Already searched: ATA Password woes... laptop

[theartofbone]

Greetings everyone,

I have a simple situation with a difficult solution! I was using HDDErase v3.1... while running through the erase process, it displayed no progress bar so I got impatient, didn't know if it was working or not,, so I hit the power button on my laptop. This ofcourse classifies as an interuption of the process, and when this occurs, the program automatically sets a password.

Upon researching I found out that the default password was 'idrive', or some long string close to 'xty3fgrxxxxx...20+charslater' ,, tried pluging those in when my computer booted, and nothing worked. In fact, my bios only allows an input of about 10 characters for the password, and this default password HDDerase 3.1 uses is 35 chars... kind of an issue here. Upon failing the password input, the bios locks the drive.

As the bios locks the drive, I wonder,, if it's locked, how will these programs that attempt to unlock the drives ATA password (which was set by HDDerase v3.1!!!), if it indeed is locked? Anyway, I downloaded and burned a HDDErase v4 iso after reading the author (member of this board) said something about it being able to unlock locked drives by prior versions, and it failed when it tried the 'idrive/or/xty3fgr....x.xxxx...' password.

I also tried MHDD v4.1 and still no avail. It recognizes the drive as locked, but wont unlock it.

I am totally conscience that it is not the authors fault, and it is exclusively my fault, but Im sure that he didnt include a 'generate random passwd' function on the program. Perhaps he can help me or anyone here -- I'd greatly appreciate it and thank ya'll in advance.

One more thang, I have no fear of opening up the laptop and resetting it somehow, if I have to, or taking the drive out and plugging it into a 2.5 IDE =---> USB thing and run some 3rd party app. Anything...

[BlackST]

What drive is it?

[theartofbone]

What drive is it?

It's a 2.5 inch Western Digital (WDC WD1200BEVE-00WZT0),, I am assuming the '00WZT0' refers to zero's and not the letter O.
Jeje I still have the computer deader than dirt.

[netwalker]

Just a thought... If you know the password, I've seen a few free programs that let you send ATA commands to your hard drive to set and unset passwords. This might only works, if you know the password for sure.

[BlackST]

I bet HDDerase does a "fast erase" of the hdd using internal security functions (set a pwd., lock the drive into security = HIGH , ENABLED , then send ATA command to start the internal erase). It will reset by itself after erasing complete, and on most drives, if you turn power off then on, the erasing process will complete. Maybe your drive remains locked and the erasure stops (it depend on fw). Suggestion : try again HDDerase and LET IT COMPLETE. It should take 1 - 1 1/2 hr. to complete. It would apply the same PWD and then start. Otherwise, you have to deal with firmware to retrieve the "password" or reset security.

[theartofbone]

I bet HDDerase does a "fast erase" of the hdd using internal security functions (set a pwd., lock the drive into security = HIGH , ENABLED , then send ATA command to start the internal erase). It will reset by itself after erasing complete, and on most drives, if you turn power off then on, the erasing process will complete. Maybe your drive remains locked and the erasure stops (it depend on fw). Suggestion : try again HDDerase and LET IT COMPLETE. It should take 1 - 1 1/2 hr. to complete. It would apply the same PWD and then start. Otherwise, you have to deal with firmware to retrieve the "password" or reset security.

Thanks for your suggestion. I had already tried running HDDErase v4 and it did not work. Now I am running HDDErase v3.1, the culprit in this situation, and it is apparently running! I will note the time I started and give it at least a couple of hours. *Quick note to self, take laptop off the rug so it won't overheat and make sure the power does not go out*.

I wanted to PM you to thank you personally, but I guess posting on here is better, as it can help others with a situation similar to mine. So, perhaps in a few hours, when/if done, I will post an update.

[BlackST]

Never seen this HDDerase program, it would be useful if the program had a register /status display to monitor BUSY and DSC / RDY. MHDD does it.
At present, so, you can't tell if the drive is in BSY state.
I am rather optimistic about my idea, because if the PWD was the wrong one, the drive should have rejected the command and so HDDerase should have "alerted". Let us know.

P.S. Texas... what a wonderful place... horses everywhere !!!

[theartofbone]

BlackST, thanks to your suggestion and logic on how the program worked, without ever having even seen it, I regained useage of my HD and now how succesfully restored an OS on it. I guess this forum is truely for Hard-disk drive gurus... Cheers and hats off to ya.

In a nutshell, I guess the program does automatically lock the drive when it gets interupted. Recall that I interupted it because that version of the program shows now status or progress information. It literally just shows a blinking underscore character. It does advise you one line above the blinking _ that the process may take from several minutes to several hours, depending on the disk size. When I read the word 'hours' upon running it for the first time, my jaw dropped, and after 30 minutes, I got impatient since I had never done a 'secure erase' before, only regular formats and quick-formats.

To make it worse, the program was supposed to set a default password which was clearly stated in the documentation, but for some odd reason, that password never worked, so upon booting, right after posting, the laptop would 'lock the drive' rendering it unusable. Trying other progs like MHHD would display information on it, but would ask for a password to unlock it, which of course the pwd which was provided by the documentation did not work, anywhere. To add the cherry on top, when I turned off the computer due to my impatience, the partition tables on the drive got really disorganized and faulty -- every program I ran, be hit MHHD and countless others would notify me of that.

Solution? Running the original HDDErase v3.1 and even though it showed no progres updates, be patient with it!!! loll...
It was as you said, if it put a pwd or locked the drive somehow, re-running it would 'unlock' it. Seems simple but after researching, the author of the prog said v4.0 would bypass the 3.1 lock, so when that failed I never even tried running v3.1 once more, except after reading your suggestion!

Hats off to you, and hope you get a good cold beer soon.

--RM

[BlackST]

You're welcome. It takes only some logic and knowledge of how stuff works. About the beer, maybe on next trip to Texas !

[dencee]

Hello,

Sorry to hear this older version of HDDErase has caused you trouble. I do not know why HDDErase v4.0 was unable to unlock your drive, I remember testing for this scenario explictly; guess I will have to double check... The passwords listed in the readme are correct, I have also tested this many times, so I don't know why you weren't unable to unlock your drive. For anyone else reading this forum, please use HDDErase v4.0. This version prints the expected erase time (from ID) as well as a real-time system clock to prevent users from becomming impatient and accidently turning off their systems in the middle of the erasure.

[BlackST]

I addressed the problem almost instantly. Maybe reading the 'readme' docs had avoided some hassle, anyway it was a simple problem.