Master password for a Hitachi hard drive?

[theresiststance2003]

Is there a master password for Hitachi hard drives? I've searched for about an hour with no luck. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

[PNWDweller]

Is there a master password for Hitachi hard drives? I've searched for about an hour with no luck. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

Huh?

The hard drive would not have a factory set password unless someone put it on there after it was manufactured.

What exactly are you trying to do?

[Olemus]

Are we talking a boot up password or a windows Xp password?

[theresiststance2003]

Neither. A password for accessing the actual hard drive. Apparently one of our users set a hard drive password.. and they're not with us anymore. So we're stuck with a hard drive that doesn't work unless we can get a master password to unlock the drive. :blush:

[Phalesafe]

I think the only way around it is to format the partition. You could do a quick format and then use data recovery software to get the info off the drive if any is necessary. In the future you should have BIOS passwords enabled so users cant alter those specific settings.

[theresiststance2003]

It was before I was here.. I'm not sure exactly what happened. And the password we're talking about isn't stored on the actual hard drive, but in the firmware. I can't do anything to the drive without a password.. ie. format, repartition, log into windows, etc.

[Olemus]

Replacing the HD seems like the only way forward or contact the manufacturer they may have some way of "hacking" into the firmware and deleting the passwords!

[Dessimat0r]

http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/dcaa/dcaaeis.htm

Here you go, you can use the reset pin on the hard disk.

[Phalesafe]

Ohh its one of those new drives with nand memory to store that stuff. I'm sorry but I have no idea how to get around that :/ Call hitachi there might be a jumper or something on the hdd to reset it.

Lol Dessimator found it :laugh:

[theresiststance2003]

Hm... how would one go about doing this on a laptop hard drive? I should've mentioned that before, I'm sorry. Thanks for looking into this for me guys.

[killacronix]

It was before I was here.. I'm not sure exactly what happened. And the password we're talking about isn't stored on the actual hard drive, but in the firmware. I can't do anything to the drive without a password.. ie. format, repartition, log into windows, etc.

Ok...... So the only other option you have to use in this option sinse you can not login or use this drive is to take it out of the laptop or desktop, server doc and place the hard drive either in a usb hard drive case or use a sata to usb connection or the older connector you can get for hard drives and then plug the usb into another oporating hard drive goto start then right click on my computer and select the manage button and then select the disk utilitys button i think then from there you well see the name of the hard drive and the size you want to format from there you need to right click on it and select the format button.......... This problem can also be caused by a deactivated drive you can reactivate it by a botton by the left hand side of the at the middle of the far left where the drive you want to fix there well be a lil icon there in the middle all the way at the end of the discription link on "the left hand side!" there right on the icon you well right click on it and select i think it's activate partition? I for got what it was exactly cause i dont use windows xp nor windows vista so I think you well have to look around if these instrutions are two tough for you. but your problem will be salved from the partition manager section. There you go unless the drive is completely broken "corrupt" you will fix it in either of these ways. Hope i helped. Don't flame if this not helping you, It wouldn't be my fault if ur two stupid to fallow these instructions and not have enough brains and computer skillz to know what else you can do in that aria. I found this information my self and if you can't do it your self do not flame dumb ass! or you might not ever frind this information on the net again! it's hard to find just anylizing programs budz trust me! But eh hopei helped eh? Oh and either way with this method you well be able to format the drive trust me tested many times! just make sure you fully format the drive not just quick format or data well corrupt on drive latter on if you don't format fully. Takes very long with slow pc's

[Richard Hammond]

Er how is that going to get around a password locked drive, i dont think it will be as simple as just looking in disk manager and reinitialising it?

[hdood]

Neither. A password for accessing the actual hard drive. Apparently one of our users set a hard drive password.. and they're not with us anymore. So we're stuck with a hard drive that doesn't work unless we can get a master password to unlock the drive. :blush:

Is there no possibility of getting the password from the user? Have you tried contacting the manufacturer/OEM to see if they have a way of creating an override password?

Here you go, you can use the reset pin on the hard disk.

No, you cannot. That simply restarts the disk in the same fashion as hitting the reset button on your computer would restart it.

[killacronix]

Hm... how would one go about doing this on a laptop hard drive? I should've mentioned that before, I'm sorry. Thanks for looking into this for me guys.

well on the reply i gave you on the last one abbove it mentioned you well need to take it out of the pc you have so you well need two take the cover off then also have a (well) thinking it's a newer laptop year 2002+ you well have a sata hard drive ata complyable so make sure you get a sata female usb hub and plug your drive in to your spare pc as said in the last post i posted and fallow all steps as mentioned if you can't take the hard drive out. You are offisialy screwedunless you areunder warrenty in this case you well need to take it to a local care center and get them to take it out for you and suggest to purchase this drive off them as you well be formatting the drive then useing a data recovery to get ur information back. That is all you can do right now sorry if this don't help you eh?

Ps. your hard drive might be a male slot drive as well this you well have to find out your self what kind of usb hub you well need for your personal hard drive good luck! and be nice eh? baggers aren't choosers! peace out!

Er how is that going to get around a password locked drive, i dont think it will be as simple as just looking in disk manager and reinitialising it?

I did not say reinstall it i said format it or you can try to reactivate it way different things budz your thinking or hardware management not disk management this well allow you to format it or if the drive is deactivated also prevents access to the drive in this case you have an option to reactivate it from the second option it's more complicated then just reinstalling the driver for the hard drive it's either reactivating the drive or formating the drive the only two option for this problem other wise your screwed sorry budz

[hdood]

well on the reply i gave you on the last one abbove it mentioned you well need to take it out of the pc

Are you sure that you understand the problem? The problem isn't that he can't log onto the installed OS, the problem is that the hard drive itself has a password set. You need the password to access the drive. Without it you can't do anything, not even format it. The "activate" option in disk management you keep going on about is actually for setting a partition as bootable (active), and has nothing to do with this topic.

Edited November 2, 2009 by hdood

[killacronix]

tryed my best to help but I guess you just need more extensive knowledge of your operating system. It was very hard for me two find out my self and well the only easy thing two do is two format the drive other wise gl on finding the lil icon i said to look for in the disk manager menu but ill tell u this about reactivating a hard drive the one that needs the reactivation well be the only one with a realy small icon on the left hand side. and you well need two right click right on it to get the menu to reactivate it, So good luck and let the knowledge be with you lolz I did my best for a guy who does not use windows any more I use linux mac sux ass by the way!lmao jus joshin but it's not my favorite. lolz

[hdood]

It was very hard for me two find out my self and well the only easy thing two do is two format the drive other wise gl on finding the lil icon i said to look for in the disk manager menu but ill tell u this about reactivating a hard drive the one that needs the reactivation well be the only one with a realy small icon on the left hand side.

The problem this guy is having is that the drive has a password set. This is a feature that is part of the hard drive itself. The hard drive won't talk to the machine at all without first being given the password, meaning you can't format or activate it or do any other irrelevant things to it. Get it?

[booboo]

I had exactly the same problem. I sent my laptop in for repairs with a HDD Password and they gave me a new mobo (part of the repair) and when I tried to boot off the HDD it wouldn't work at all because the password was always wrong.

Is the password stored on the BIOS and the HDD, so they can compare? I am positive I did not forget it. But anyway I rang up AW they couldn't fix it, so I had to buy a new HDD. Sucks, but it was a good excuse to get the upgrade (:

[killacronix]

Are you sure that you understand the problem? The problem isn't that he can't log onto the installed OS, the problem is that the hard drive itself has a password set. You need the password to access the drive. Without it you can't do anything, not even format it. The "activate" option in disk management you keep going on about is actually for setting a partition as bootable (active), and has nothing to do with this topic.

lmfao you odviesly never had this problem before and well to make it easy for the one problem "password protected" goto disk management then format it the password well then be deleted I used this method many times and well if you cant to this? you don't desirve to run a company! or act like you know what your doing on a computer trying to do a good deed for your company so if this information does not help you throw the hard drive away or send it to my address at 4580 clarendon vancouver bc so i can fix it and have more fun with an additional hard drive. any one who has a hard drive with this problem can send me theres as well cause if this information did not help you you well never get your hard drive two work and if your thinking theres a master password recover there is not one. so stop asking.

[hdood]

lmfao you odviesly never had this problem before and well to make it easy for the one problem "password protected" goto disk management then format it the password well then be deleted I used this method many times and well if you cant to this?

No. The password is a hardware feature. It cannot be reset by formatting a partition from the OS. It cannot. It is a hardware security feature. If you claim you've done it, then you're either a big fat liar or are misunderstanding what we are talking about.

The password has to be reset (which will automatically wipe the drive), but this can only be done by supplying a password. In other words, he has to get the password from the original user, contact the manufacturer and ask if they can provide a master password for that unit, or luck out and find some hack that can reset that particular type of drive (which likely doesn't exist.)

[killacronix]

The problem this guy is having is that the drive has a password set. This is a feature that is part of the hard drive itself. The hard drive won't talk to the machine at all without first being given the password, meaning you can't format or activate it or do any other irrelevant things to it. Get it?

ok budz amma give up with this cause i have takin in lotsa hard drives and gotten them to work again password protected or not and well the option to password protect it is useless and when shoved into another pc as a secondary or a usb drive i formatted it and presto it worked. but any way' I tryed to help gave the information and well if you havent tryed it then plese(Don't say wnything about it?) Thanks! But i was never able two see the hard drive from my computer it self till i got it formatted lolz any way'z good luck. when u take modern day laptops though some bios password are uncrackible that i know as for mine it can't be cracked but many can tell me if yo0u know if even a bios password can be cracked, But some hard drives probibly can't be password cracked in the same method i used but all the ones i have came across i got passed. thanks and good luck finding out a better solution.

No more reply's about my suggestion's please it was two different topics placed in one post as i am the doctor you are the patient and i basicly assess and give you the antibiotics

As for you the guy who asked this question try both these methods and if it not work nothing will but it did work for me. at first i thaught a few of my hard drives where password protected but in fact it was deactivated and suggestion number two fixed that look at when the hard drive failed and how long after cause you can render a machine's hard drive off line for good by going into it's options then selecting do not use. This deactivates the unit and requires a manual reactivation regardless of if you hook it to another pc, Deactivation of a hard drive well not take affect till next restart so it can take time for it wo happen "this problem" can can only befixed by going to the disk management. thank you and good luck hope you find a solution. because you said that your employee left and after he left it would not let you start up windows i suggested this for you check it out but it's tough to find the icon kinda u guess. gl

Ps. it helps no one saying am wrong budz you know people look for these posts right? and the firther they look down an argument the longer it takes to get to an ansure right? do you have a proven ansure or not? iv'e doen this if you don't believe me fine! go buy a new one. Ha ha i would be the guy taking it off you in craigslist lmfao! as well as any pc with problems turning on and most other symptoms. Gl

Edited November 2, 2009 by killacronix

[Richard Hammond]

Christ do you even understand what the problem is, its not a password on the OS that he cant log into, its a security feature on hard drives, the password is enabled in the firmware on the hard drive, formatting it wont remove the password thats stored on the chip on the drive not on the platters.

If it was as simple as formatting the drive its not much of a security feature is it.....

[hdood]

No more reply's about my suggestion's please it was two different topics placed in one post as i am the doctor you are the patient and i basicly assess and give you the antibiotics

He's already been provided with answers, or rather the harsh reality that there is no simple way of unlocking the drive (other than the three I listed).

The fact that you do not understand what the thread is even about is what's not helpful. The fact that you say you've reset the password by just formatting the drive from Windows shows that you do not understand. Hard drives have a somewhat obscure password feature built into the hardware. If it's enabled, the computer must provide the password in order to be allowed to interact with the drive at all. This applies to any computer it's connected to, meaning you can't just move it to another machine.

Clearly you have not encountered a password protected drive and are confusing it with something else. If you were a doctor, you would have amputated someone's arm because they had a broken toe.

[Madoshi]

haha did it come out of a ThinkPad?

yea to all of you saying to format the drive and/or break the NT/2k/XP password, go read a book.

the password is stored on the hard drive's logicboard and most likely tied to the actual platters too, to thwart data thieves of course. not many laptops that i have seen actually offer this besides ThinkPads, but the feature is accessed in the BIOS. bascially, there are 3 types of passwords: supervisor, power-on, and hard drive.

most laptops offer the first two, but leave the third hidden. watch out though, if it was a ThinkPad, because putting another hard drive into a drive-locked unit will result in the new drive being locked with the old drive's password.

there is a way of soldering onto a security chip in (yes, only ThinkPads) that will allow you to dump the contents (it is a ROM) and get all three passwords. only works if the hard drive was locked in that machine, i believe. because it stores the same password on the drive and the laptop. which is why you never insert a new drive into a drive-locked laptop.

there are companies that say they can crack the password protection. although it would be MUCH cheaper to buy a new drive in that case.

good luck!

[killacronix]

He's already been provided with answers, or rather the harsh reality that there is no simple way of unlocking the drive (other than the three I listed).

The fact that you do not understand what the thread is even about is what's not helpful. The fact that you say you've reset the password by just formatting the drive from Windows shows that you do not understand. Hard drives have a somewhat obscure password feature built into the hardware. If it's enabled, the computer must provide the password in order to be allowed to interact with the drive at all. This applies to any computer it's connected to, meaning you can't just move it to another machine.

Clearly you have not encountered a password protected drive and are confusing it with something else. If you were a doctor, you would have amputated someone's arm because they had a broken toe.

haha what would you rather i say if you want to recover the data that is so important to you you can take the hard drive apart and take the chip bord out and replace it with another hard drive chip bord with the same firmware and transfer the firmware card to the exact hard drive? this method works for me two realy this problem is all two common and well hard drive are not complexed and do not carrry supper bit encryptions and well have you ever takin one appart befor? prob not you never worked in a computer shop befor probibly but any way'z i know most of the in's and out'z about pc and espesialy hard drives when hard drives are broke there not completely broke theres always a way to get threw password and well if you say there in the firmware of in the hardware then removing the firmware chip and replacing it with an exact replica well render the password useless and all data written to the disk well be accessible as well. cause this is the only part in hard drives cappible of holding data so if you say this would not work your bigger a rookie then i thought. it's imposible for data other then the actual platters.In this case if the platters held the password then you can finaly plug it in as a usb drive and then format it cause the password information on the chip card which connects your hard drive two the computer will not be connected any more and you well be able two format it then. But i did forget to mention it was about 4-5 years ago i used to do this kinda stuff maybe they do make it even more secure then well 5 years ago never know.

Edited November 2, 2009 by killacronix