I've gotten this far on this drive and it shows up as 111Gb for some reason maybe because of partitioning even though its a 320gb drive. I have pulled a 22.bin off it hopefully correctly. Can someone please help me figure it out into English please.

The capacity appears to be reported in 21.bin.

The following example is for a WD20EARS drive with 3,907,029,168 sectors (= 0xE8E088AF + 1):


Notice that the capacity appears four times in succession in reversed byte order.

In any case a HPA can be removed using utilities such as the following:

HDD Capacity Restore Tool:
http://hddguru.com/software/2007.07.20- ... store-Tool

HDAT2/CBL Hard Disk Repair Utility:
http://www.hdat2.com
http://www.hdat2.com/hdat2_faq.html
http://www.hdat2.com/files/cookbook_v11.pdf

Explanation of Host Protected Area:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Host_protected_area

BTW, I guess you know that we can see your password. Might be time to change it, if you haven't done so already.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Is the reduced 120GB capacity the result of cloning, eg from a Dell laptop?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

I cannot gain access to the drive it allows me to run a test with smart and passes but tells me its read only, I cant modify it, it says that's its password locked high security not maximum security and i'm guessing that its locked in the firmware right now. Does the file I uploaded give any clue as to how I can unlock it and then format it back to the full 320gb and start fresh on it. Will the master WDCWDCWDC and so on one work or is the user one shown in the file I uploaded or on one of the other bins. If my password is there what is it? Any help would be great to get this stupid drive to work and at full capacity after formatting it, don't care what's on it just want to get it going to put it in my ps3 after I get it working. Any help would be great with unlocking it and then to get all the partitions back to get it back to full capacity. thanks guys

Yeah sorry diskpart or any other software I could find will not let me format or partition or initialize it. The mbr is locked i'm guessing. I've tried to mount it in an external usb case and nothing straight to external sata on my desktop nothing althought the software I used mhdd I was able to pull the bins off it, easeus, partition magic, wd tools and other tried prob 10 and no luck to get it to respond. Seems like it spins up and then locks itself down. It just shows up in windows management as unknown disk 111gb and then that's it locked. It shows the serial and drive name and firmware version in some of the software and that's about all I could get. Im by no means a noob but that's where i'm left now.

Here is the 21 if that helps

The capacity is 0x0DF94BB0 sectors (= 0x0DF94BAF + 1).

http://www.google.com/search?q=0x0DF94B ... in+decimal

0x0DF94BB0 x 512 = 120 034 123 776

Your drive's capacity has been reduced by a HPA.

Your password begins with "K", and no, WDCWDC ... won't work.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Your MOD 02 is from WD1200BEVS-00UST0 and the capacity is correct

I have to say well spotted Nesa!

Ok where do I find out where the password is located in that garble? Thanks for the hint that it starts with K but that does not help me as a bought this drive used to use in my ps3. I was told that it was tested and working just needed to be formatted to use on the ps3 but that is clearly not my biggest concern. Ok if you guys can give me the password then how do I go about entering it to unlock this drive? I never get prompted to enter it. I do not have the case or laptop or whatever it came out of not sure he never said. The guy I bought it off gets computers and parts and fixes and or parts/sells them. What would I use to enter the password to format this drive and or hpa it back to full capacity? If I can't get this sorted out I'm going to bring it back to the guy but I would really like to get it going as this has been the hardest drive I have ever encountered to format and get it going.

The seller lied to you.

What is the model number on the label of the drive? If the label says 320GB, then you may have other issues (not HPA).

As for the password, there is a very long thread in this forum on the subject, as you are no doubt aware.

This should help:
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/MSKeyLog.TXT

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Is it kassem? or kassemn? Yeah the label lists the correct model and same serial number that was shown in one of the software programs I used wd3200bevt and the same serial on the label that matches the drive #WXE308SD7313 and the date on the label is 08 DEC 2009, LBA 625142448.

No I don't think he lied to me I met up at his house so its not like he was trying to scam me, maybe he just ran a smart test on it and that's all as that passes with a PASS like it did with me testing it also. It does spin up and then locks itself after a few. If i'm not able to get into it he said he would take it back and try himself to get it working for me or return my money but for what I paid $20 I'd like to get it going and use it in my ps3 once formatted and partitioned correctly.

So why exactly is it showing up as a 120gb model when it is indeed a 320gb model

The password is KASSEMN.

625142448 LBAs x 512 bytes per sector = 320 072 933 376 bytes

The serial number, WXE308SD7313, matches the one in 21.bin. However, as has already been pointed out, the model number in 22.bin is "WDC WD1200BEVS-00UST0", not WD3200BEVT. Moreover, the date in 22.bin is "09-30-2009".

I checked the warranty using your serial number:
https://westerndigital.secure.force.com ... ck?lang=en

Warranty Inquiry for : Canada

Serial Number - WXE308SD7313
Model Number - WD3200BEVT-00ZCT0
Warranty Status - OUT OF LIMITED WARRANTY
Warranty Exp Date - 07/31/2010

ISTM that your drive has been hacked, possibly by HDDHackr. That said, I haven't encountered any case where a WD drive was hacked to look like another WD drive.

The first thing you need to do is to remove the password. Then perform a full surface scan of your drive using Data LifeGuard. If this turns out OK, then we could try to undo the hack.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Yeah I saw that WD1200 and was like wtf shouldn't it list WD3200? I figured it was out of warranty anyways being from 2009. The password I got KASSEMN but now how can I enter it into the drive to unlock it, if I can unlock it then I'd be able to maybe bring back the capacity or format it. Do you think someone tried to flash the firmware and used the wrong firmware on it? Or is this some type of ghosting software on it? My Main concern is to unlock it then I can go from there to format and partition it.

So how do I go about removing the password off it? It never prompts me for it when I plug it in straight sata to motherboard or boot it up or put it in an external sata to usb controller enclosure. I took my WD 500GB MY BOOK apart to use the controller to usb it. Is there software or some way to enter the password to remove the lock. I have no Idea what this came out of external enclosure, laptop, mini pc, dvr? So I cant put it in that to get a prompt to enter it. Is there a usb bootdisk method like I did mhdd to get the info off to put info into it like the password. With some guidance I'm sure I can do it I'm not that much of a noob.

Try ZU.

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Ok what does Zu do I'm running it right now elapsed 5 minutes now and nothing no prompt for password or anything just ran the command Zu /p and now it's just counting not sure if it's doing anything, will mhdd do anything for me?

Ok ran Zu for an hour does absolutely nothing other than being a stopwatch.