Hey everyone,

I just ran into a weird issue with an enterprise Samsung SATA SSD (MZ7L3960HCJR-00A07) I bought used, and I want to confirm whether there is any way to recover it — or if it’s completely bricked.

Problem:

One of the drives shows up as ATA Security Locked with:

Security enabled

Security locked

Security level: high

Not frozen

Enhanced erase supported (but requires password)

When trying to unlock:

hdparm --security-unlock "" /dev/sdX → I/O error
hdparm --security-unlock password → I/O error
sedutil-cli → "Invalid or unsupported disk"
Kernel logs spam:

Security conflict in translated device
I/O error, dev sdb, sector ...
My understanding is that an ATA High-Lock with unknown password = permanent lockout and the drive is effectively dead.

Is there any way to clear or reset an ATA Security High lock on enterprise Samsung SATA drives? Can firmware flashing bypass this?

Any insights or experience would be hugely appreciated!

Show us the PCB. Perhaps the following method, or a variation of it, could work for you:

https://forum.hddguru.com/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=39458

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.