Resetting/Erasing Samsung NVMe SSD BitLocker Encrypted

[Potato007]

Hi everyone,

I’m stuck trying to recover and reset a Samsung OEM NVMe SSD, and I’d really appreciate some guidance from the experts here.

some hardware context
- SSD model: Samsung MZVL22T0HBLB-00BH7 (2TB, OEM NVMe drive)
- System it came from: HP Z4 G4 Workstation (workstation-class desktop, running Windows 10/11 originally)

The drive was pulled from the HP system, shows up as BitLocker encrypted when connected to any other machine, and is currently not writable, not format-able


In Windows Disk Management, the drive shows up but “Format” is greyed out.

Tried DiskPart → clean, but it errors out with cyclic redundancy check.

SMART health looks GOOD, but the drive is effectively locked.

Now the things i have already tried are

1. Samsung DC Toolkit (Windows + Linux)

On Windows, DC Toolkit detects the drive but won’t allow erase.

AND




On Linux (Ubuntu Live USB, DC Toolkit v2.1), the drive is listed with --list.

you can see the attached photo here as well

But when I run erase commands

I always get “Provide a proper disk number” or syntax errors.

now i check online forums as well and for some reason people have used # in the command for indicating a number i mean for example

i have already reverted it using the PSID i think but no idea what to do next, or even if i did it correctly.

ANY help would be appreciated. i do still have a system similar to the one i pulled it off from. been trying to solve this for almost a week now. if i missed any crucial detail just ask i have shit ton of commands i ran to get a response.

THANK YOU

[Arch Stanton]

SMART health looks GOOD, but the drive is effectively locked.

Can we see pls.

[Potato007]

It shows Encrypted on Ubuntu as well as Windows. Here are the Attached Photos


Showing Encrypted in Ubuntu

Showing Encrypted in Windows

No Format Options in windows as well

Listed Disk in Ubuntu

Listed Disk in DISKPART

[Zero Alpha]

Try some more generic linux apps to read/write test it such as: dd, shred, fio, smartmontools

was it removed because its faulty? Could be write protected if its end of life

[Arch Stanton]

Still no SMART?

[Potato007]

I have tried the dd method and basically write 00 on the complete drive

Other then that there is no Smart Data diagnostics, it doesn't show. apologies for the previous statement that "smart health looks good" it was the health that shows up in DC tool kit that i was referring to already shared a screenshot above. i have tried on windows and just as a last bit of context, i tried crucial Storage Executive as well as Samsung Magician Software. Both showed N/A in everything.

i get that when SSDs are worn out they go into read only, but the health shows up as good when checking in Linux using DC Tool kit. last i remember the health was showing up as 98% but that only shows up in Linux. Any other software i try, it's unable to read it.

Here some more pictures for more context. Some are from windows showing its Bitlocked and in read only as well as some are from Crucial Storage executive.

No Clue this can be fixed but i am trying to find a fool proof way of figuring out if it actually dead or just somehow proving difficult to unlock

when trying disk part it says attribute removed but it stays in Readonly

Diskpart.png (13.5 KiB) Viewed 752 times

rest of the screen shots

[SWM]

First - there is a different section on the forum for SSD (Flash storage, SSD).
Second:
-Critical Warnings
*Low Unused Spare Bloks
*Write Protect Mode
What's not clear about this? And even with a password, SMART should be read. If it is not read - the problem is with the SSD.

[SamFarha]

I’d just remove the BitLocker key, turn off encryption, then run the drive’s built‑in secure erase from the firmware menu to wipe everything clean.

[Arch Stanton]

I’d just remove the BitLocker key, turn off encryption, then run the drive’s built‑in secure erase from the firmware menu to wipe everything clean.

Yeah, but is seems you're a bit of a dunce.

[tahitibub]

Hello,

There are several easy ways to bypass BitLocker encryption, here are a few website articles that discuss this (in French) :

• Une faille permet d'ouvrir un disque BitLocker avec quelques fichiers sur une clé USB.

• BitLocker détourné avec une technique de mouvement latéral


The first method is called YellowKey and involves using a USB drive. Here are the instructions to reproduce it :

• Copy the FsTx folder to "YourUSBStick:\System Volume Information\FsTx" as is and make sure to use a filesystem that's compatible with Windows (NTFS is preferable but I think FAT32/exFAT should work as well). Funny thing is, the vulnerability is extremely convenient, you don't even need to plug an external storage device, you can just pull out the disk, copy the files in the EFI partition, put it back and it will still work. That's how bad it is.

• Plug the USB stick in your target windows computer with bitlocker protection turned on.

• Reboot to Windows Recovery Environment Agent (you can do that by holding SHIFT and clicking on the restart button using your mouse)

• Once you click on the restart button, lift your finger off the SHIFT key and hold CRTL and do NOT lift your finger off it.

• If you did everything properly, a shell will spawn with unrestricted access to the bitlocker protected volume.

If you do a quick search online, you'll easily find the FsTx folder ...

Regards

[tahitibub]

In just a few days, here’s yet another way to bypass BitLocker protection : GreatXML...

I can’t believe my eyes – BitLocker is such a sieve!