Thinkpad HDD password protected..Any way around it?

[chapmc]

I was given a laptop HDD which came out of a Thinkpad (don't know the model). It is password protected and the person who gave it to me did not know the password either. In my Thinkpad it just gives the symbol for protected and wants the password. Will not boot with the drive installed. I installed it in a desktop and it is recognized. Drive made by Hitachi DTCA-24090. I am wondering if anyone knows a way around this.

This is what I know or have tried. All of this was done on the desktop.

fdisk recognizes the drive and says no partition defined. When I try to create a new partition it says no space available.

I tried running WD wdclear.exe. When it tries to read or write to the drive it quits with errors of command reject.

I downloaded two programs from Hitachi but they just tell me the drive is password protected and will not access the drive.

From searching and reading various sources it seems that the password is stored in the drive circuitry. I think I read that the password could be changed on a Thinkpad, I assume via the bios. However you need to know the existing password to do this. If it is possible to change it then it seems logical that some low level program should be able to make this change, but I have not found such a program.

If anyone has any thoughts on this I would like to hear them. I know it is easier to just junk the drive but my curiosity is getting me. I did find a site that said they could unlock a password protected drive for $80 or so, so I assume there is a way.

Thanks for reading all this. And thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[M_Six]

Can't help you with the password thing, but you could give KillDisk a try.

[chapmc]

Tried KillDisk. Get "error reading sector 0 on 80h".

Thanks for the suggestion.

[saladbarkid]

Can you remove the CMOS battery? That would remove that bad 'ol password. Otherwise there is a parallel port loopback drvice that you could make or buy. Do a Google search for it, They also make a USB version of this device.

[chapmc]

It's my understanding that the password is in eeprom in the actual hard drive. Apparently if the drive it doesn't have the password it does not execute commands to read/write the HDD.

[M_Six]

I've searched around and short of professional services, it looks like you're out of luck. Sorry.

[rabidaardvark]

if it's on the drive will it only work while it's C:


try slaving it

[chapmc]

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if it's on the drive will it only work while it's C:
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Good idea, but that didn't matter either.

[no1_vern]

The ony way I know of is to send it in to the pro's for them to re-program the EEPROM -or have it replaced. acertain person has said he can provide a dongle allowing you to change it yourself, but at $100.00 for the dongle its more expensive than the other services are.

I personally think your best bet is to chuck the drive and buy new. But if you really want the drive, go to a PRO and pay them for it It will be worth the time/headaches you will avoid wasting.

[chapmc]

You are right of course; I need to just chunk it. I was primarily wondering if there was a program available to hack it. I have no attachment to it.

Thanks for the ideas.