Another it-shnaya riddle about passwords on media.

We have a WD400 hard drive like this:

Playful hands (or evil rock? (-:) set a password on it.
On numerous forums, smart people write what (setting a password) for WesternDigitall storage media sometimes happens due to power outages, incorrect termination of programs like PQmagic or Acronis.

So, there is a task to remove.

A little theory from the help to Victoria:

Management of security options. Passwords, password removal, temporary unlocking.
Theoretical introduction:

Modern hard drives have 2 types of passwords and 2 levels of secrecy. First, let's look at the types of passwords:

• User password: used to restrict access to user information. When setting a User password, the hard drive rejects commands such as read and write. Consequently, information from a password-protected hard drive cannot be read, changed, or erased. This can only be done after removing the password or after temporarily unlocking.
• Master password: NOT designed to protect information. Its purpose is to remove the User-password in case the latter is lost. The master password, being set on the hard drive, will not affect its performance in any way.

Let's get back to privacy levels. There are 2 of them, and they only apply to the User password:

• high: high level. The High level password can be removed using the Master password, keeping the information on the hard drive.
• Maximum: maximum level. If the user-password of the Maximum level is set on the hard drive, then it will not be possible to remove it with the Master password (the screw will give an error), and to remove the password, you will have to use Security Erase. This special team, which will ask you to transfer the Master password to the screw, after which it will erase all information from it, and only after that it will unlock it.

With the loss of both User and Password Master, password-protected hard drive becomes physically unusable for storing information. Without knowing the Master password, it cannot be unlocked. Therefore, be careful with the HDD security system.

Is it possible to "find" a lost password by brute force? In the case of a hard drive - almost impossible. According to the ATA standard, after FIVE unsuccessful attempts to enter a password, the screw will block commands (in this case, the "Expired" status will appear in the passport). Re-entry is possible only after turning the power on/off. There is no 5 attempts limit if you use the master password wipe to remove the password. In this case, a pause for waiting for readiness (about 1 second) issued by the screw will be a natural obstacle to enumeration.

Practice setting and removing passwords.

There are keys for working with passwords. And , as well as alternative console commands:

PWD : set password to disk;

DISPWD : remove password from disk;

UNLOCK : temporarily unlock the screw (until the power is turned off);

LOCK : temporarily disable the password system (until the power is turned off);

After entering the commands, a menu will appear on the screen with a choice of password options and privacy level. Navigating through the menu is carried out with the arrow keys (up and down), selecting the desired item - with the ENTER key. Next, you will be prompted to enter a password:

Enter password:_

After entering the password, press ENTER. If the screw did not give an error, the password will be set immediately.

It should be borne in mind that master passwords for most hard drives are pre-installed at the factory, and thanks to the Internet, they can be known to a wide range of people. Therefore, it is better to change the master password immediately. The set master password will not affect access to information in any way.
On the contrary, if someone password-protects a hard drive (for example, malware virus), knowing the master password you can unlock it.

To remove a user password using a known master password, you need to:

• By pressing F10, select the menu item "master password";
• enter the master password (up to 32 characters). Winchester will be unlocked.

This method will only work if the password security level is set to High. If the level is set to Maximum, a disk erasure warning will be issued. You can agree or cancel (if the information cannot be lost). If you agree, the program will prompt you to enter a master password, after which the hard drive will set BUSY and begin erasing the information. If at this moment the power of the hard drive is turned off, or a software reset command is given to it, the erasing will stop, but the password will remain. You should wait until BUSY is removed, and only after
this, having received a passport, make sure that the passwords are removed.

A useful application of the password erase option is to quickly delete all information (for example, before selling the HDD). In addition, security erasure, being by nature a record, has its own
ability to eliminate some types of surface defects and update SMART statistics. In order to perform a quick erase through the security system, you must:

• set any user-password of the Maximum level to the screw;
• set any master password on the screw, for example 1234. Both passwords can be the same;
• by pressing F10, select the master password, then enter it and wait for the operation to complete.

Sometimes it happens that the security-erase crashes with an error some time after the start. This can happen if the hard drive is physically defective.

Note:

1. If you have already called up the password entry line, but changed your mind about entering it, press ESC.
2. To prevent forgetfulness, the program creates a small (32 bytes) text file in the current directory, in which puts the entered password. The next time you enter the password, the program will read the contents of the file itself and slip it under the user's nose :) This option can be easily disabled, how to do this, read the "Working with the ini-file" section.
3. If the tested drive says in the passport that it does not support security options, a message will be displayed on the bottom line of the screen: "Attention: this HDD does not support passwords!" The inscription does not interfere with _trying_ to set / remove the password in order to make sure of this in practice.

After some googling, it was found out that the standard master password for hard drives WD is 32 characters like this: " WDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWD".

Nothing worked at first:

Then, apparently, a miracle happened and we saw the wonderful inscription "Done" after executing the password reset command:

And it looks like URA! ....but after the reboot, the password reappeared and now it can't be removed in any way...

Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

P.S. Acelab PC-3000 and A-FF REPAIR are not offered, since the use of these products is much more expensive than the cost of the hard drive.

yeah answer off lenovo Alexander Goncharov:"

Added 3 minutes later:

I found a programmer on Ali Express =)) with the ability to cure my problem at the hardware level, the problem is that it costs more than a new hard...

Added 11 minutes later:

Spoiler

Aleksandr Goncharov : Hello, my name is Aleksandr Goncharov. How can I help you?
Aleksandr Goncharov: Are you here?
. Gennady: Hello, I have a specific problem. after the kids played with my G700, the bios got screwed up. I removed the password through the service center by flashing the chip. there they told me that I have the same screwed up HDD. Empirically, I found out that the lock level is High, I need a master password from st500lm000-1ej162. I already contacted SeaGate, where they told me that the manufacturer could help me motherboard!!
Aleksandr Goncharov: We do not have such passwords.
Contact our service center maybe they can give you some advice
https://www3.lenovo.com/ru/ru/services-cts/
. Gennady: I ​​can't tell...
. Gennady: t
. Gennady: already applied, everyone wants more money than hard costs ...
Aleksandr Goncharov: Unfortunately we are just a support we do not have such information
. Gennady: I found a way, I found software, but I need information that the laptop manufacturer knows, and so I communicate with the manufacturer's representative and they say to me: "we don't know anything" somehow this is not right !!
. Gennady: ok where is this info?
. Gennady: for free
Aleksandr Goncharov: This information is available only to Lenovo engineers, this information is not available in public access and we cannot provide it to you.
. Gennady: super!!! question and why the hell!? there is a hard drive lock...
. Gennady: you can't who can?
. Gennady: Or how can I communicate with the engineers?
Aleksandr Goncharov: There is no blocking, there is a white list of devices that can work with this motherboard
. Gennady: nooooo you're not talking about that...
. Gennady: it's not about blocking with a TPM chip
. Gennady: we are talking about setting an ATA password on the hard drive
. Gennady: I'm going to smoke for 5 minutes, otherwise this problem is pulling my nerves out of me
Aleksandr Goncharov: Unfortunately, I can’t help you. This password can only be set by the user, and we don’t have information on how to remove the ego.
Aleksandr Goncharov: the master key may be from the lenovo factory but it only applies to new devices, old devices are only recycled.
. Gennady: when installing any hard drive to any laptop, at the time of initialization (filling the table MBR markup or GPT) the motherboard enters a master password into a certain cluster on the system "partition (beginning of the disk)" of the disk...
. Gennady: in the BIOS of any computer, you can set a user password so that this hard drive cannot be read without first unlocking it with a password, the only way to remove a user password is to enter the master password that the motherboard set. This results in a complete loss of data.
. Gennady: You can't even reflash the firmware of the hard drive itself without unlocking it!!
. Gennady: the second way is the PC3000 software and hardware complex, and then if there is a cut for it on the hard
. Gennady: all
. Gennady: Now I have information for you =))
Aleksandr Goncharov: I forwarded this question to our technical department from there immediately received an answer that we do not provide such information. We just don't have it.
. Gennady: where is it and how can i contact them?
. Gennady: email, phone, form to fill out, just so that I know that the request will go where it needs to go !!
. Gennady: *form
Aleksandr Goncharov: We do not have such an opportunity. and I repeat once again, you will not be provided with this information, since this information is for internal use only and it is not in the public domain
. Gennady: You didn't help me with anything...
. Gennady: give me false hope
. Gennady: if I deal with this problem myself, then you will all become complete jerks and idiots in my eyes ....
. Gennady: you can’t do technique without protection from a fool !!

ATA password on the hard drive is usually set in two cases:

1. The user himself sets a password and forgets it (perhaps another user, or a child sets it by accident), but the fact remains that someone manually passwords the hard drive in the BIOS of a laptop or computer.

2. The hard drive itself (hdd) or the BIOS of the laptop motherboard sets a password on the storage device due to a system failure (such cases also happened). These failures are usually due to problems with the electrical power of the device.

So don't be surprised if all of a sudden your hard drive gets corrupted: here are two options, see above.

In order to remove ATA pasword from a Samsung hard drive in 5 minutes, you need to follow a few simple steps, it's not at all difficult, but you need to reset the password special program to remove it, which works very simply (you can get the program by making a request to receive it on our website at the link. Upon receipt of the request, I will send you the program to the specified mail or send a link to Yandex or Google cloud where the program will be located.) I can’t post the program for free, it is very rare and closed, thanks in advance for your understanding.

The program works for all major manufacturers of hard drives:

Samsung, Hitachi, WD, Seagate - personally verified (if you didn’t manage to generate the key the first time, then you may have entered the error code incorrectly, try again the key should consist of 8 characters as in Fig. 4., when entering the code, the layout should be on English language, if it didn’t work the first time, try again and again, usually no more than three times you need to carry out this procedure to get correct key to unlock the hard drive.)

In order to remove/reset the ATA password from the hard drive, see Figure 1, 2, 3. Just turn on the laptop and enter the wrong password 3 times and get the code that is generated by the system.

Next, run the program that I sent you at your request on any other computer and enter the code that you received when you entered the wrong password three times. Fig 4.

The hard drive password reset program generates a reset key. You enter this key instead of a password on your locked hard drive and that's it! The storage device is unlocked, forever 😉 well, or until the next random password.

So let's summarize:

1. We request a program to reset the password on the hard drive.

2. We get the code (we enter the password incorrectly three times)

3. Enter the code into the program and get the unlock key.

4. Enter the received key in the password entry field - PASSWORD IS RESET.

As you can see, the procedure for resetting the password from the hard drive is very simple, you don’t even need to pull out the hard drive, you don’t need to disassemble anything, you don’t need to climb for any batteries (it won’t help anyway). All you need is a special program for resetting hard drive passwords, which you can get from me.

Recently I had to face a terrible situation. The hard drive has locked up, though it’s only 8GB, but still it’s also money (:
When you turn on the computer and determine the devices, stumbling over the definition of the hard drive, the computer displays a message

HDD Locked. Please enter the password

After researching the problem, I found a lot of interesting information regarding locked screws. After reading everything below, did what is even below (:

There are paid solutions (expensive and 2 options with saving information (more expensive) and without it - cheaper).

Master passwords for HDD. Master ATA password.

Contrary to popular belief, it is impossible to “lock” or “lock” a drive using a Master password. The master password can only be changed. The master password can unlock the drive if the USER password is forgotten, but this is only possible if the "High" security level has been set. If the protection level is “Maximum”, then the drive can only be unlocked by knowing the User password. If the protection level is “Maximum”, the User password is unknown, but the Master password is known, then it is possible to unlock the drive with the destruction of all data using the Security Erase Unit ATA command. This is implemented in MHDD (FASTERASE command), but this procedure in MHDD only works with User passwords.

Thus, a drive locked with a "High" security level can be unlocked using either the Master or User password. If the protection level is "Maximum", then unlock
the drive can only be used with the User password, or with the help of the Master password, but with the destruction of all data.

Manufacturers set factory Master passwords, and if they are not changed in advance, then they can be used to unlock a password-protected drive, the protection level of which is “High”.

You can set the User password by issuing the PWD command to MHDD. This sets the protection level to "High". The ability to set a different level in MHDD is not available for security reasons. Also, the entered password is displayed in the mhdd.log file. After setting the password, the drive must be turned off.

Unlocking a drive password-protected with the "High" protection level is possible using a User or Master password. If the password is unknown, then, in general, it is impossible to unlock the drive, although there are two ways:

1. If the password is not encrypted by the drive itself, you can try to read it from the surface using technological commands;
2. It is possible to unlock using specially designed methods.

If the password is known, then the procedure for unlocking the drive in MHDD is as follows:
1. issue the UNLOCK command, select the User password, and enter the password. This temporarily unlocks the drive (until the power is turned off).
2. Issue the DISPWD command, select the User password, and enter the password again. This completely removes the blockage.

According to the ATA/ATAPI standard, you cannot suppress the DISPWD command without first unlocking the drive with the UNLOCK command.

If the password is unknown and the protection level is "Maximum", then without special means not enough. If the password is unknown, and the protection level is "High", and the Master password has not been changed, then it is possible to unlock the drive, knowing the factory Master password.

List of known Master passwords:

Fujitsu Winchesters: thirty two spaces. In MHDD, you need to enter 32 spaces to ask for a password.

Seagate hard drives: the word "Seagate" without quotes, capitalized, padded with 25 spaces to 32 characters. In MHDD, when prompted for a password, you must enter the word Seagate, followed by 25 spaces. Also, advice from one of the site visitors: if the password does not fit, try entering the word SeaGate and 25 dots.

Maxtor Winchesters: the phrase "Maxtor INIT SECURITY TEST STEP" - case is important! There is one space at the end of the phrase. The password length is 31 characters.

Samsung hard drives: 32 "t" characters. In MHDD, you need to enter 32 characters t to ask for a password.

Winchesters western digital: the phrase "WDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWD", without quotes.

IBM hard drives:
DTTA series: "CED79IJUFNATIT" padded with spaces to 32 characters. in MHDD, when prompted for a password, enter the above phrase, followed by 18 spaces.
DJNA series: "VON89IJUFSUNAJ" padded with spaces to 32 characters. in MHDD, when prompted for a password, enter the above phrase, followed by 18 spaces.
DPTA series: "VON89IJUFSUNAJ" padded with spaces to 32 characters. in MHDD, when prompted for a password, enter the above phrase, followed by 18 spaces.
DTLA series: "RAM00IJUFOTSELET" padded with spaces up to 32 characters. in MHDD, when prompted for a password, enter the above phrase, followed by 16 spaces. http://www.ihdd.ru/mhdd

Winchesters Hitachi, DK23AA, DK23BA, DK23CA series: thirty-two spaces. In MHDD, you need to enter 32 spaces to ask for a password.

Toshiba hard drives, all series: thirty-two spaces. In MHDD, you need to enter 32 spaces to ask for a password.

Below are the User passwords set in certain situations by various popular programs:
MHDD versions 3.x, occurs when an internal error occurs: 32 letters "A" or 32 letters "B" (large Latin).
HDDL, occurs when a quick erase fails: "fuck".
HRT: 32 characters with code 0. In order to enter such a password in MHDD, it is enough to press ENTER when prompted for a password.
HDD ERASE 4.0: while cleaning the disk, it sets the password "idrive" - ​​you can also remove it with it!

That's just a program HDD ERASE 4.0 I had a screw locked up, all because I didn’t wait for the end of the “erase” to reboot the car ...

Situations with locked laptops by BIOS and HDD password occur mainly due to the following reasons: installed and can't remember the password or relatives decided to play with the laptop, installed and forgot. When replacing the HDD (hard drives), password requests are also possible. What should an ordinary user do in this situation?

Eat available ways solutions to this problem, which you can try to implement on your own and more complex cases in which you cannot do without the help of a specialist from service companies with special equipment, we will talk about these two options further.

For this we need:

• Find out the manufacturer and the exact model of the laptop, they are on the label under the battery compartment or right on the underside of its case (bottom). Record this data;
• Find out what prompts in the form of codes the laptop gives on the screen, if any, with several unsuccessful attempts to enter a password in the request window. Write down these codes.

The laptop model and codes are our initial data, then we begin to search for solutions available on the websites of laptop manufacturers and help forums, both paid and free, for solutions: special utility programs, tables with response codes (ASUS), universal password masters for laptop manufacturers . Each laptop manufacturer has its own specifics and we will talk about it below.

The exception is Lenovo laptops (most models) and some Hewlett-Packard models, for which the manufacturer offers only one solution in case of such an incident - replacing the motherboard, but we will talk about this in the second option.

The specifics of obtaining master passwords from laptop manufacturers are as follows:

ASUS

Master password, to unlock the laptop, look in the password table by the date that appears after entering 3 wrong passwords. The date format is, for example, 07-07-08.

SONY

SONY BIOS password generation utility, calculates the master password by the last 7 digits serial number laptop to be entered in the utility field.

Samsung

After 3 attempts to print the password, the laptop shows the message System disabled, Where 12345678901A1234 — service code sixteen letters and numbers. The program will show the master password for the entered service tag, which is printed after starting the utility. Fig.3. Download utility.

Fujitsu-Siemens

There are 2 utilities to get the master passwords, depending on what error message the laptop gives.

Dell

The utility is available for two series of Dell laptops: 595B and D35B. After 3 incorrect password entries, the laptop issues System disabled, Where 12ABC1A- service code (seven letters and numbers). The program itself calculates the master password according to the entered service tag after the utility is launched.

Hewlett-Packard and Compaq

A utility is available for select models of Hewlett-Packard and Compaq notebooks.

After 3 attempts to enter the password, the laptop will show the message System disabled, Where ABC1234ABC— service code (10 arbitrary letters and numbers). The program will calculate the master password according to the entered service tag, which must be printed after starting the utility.

InsydeH20 BIOS Notebook Acer, Hewlett-Packard

A utility is available for some models of Hewlett-Packard and Acer notebooks with InsydeH20 BIOS. After 3 unsuccessful attempts to enter the password, the laptop will display a message System disabled, Where 12345678 — service code (arbitrary letters and numbers). The program will calculate the master password according to the entered service tag, which must be printed after starting the utility.

Phoenix BIOS Notebook

A utility is provided for laptops with Phoenix BIOS installed. After 3 attempts to enter the password, a message appears System disabled [*], Where * — service code (arbitrary letters and numbers). The program calculates the master password according to the entered service tag, which must be printed after starting the utility.

We turn to specialists for help

It is recommended to start by contacting technical support(Support) laptop manufacturer company, go to their official website and write a letter. A plus would be the presence of a check and a guarantee, take a photo of these documents and attach to the letter. Describe in detail the problems that have arisen, the model of the laptop and the codes that the laptop issues, send and wait for a response. There are usually two answers: they can send a master password with which you can immediately unlock the laptop, this the best option or suggest contacting the local branded service center.

If in response to a letter they suggested contacting a company service, then we call them, clarify the options for solving the problem: remote by master password or you need to bring a laptop to them.

Conclusion.

Before setting a password in a laptop on the BIOS and HDD, read the above options for removing passwords in case of force majeure, so as not to be without a working laptop and to understand the existing methods for solving this problem, their cost, specifically for your laptop model.