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password protected hard drives????

post #1 of 21
5/17/06 at 11:41pm
Thread Starter 
I bought some "off corporate lease" hard drives.
When I boot I get a message that says that these hard drives (not the computer) are password protected.
I am NOT trying to access this information, just reformat and use in my laptop. It will not boot from CD to load windows, even when I set all three bios boot device choices to cd/dvd rom.
How can I reformat and load an OS on these?
(or have I been HAD and need to start trying to get my money back)
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post #2 of 21
5/18/06 at 12:44am
Use an external USB floppy drive and download a Win98 bootdisk to gain control.
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post #3 of 21
5/18/06 at 8:14am
Thread Starter 
hmmm..
Wouldn't boot from the USB Floppy, but I tried an internal floppy with 98boot and got an "A" prompt.
My DOS is a little rusty....what command do I use to get it to switch to boot from the CD-ROM?
(I can't believe I even HAVE an external USB floppy and a Win98 boot disk....lol)
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post #4 of 21
5/18/06 at 11:34am
Quote:
Originally Posted by at2wooden
My DOS is a little rusty....what command do I use to get it to switch to boot from the CD-ROM?

You can load some drivers on your floppy to access the CD, but the BIOS is in charge when it comes to booting. I find it very 'odd' that your BIOS won't let you boot to the CD. I take it you have been able to boot from the CD/DVD drive previously???.

wrt The password protection on the hard drive.... Don't know if that is a hard drive controller 'thing' or part of the boot code. Guess you'll find out soon....

You may want to read this as if it is controller related you may be in for some 'bad' news....

hth

Mark
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post #5 of 21
5/18/06 at 11:59am
The drive is useless to you until you reset that password.
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post #6 of 21
5/18/06 at 2:34pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PEBKAC
The drive is useless to you until you reset that password.

You could also try calling the computer manufacturer like Dell or Hp , wherever it came from, to see if they can provide a master password to reset it. other than that, I think PEBKAC is right.
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post #7 of 21
5/18/06 at 2:42pm
If it was bought from some off lease company or whatever, they're not going to generate the password for you unless you can verify ALL ownership information about that system. the company it belongs to, the address it was shipped to, the bloodtype of the dog belonging to the purchasing manager's moms cousins uncle....


okay, maybe the last one was a little bit of a stretch, but there's a lot to verify.
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post #8 of 21
5/18/06 at 2:54pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PEBKAC
If it was bought from some off lease company or whatever, they're not going to generate the password for you unless you can verify ALL ownership information about that system. the company it belongs to, the address it was shipped to, the bloodtype of the dog belonging to the purchasing manager's moms cousins uncle....


okay, maybe the last one was a little bit of a stretch, but there's a lot to verify.


Well, they didn't do the last one for me, but you're right. funny part was, none of their passwords worked, so I got a replacement. Of course, proof of ownership is needed and such for pretty much anything you call for. forgot to mention that.
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post #9 of 21
5/20/06 at 1:35pm
can you use the external drive in an enclosure, reformat it, and reinstall it into the internal slot?????
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post #10 of 21
5/20/06 at 10:56pm
Thread Starter 
that's thinking "outside the box"
I'll let you know when I get an external enclosure
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post #11 of 21
5/21/06 at 1:19am
Quote:
Originally Posted by at2wooden
that's thinking "outside the box"
I'll let you know when I get an external enclosure


Most likely, it will still ask you for a password to access it. I know you want to get this done but like PEBKAC said "The drive is useless to you until you reset that password" Just trying to save you some time and headaches but if you get this done on your own, .
Good luck with this.
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post #12 of 21
5/21/06 at 11:57pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by batichavez
Most likely, it will still ask you for a password to access it. I know you want to get this done but like PEBKAC said "The drive is useless to you until you reset that password" Just trying to save you some time and headaches but if you get this done on your own, .
Good luck with this.


so if you cant reformat the drive, sounds like the bios is atucally locking access to the drive internally.

still worth i shot i think.
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post #13 of 21
5/23/06 at 11:32am
There are services that will remove the password on a lappy hard drive. But the problem is they charge more than the drive is worth. I have found no reasonable cheap way to remove hard drive passwords.
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post #14 of 21
5/23/06 at 12:09pm
the point i think was whether or not the bios actually blocks access to A DRive. if it did, replacing the HD might not help as the bios still wants a password to boot the internal.
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post #15 of 21
5/23/06 at 1:39pm
With an HD password the bios isn't locking the access to the drive, the drive itself is locking access to itself. if you try that HD in another machine it's still going to ask you for a password.
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post #16 of 21
5/23/06 at 3:16pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by PEBKAC
With an HD password the bios isn't locking the access to the drive, the drive itself is locking access to itself. if you try that HD in another machine it's still going to ask you for a password.

thats what i was trying to clear up.

however i tried this today with the 6000. locked a Internal HD with bios. plugged it in to another computer, worked fine.

plugged a new drive into the 6000 (with the HD lock), and it asked for a password.

hmmmm, odd, thought it would not workt this way.
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post #17 of 21
5/23/06 at 9:38pm
Just to understand your wording, you set the HD password on an HD for a 6000, and plugged it into an enclosure and into another system, and it worked fine? didn't ask for a password? Or did you set the system bios password instead...
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post #18 of 21
5/24/06 at 12:31am
guess i wasnt real clear.

i set the HD password in the BIOS on the 6000 for my 5400 HD.
i unplugged the drive, installed in a usb enclosure, and plugged in another 5400(#2) inside the 6000. HD #1 worked without passcode in the enclosure usb plugged to the 6000 and a e510.

the #2 that is internal to the 6000 now asks for a passcode.
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post #19 of 21
5/24/06 at 5:14pm
I have a cute little paperwieght, too. Can't do a thing with it. External USB enclosure doesn't help. I can't simply reformat it.
-It's only a 6 Gigger, but I can't bring myself to toss it in the bin.
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post #20 of 21
5/24/06 at 6:15pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychokitty
I have a cute little paperwieght, too. Can't do a thing with it. External USB enclosure doesn't help. I can't simply reformat it.
-It's only a 6 Gigger, but I can't bring myself to toss it in the bin.

just tossed a 5gigger.

would been a nice temp storage for images, bye bye
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