Security level of a hard drive password

[techman41973]

I’m about to get a new laptop. I’d like to have some basic security to prevent access to my data in case of getting lost or stolen.

At some point I will replace the hard drive with a self-encrypting SSD, until I do I'd like to get a better idea on the security of my data if I set a hard disk password from the BIOS. Is this something that is easily defeated?

I'm am aware of the PC-3000 software, but its not clear if this is capable of defeating the password on mechanical drives without erasing the data.

Thanks