<groupware@rocketmail.com> wrote in message
news:1170496986.767710.158150@a34g2000cwb.googlegr oups.com...
> Hi,
>
> My laptop has died and I have taken out the hard drive and connected
> it to a USB connector.
>
> Windows recognised the hard drive and it apears in Device Manager but
> does not map a drive or apper in the Disk Management wndow.
>
> I then remembered I had set a password for the drive.
>
> Question 1 - Is there any way to enter a HDD passowrd via a USB/IDE
> connection
>
> I then put my Hard Drive into another laptop (a HP Compaq NC4010) and
> as good as gold the Bios requested the HDDDrive Bay Password.
>
> I entered the password but no go ?
>
> Question 2 - The computer that the Hard Drive comes from uses a US
> layout keyboard and the one i am trying to use it in now is a UK
> layout. I use a ~ (tilde) in my password which is in a different spot
> on these keyboards (although I have tried the various corresponding
> key locations) but it continually rejcts my password.
You mention the 2nd but failed laptop where you tried using the password
but never bothered to mention the ORIGINAL laptop that was used to hash
your hard drive's contents. The other half of the hash (to decode) was
back in the original laptop. Preventing someone from getting at it,
especially by stealing the drive, is just what that security is for;
i.e., unless the drive is in the original laptop that hashed up the
drive's contents AND you know the password, you will never get at the
decoded contents of the drive. That's why you need to do backups (which
aren't hashed or you specify the password which is a software-based
password that you can use regardless of to where you restore the
password-protected backup).
I you don't have the original laptop to reinsert the hard drive, you'll
have to call the maker of the original laptop to see if they provide a
backdoor password, but I doubt it (although I have seen some lists
floating around of possible backdoor passwords). If you don't have
possession of the original laptop and it is usable, start looking for a
service bureau to do the recovery. Otherwise, you are stuck with
partitioning and formatting the drive to wipe it out, and use the
password, if wanted, for the new laptop that does whole-disk encryption.
Hardware-based security became available starting back with the ATA-3
specification.
http://www.pwcrack.com/bios.shtml http://www.rockbox.org/lock.html http://www.driverforum.com/harddrive3/1642.html (but sounds very
hazardous)
http://www.eevidencelabs.com/article..._Forensics.pdf http://www.velocityreviews.com/forum...-password.html