Remove/Bypass HDD Password

pootas

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Mate has just popped over with his lappy...He has set a bios AND hdd password on it but has forgotten the hdd password...We can get into the bios but thats it...

I tried to boot from a cd but it still asks for a hdd password...Any idea how to get around this?

Laptop is a Toshiba if that's any help...

Would really appreciate any fixes/suggestions

Cheers
 
HDD passwords are near enough impossible to get rid of mate. best bet is just to stick a new HDD in they dont cost that much.
 
none of this info is mine and i can not say if it will work or not so try it at your own risk

To reset the password of a Toshiba, you can use KeyDisk.
If this doesn't work, you can try to build the Toshiba Parallell loopback.
To make a device that you connect to your parallell port, a lot of Toshiba computers remove the password when you boot it up. The device, named "loopback" ,could be made out of any parallell wire with 25pins connectors (db25). Connect these pins: 1-5-10, 2-11, 3-17, 4-12, 6-16, 7-13, 8-14, 9-15, 18-25


http://www.stratumtechnology.co.uk/support.htm <this url will take you to a link were you can download KEYDISK click on The KEYDISK.ZIP link.
EMAN


info from here

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/18140/
 
none of this info is mine and i can not say if it will work or not so try it at your own risk

To reset the password of a Toshiba, you can use KeyDisk.
If this doesn't work, you can try to build the Toshiba Parallell loopback.
To make a device that you connect to your parallell port, a lot of Toshiba computers remove the password when you boot it up. The device, named "loopback" ,could be made out of any parallell wire with 25pins connectors (db25). Connect these pins: 1-5-10, 2-11, 3-17, 4-12, 6-16, 7-13, 8-14, 9-15, 18-25


http://www.stratumtechnology.co.uk/support.htm <this url will take you to a link were you can download KEYDISK click on The KEYDISK.ZIP link.
EMAN


info from here

http://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/18140/

isnt all this info for removing bios password ?

op has hdd password which devil666x said is almost impossible to remove, ive never had to try and sort this problem at work but ive seen a few threads on here talking about hdd passwords.

after all, the nature of a laptop is its easy to move around so easy to nick too this was the laptop manufactures answer to make the data safe in the event of the machine being lost or stolen.

its just a shame the numpties in the goverment and MOD who keep loosing laptops dont have a password on the hdd...lol
 
use a live linux boot disk

should give u access to HDD for files atc

cant remembner the name of the distro but you can also retrieve the HDD pass using some lve boot linux distros
 
the "fix" phawk754 posted has been tested and works for BIOS passwords, thats the method i use (only toshiba laptops). HOWEVER, not HDD passwords. you will not rid of HDD password.
Altho....the post about using linux distro is interesting. i've not tried that.

would like a bit more info on that if possible? will search a google too lol
 
As Devil666x says, hdd passwords are very difficult (in some cases impossible). What I'd do first is go here and download the checker. They'll charge you if you actually want the job done, but the free checker will at least tell you if it's possible. Obviously you'll need to put the drive in another machine to get it booted into windows. As it's SATA, it should be hot pluggable anyway.

As for the linux thing, I don't see how it would work. It's a hardware limitation, not software, so nothing can read the drive without the password (or the clever, vendor specific tricks used by the company in the link above. Still, it would be great if I was proved wrong.
 
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See the problem is the drive isn't detected in windows...I use a USB to SATA/IDE jobbie which has worked on all drives I've had problems with and means I dont need to open up the case...But due to the fact I presume the HDD is awaiting a password not even that software linked above can see it!!! And they charge like basically £30 to unlock which is the price of a new drive anyways....
 
Some of the advice given is interesting but useless.

:)

Some drives eg Hitachi might as well be thrown in the bin if you forget the password on the HDD, it is independent of BIOS, windows, Linux , drive swapping and even standing on one leg with your right arm raised.

http://www.adrc.com/ckr/hdd_password_security.html

Swap the drive it will save your sanity.

Messa
 
just a stab in the dark here, but would if you can get past the bios password couldn't you just do a clean install,

i helped a mate out a while ago with an HP lappy who forgot his password but wasn't bothered about XP that was on as he had a free upgrade to Vista and was able to install Vista on without needing to know his old password
 
Guys a HDD password is stored on the HDD itself. Its even lower level than the bios password. Its not stored in any firmware or any clusters.
Unless you have info worth millions of pounds and have a fortune to spend its simply not worth it even trying. this is one thing that cant be cheaply hacked. (well not at the moment anyway).

Bios password is extremely simple to get rid of compared to HDD password.
 
what type of encryption is being used, does it give any clue in the prompt.

I used to work for the GMP and we used SafeGuard to encrypt all new laptops using a usb key, we had a master password but unless screwed.

Try giving Toshiba a ring?

or have you tried a barts, hiens, winterals boot dvd?
 
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