[ale] Hitachi Laptop HDD locked?

[Greg Freemyer]

I think hdparm has experimental support for the ata security commands,
but I've not used them.  If can't get the data back anyway, can't hurt
to try them.

A quick google on "ata security tools"

Found this writeup:
The disk lock is a built-in security feature in the disk. It is part
of the ATA specification, and thus not specific to any brand or
device.

A disk always has two passwords: A User password and a Master
password. Most disks support a Master Password Revision Code, which
can tell you if the Master password has been changed, or it it still
the factory default. The revision code is word 92 in the IDENTIFY
response. A value of 0xFFFE means the Master password is unchanged.

A disk can be locked in two modes: High security mode or Maximum
security mode. Bit 8 in word 128 of the IDENTIFY response tell you
which mode your disk is in: 0 = High, 1 = Maximum.

In High security mode, you can unlock the disk with either the user or
master password, using the "SECURITY UNLOCK DEVICE" ATA command. There
is an attempt limit, normally set to 5, after which you must power
cycle or hard-reset the disk before you can attempt again.

In Maximum security mode, you cannot unlock the disk! The only way to
get the disk back to a usable state is to issue the SECURITY ERASE
PREPARE command, immediately followed by SECURITY ERASE UNIT. The
SECURITY ERASE UNIT command requires the Master password and will
completely erase all data on the disk. The operation is rather slow,
expect half an hour or more for big disks. (Word 89 in the IDENTIFY
response indicates how long the operation will take.)

Greg

On 7/9/07, Robert L. Harris <Robert.L.Harris at rdlg.net> wrote:
>
>
>   Someone borrowed a laptop HDD at work and put a password on the drive.
> He claims he didn't but the laptop requires it now.  Anyone know a way to
> wipe the password (and data if needed) to make the drive usable again?
> Google doesn't have any decent hits, or I'm sucking on the search skills
> today.
>
> Robert
>
>
> :wq!
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Robert L. Harris                     | GPG Key ID: E344DA3B
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-- 
Greg Freemyer
The Norcross Group
Forensics for the 21st Century