Unlocking ATA Password for Western Digital

[reo]

Hi

thanks for the reply.

is there any way to remove the password ?

[loki]

Hi Guys,

i have a quick question.

is it possible to use MHDD reset the password on a WD10TMVW-11ZSMS5

this is an external drive that has a USB 3 connector only,

and only seems to work on MAC

best regards
reo

No MHDD will not remove or reset a password set via WD Smartware.

Loki

You say it only seems to work on a MAC? If its working then theres no password set.
Are you trying to use this on a Windows system? If so it would need to be formatted to NTFS

Loki

[reo]

ok, sorry my description was not clear.

when i plug into a MAC then it gives me the prompt for a password, when i plug this drive into a windows PC it does not see the drive at all.

if i can reset the pass to use on MAC that will be fine.

regards

[loki]

ok, sorry my description was not clear.

when i plug into a MAC then it gives me the prompt for a password, when i plug this drive into a windows PC it does not see the drive at all.

if i can reset the pass to use on MAC that will be fine.

regards

If its formatted for mac it wil be hfs+ partition as previously said to use in windows it would be formatted as an ntfs partition.
Is there data you need on the drive? If not then on the vcd is a format software you can use.
If you need data then there is no DIY option as you would need a pro with professional equipment who knows about wd smartware.
Also did you set the password? If not it could be other issues that have caused selflock.

Loki

[reo]

Hi

yes there is data, and can you direct me to a PRO that can help me with the password, also it is a User password. My wife set a password on our wedding photos and now cannot remember it.

thanks
reo

[dobrevjetser]

Lost case unless you can remember the password

[NitroBits]

Hi @ all,
could anybody gi'me a support to my problem, please? See my thread above.
Thanks.

[labtech]

Hi @ all,
could anybody gi'me a support to my problem, please? See my thread above.
Thanks.

There could few things why you get this behavior. For example: the drive may not work at all, but the Smartware software is installed on the Mac, but not on the PC, thus recognizing the drive on one system but not on the other. Not saying this what it is, but it is just an example.

There is need of a lot more details in order to get a more concrete suggestion, including the history of the drive, why you think it failed, describe the drive's behavior in terms of spinning or not and if it stops after a while, do you hear clicks, etc., have you tried swapping cables. Could be a USB port issue - does it look broken at all?

[reo]

@dobrevjetser

thanks for the response, im disappointed to hear that.

is there anybody else that may have a solution out there ?? @Loki can you offer some leads please. i realy need to sort this out

thanks

[loki]

@dobrevjetser

thanks for the response, im disappointed to hear that.

is there anybody else that may have a solution out there ?? @Loki can you offer some leads please. i realy need to sort this out

thanks

From what you have previously posted: summery - drive works & asks for a password when connected to a mac but does not on a pc

As I see it from what you have posted the drive is working ok its just you cant remember the password
As previously said a Windows pc will not see the hfs partition it will see it in disk management as a raw drive so you wont be able to access the data on a windows pc. So trying to use a windows pc is not going to work - this is normal.
If your looking for a free DIY way then sorry it aint going to happen.
WD Smartware is there for a reason & if it was easily bypassed & the solution was out in general public domain it wouldn't be very good security then.
Personally I have successfully researched how to bypass the WD Smartware password on the windows version but not yet tested my solution on a HFS+ version, so I cant confirm yet if it would work. Guess that's my next project

You could try contacting pcimage to check if they can do the HFS+ version? & what their price would be?

Otherwise your other option is to live without the data & move on.


Loki

[reo]

@loki

thanks, and yes i agree with u about the security. im not looking for a free DIY solution. just need to restore access to my drive.
thanks for the response. will check with pcimage

regards
reo

[reo]

@Loki

quick question, the security of the drive must be stored on the mainboard of the drive. if i replaced that mainboard from a donor hdd will that allow me to access my files ?

regards
reo

[pcimage]

@Loki

quick question, the security of the drive must be stored on the mainboard of the drive. if i replaced that mainboard from a donor hdd will that allow me to access my files ?

regards
reo

No, it will not help you.

The security is on the platters, by default every single sector in the user area is encrypted.

[bullet]

Success, I finally did it!
The third version of ZU worked for me (zu.betta.050911), almost gave up. It was a nice surprise to see "UNLOCK DONE".
MHDD shows that the password is off. Then I had a problem with formating drive in Windows disk management and other partition tools but MHDD coped with this (I've used commands CLRMBR and FDISK) and now i can use WD5000AVDS in my PC

Thanks for this thread. I still wonder what was the default password used by this PVR because WDC.. didn't worked.

Have a nice day everyone

Hi,
I have successfully unlocked a WDC WD20EARX-00PASB0 with your version of ZU

Thank you very much

[Doomer]

As previously said a Windows pc will not see the hfs partition it will see it in disk management as a raw drive so you wont be able to access the data on a windows pc. So trying to use a windows pc is not going to work - this is normal.

How computer would see if it's an HFS+ partition if drive is locked?
Virtual CD has CDFS and HFS+ on it, must be seen on both PC and Mac
Something strange is going on

[rocknrollgolfer]

A very relieved update:

The Dell I was using didn't like the locked HDD in Sata 02, so b4 I abandoned using a Dell at all, I tried putting the locked HDD in Sata 00 (master), and at that point, HDAT2 4.5.3 was able to see it, before all it saw was the other sata 00 but not my locked drive in sata 02, although it still did not see the slave I put in Sata 02.

First, turns out 0 is not hex 00 in keyboard scan codes or the ascii equivalent. Whereas R was hex 13 in scancode world, in non-scancode world, R is hex 52 while r is hex 72. I found this out using Hdat2 4.5.3. Although it would show me the Hex equivalent, I couldn't actually input in hex in that version, from what I read, I needed 4.7 or higher. I was going to need a higher version since some of the hex I needed were not going to be available using the keyboard as far as I could tell, especially 00 and DC3, etc.

I dl'ed HDAT2 4.9.x and burned the iso to a CD, and booted from that. HDAT2 4.9.x was diff right away in that it saw both my locked drive in Sata 00 but also the other drive in Sata 02. There I found the Hex mode, it was a little kludgy as far as inputting them went, you couldn't just input them all at once, you had to input 1, have it accept, go back into hex mode, remove the previous value using backspace, right arrow, backspace, then re-enter another, have it accept, etc. If you wanted to update the Hex string, you had to hit enter. Once you verified your string was building correctly, when you went back into the password, it would throw you to the end of the string, so you had to space back over, etc.

At any rate, I got my string inputed exactly as the 22.bin file showed, hit enter, and rather anti-climatically, it told me that the command was successful! Since I did Unlock vs Unlock Device, I also had to Disable Password, and that was just a Y/N challenge response. It worked.

Next thing was to change the HDD's back to their original order so I could boot using my unlocked laptop HDD as a slave for easy copying purposes, and then to change the bios boot options sequence to SATA 1st as opposed to CD/DVD first.

Once booted, I went into Disk management, and my drive was being read and my drive letters were assigned. I went out to one of the drive letters of the unlocked HDD and opened a file. What a relief!

I've since hooked up my External USB HDD, and I'm copying my data to it as a backup.

I'm so thrilled to have my data of over 5 years back and being backed up. I'm definitely going to be purchasing some form of NAS with Raid 2 and begin backing up my home drives periodically.

Thanks to everyone!

sam

Thanks for this post. I had a similar problem as you described. Mhdd worked as instructed in this thread and confirmed the hard drive password was what I thought it was. However, I was unable to get the hard drive to accept the password by typing it at the computer startup prompt or using it in the unlock option in mhdd. The hard drive came out of a different laptop that also had a computer startup password on it, in addition to the hard drive having its own password. The owner opted for maximum startup security. Anyway, after realizing I could not simply type in the correct password (or use the alt key input method) I tried HDAT2 as you described here. I input the hex version exactly as shown in my 22.bin file and it worked instantly. Thanks again for pointing me to this tool. It was the final step I required.

[amjo92]

@dobrevjetser

thanks for the response, im disappointed to hear that.

is there anybody else that may have a solution out there ?? @Loki can you offer some leads please. i realy need to sort this out

thanks

From what you have previously posted: summery - drive works & asks for a password when connected to a mac but does not on a pc

As I see it from what you have posted the drive is working ok its just you cant remember the password
As previously said a Windows pc will not see the hfs partition it will see it in disk management as a raw drive so you wont be able to access the data on a windows pc. So trying to use a windows pc is not going to work - this is normal.
If your looking for a free DIY way then sorry it aint going to happen.
WD Smartware is there for a reason & if it was easily bypassed & the solution was out in general public domain it wouldn't be very good security then.
Personally I have successfully researched how to bypass the WD Smartware password on the windows version but not yet tested my solution on a HFS+ version, so I cant confirm yet if it would work. Guess that's my next project

You could try contacting pcimage to check if they can do the HFS+ version? & what their price would be?

Otherwise your other option is to live without the data & move on.


Loki

@Loki

Yo said in this previous post that:

WD Smartware is there for a reason & if it was easily bypassed & the solution was out in general public domain it wouldn't be very good security then.
Personally I have successfully researched how to bypass the WD Smartware password on the windows version but not yet tested my solution on a HFS+ version, so I cant confirm yet if it would work.

Could you give step-by-step instructions on how to bypass the WD Smartware password using Windows or the links to the info you found??
I have a 3tb external hard-drive and I forgot the password. Only reason I don't want to format as there is pictures I don't have stored anywhere else.
I've tried everything. Any help would be much appreciated.

[loki]

Could you give step-by-step instructions on how to bypass the WD Smartware password using Windows or the links to the info you found??
I have a 3tb external hard-drive and I forgot the password. Only reason I don't want to format as there is pictures I don't have stored anywhere else.
I've tried everything. Any help would be much appreciated.

As you mention its a 3tb im asuming its a My Book Essential & not in a raid?
You also mention you've tried everything? Thats a very generic description.
What have you tried? You might have already ruined any chances of recovery depending on what have tried. The more info you can give the better.

Info on how to bypass the WD Smartware password is not in the general public domain & for good reason. And I wont be posting it either.
Specialist tools are needed to read the system area & knowledge of how it works & where the encryption key is stored etc. Sorry to tell you but this is not a DIY fix.

Your options are:

1, to try random things & ruin your chances of recovery (if you have'nt already)
2, send it to a dr pro with the correct know how & show some proof of ownership
3, put it somewhere safe until you can afford a recovery if money is an issue at the moment
4, lose the data & move on

Loki

[amjo92]

Could you give step-by-step instructions on how to bypass the WD Smartware password using Windows or the links to the info you found??
I have a 3tb external hard-drive and I forgot the password. Only reason I don't want to format as there is pictures I don't have stored anywhere else.
I've tried everything. Any help would be much appreciated.

As you mention its a 3tb im asuming its a My Book Essential & not in a raid?
You also mention you've tried everything? Thats a very generic description.
What have you tried? You might have already ruined any chances of recovery depending on what have tried. The more info you can give the better.

Info on how to bypass the WD Smartware password is not in the general public domain & for good reason. And I wont be posting it either.
Specialist tools are needed to read the system area & knowledge of how it works & where the encryption key is stored etc. Sorry to tell you but this is not a DIY fix.

Your options are:

1, to try random things & ruin your chances of recovery (if you have'nt already)
2, send it to a dr pro with the correct know how & show some proof of ownership
3, put it somewhere safe until you can afford a recovery if money is an issue at the moment
4, lose the data & move on

Loki

It's a mybook essential. I know what the password is per say.. I used a combination of words and numbers I know the words and in the correct order its the numbers I have forgotten the order. I've been trying different combinations of the password but so far haven't been successful.
I have tried bypassing the password in BIOS also using Hierns boot CD. I have tried to take the harddrive out of the case but couldn't get the case off. My theory was to connect the drive using a sata to see if that would work but as I said I couldn't get the clips to open to get the drive out.
I'm still hoping I'll get the password. I don't mind sending it to someone who knows how to do it but I don't know anyone. I'm in Ireland. If I did find a pro how much do you think it would be?

[sathyan]

I have tried bypassing the password in BIOS also using Hierns boot CD. I have tried to take the harddrive out of the case but couldn't get the case off. My theory was to connect the drive using a sata to see if that would work but as I said I couldn't get the clips to open to get the drive out.

Bios password bypass or Hierns boot cd wont help you in this case.
Do not open the casing , to try connect directly to SATA port, you wont get anything and chances are that you may end up spoiling recovery chances by pro later. No DIY option this way.

I used a combination of words and numbers I know the words and in the correct order its the numbers I have forgotten the order. I've been trying different combinations of the password but so far haven't been successful.
I'm still hoping I'll get the password.

The best and only DIY is to remember your password.
Few pros have succeeded in finding the solution for bypassing the WD Smartware password,
but the cost will be accordingly.
If data is very important, figure out the password or seek pro.