

If it's been locked using the ATA security feature you're in trouble though as the drive wont accept read/write commands without the password. As far as I'm aware you've got two options; The password is stored on an eeprom on the drives controller board, I've heard of people successfully retrieving passwords directly from the rom but you're going to need additional hardware and the ability to write some nifty software to do it. Your other option is physically swapping the board for one that isn't locked. Which means getting hold of a drive of the same model, ebay perhaps?

Again I'm *fairly* sure the password can't be retrieved through the ata interface but it's probably worth a lengthy google to be sure. I think your best bet is try a different board or failing that a new drive

Edited by andygardner on 3rd Sep, 2008.