DriveLock on Compaq/HP Laptops? 57
whois asks: "I just purchased a new Compaq laptop and noticed a feature in the BIOS called 'DriveLock'. It locks the drive so a password has to be entered on startup. If you take the drive out and put it in a system without a drivelock BIOS, the system can't boot from the drive. There is very little information on the web about this feature. Most people talk about what happens if you lose your password (buy a new drive) and what happens if you want to reuse the drive in other machines (you can't). What I want to know is the tech specs on this. Is it security through obscurity, and just sets a password in the drive BIOS, or is it doing encryption in hardware? My guess is it's the former, but I'm submitting to find out if anyone knows the real story. Here is an HP doc that mentions it in passing." According to information provided by the included links, this "feature" isn't something you can disable, either. Are we likely to see more manufacturers tie hardware together like this, in the future?
If it were just a bios password (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:If it were just a bios password (Score:1, Informative)
For xbox there are tools to disable it, maybe some will follow for this harddisks.
I also guess the disk is not fully encrypted, so its probably not really secure. If compaq/hp really think that is a clever option, then it should be an option to unlock it in the bios (oc with the correct password), everything else is just stupid and not very customer friendly.
but good to know, i will never buy a laptop with this kind of clever security.
Re:If it were just a bios password (Score:2, Informative)
Hmm... I wonder if swapping the controller board on the drive would workaround this "security" feature?
Use the fdisk, Luke! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Use the fdisk, Luke! (Score:4, Informative)
These guys say they can help (Score:4, Interesting)
I received some toshiba(I think) laptop hdd's one time and they all were locked from toshiba. I called toshiba tech support and could never get it through their heads that these were hdd passwords and not CMOS/BIOS password problem. They kept telling me to just remove the battery. Needless to say, I just returned to reseller for another brand.
Isn't this what the XBOX does? (Score:5, Informative)
Sounds like the same ATA standard passwords that the XBOX uses. See for example http://www.siliconice.net/XBOX/Guides/hdd_password .shtml [siliconice.net]
BalamIt is, (Score:4, Interesting)
XBOX, UltimateTV and other systems use this to stop you from accessing the drive.
I beleive there is two passwords for the drive, an OEM password and a user password.
nothing magical here folks..
ATA Spec (Score:5, Informative)
Re:ATA Spec (Score:5, Informative)
Re:ATA Spec (Score:1)
Somehow hit that routine and increment the 'bad password try' password a handful of times and disable the machine 'permanently'.
Wouldn't any machine that you put the drive in need to 'respect' the ATA password scheme? What if I put the drive in an old box?
Re:ATA Spec (Score:5, Informative)
You can reset the password but you lose all the data currently on the drive, look up SMART, I believe smartmontools under linux can tinker with these settings.
Re:ATA Spec (Score:2)
IBM may have chosen not to enable the "lock forever after X attempts" or perhaps it takes several reboots worth of attempts - I don't know.
Personally, I've always felt this was a rather nice feature. I haven't heard of any back doors so, if there are any, they are either just available to a
Re:ATA Spec (Score:3, Funny)
I like my bear pizza with wolverine, and a side of ocelot.
Alternatively: Wouldn't that pizza go great with a cold, frosty bear? Oh no AUGWRUIJGHBWRGLFHK!
I could go on like this for hours but I'd prefer to keep a little bit of karma...
Re:ATA Spec (Score:1)
You mean like a Polar Bear?
Re:ATA Spec (Score:2)
IBM does this, too. (Score:3, Insightful)
I *think* the 600-series IBM laptops also supported this feature, although I wouldn't swear to it.
Re:IBM does this, too. (Score:2)
Because they couldn't, or because they wouldn't?
Re:IBM does this, too. (Score:2)
Keep in mind that Intel's break-fix help desk was no more skilled or well-versed in hardware or software than the helpdesk at your run of the mill large corporation. Sad but true.
Re:IBM does this, too. (Score:1)
Re:IBM does this, too. (Score:2)
The other is basically a backpack-style drive. I saw more of the former than the latter. Can't recall how they were utilizing network drives - if people usually put all their stuff up on a network drive or not. I think they were, but it's been awhile.
Can't be disabled? (Score:4, Interesting)
OT, sorry (Score:2)
Inspiron 8600: Pretty good, not as great performance or battery-life wise, but if you're going to be using the computer plugged in a lot then this is negligible. Cost is sig. lower than T40.
Dunno about the HPaq, but if you've ever bought a computer from HP or Compaq then you know what to do: back away slowly and reach for your cross.
about dell (Score:1)
Re:about dell (Score:2)
Thanks for the tip, though!
Re:OT, sorry (Score:2)
OTOH, the 8600 seems like it fits my needs perfectly; I use my laptop as my primary machine at home. Most of its travel will be from my office to the living room to the bedroom to the dining room, etc. Several times a year I'll need to travel with it for real. Besides, the wide
Re:OT, sorry (Score:2)
Anyhow, phenomenal battery life, nice screen, good tactile feedback, and fairly thin and light. Well worth a little ex
(continuing to be OT), sorry (Score:2)
Re:(continuing to be OT), sorry (Score:1)
Re:(continuing to be OT), sorry (Score:2)
Re:(continuing to be OT), sorry (Score:1)
Re:(continuing to be OT), sorry (Score:2)
I've created a journal entry for this discusion so we can take it out of this thread. Feel free to wander over to continue this if you get a chance.
Re:OT, sorry (Score:1)
ATA standard (Score:4, Interesting)
platter swap should do it (Score:2)
If the lock is written on the platters themselves, then I guess you're out of luck unless you know somebody with a rogue controller that'll ignore or overwrite the lock. I expect the manufacturer and Ontrack have these. If I were building HDDs this way, I'd have an undocumented unlock comman
Re:platter swap should do it (Score:1)
Re:platter swap should do it (Score:1)
This is nothing new.. (Score:1)
Sitting on my workbench right now is an old IBM thinkpad with the hard drive password locked. If this password were to be lost, I would have two options:
1) Send the drive out to be "unlocked" by IBM (at great expense I may add)
2) Throw it away
Those would be my options. Luckily I have the password so everything is fine. This is an old feature that it seems a lot of people have either forgotten or are too new to remember.
Cliff H
P.S. Just for future reference, it's a 760E. :)
Same Issue (Score:5, Interesting)
Just by dumb luck, I happen to have an external USB enclosure [outpost.com] and I figured what the hell. I put the drive in this and it worked fine as an external drive. However no amount of fdisk'ing, low level formatting or anything would remove the password. Oh well, it makes for a great Ghost'ing/portable hd that works (with fat16 or fat32) with just about every major OS out there.
I believe it stores the information in some sort of NVRAM on the hard disk. Using a dumber implementation of IDE (I.E. the USB Enclosure) got around it, so it must require the BIOS to honor the password stored in NVRAM. Don't know much else.
Re: (Score:1)
Re:Same Issue (Score:1)
Security through obscurity! (Score:2)
Maybe there's a way around. (Score:1)
Possible solution? (Score:2, Informative)
TiVo hacking faq on drive locking [samba.org]
Unlock program for Quantum TiVo hard drive [9thtee.com]
Supposedly the QUnlock.exe program will permanently unlock the drive, but then again it could be some kind of TiVo "locking" and not the hard drive password locking we're talking about.
Don't throw the drive out (Score:2, Interesting)
So all you need to do is find an exact duplicate of the drive-- same model, same size, same revision, same everything. Make sure the password is null, or at least known. Remove the circuit board from the bad drive, replace it with the board from the good drive, and you're done.
This is enough of a pain in the
Re:Don't throw the drive out (Score:1)
Re:Don't throw the drive out (Score:1)
The hard drive lock.. (Score:2, Informative)
More details please.. (Score:2)
Is on my system (Score:1)
Model: Presario 915US