Click here to get back home

How does the CMOS hard drive password work?
 Home | NewsGroups | Search | About
Login Password
Register Now!
 comp.sys.laptops    Post an article   get this group's latest topics as an RSS feed add this group's latest topics to your My MSN content add this group's latest topics to your My Yahoo content
Subject Author Date
How does the CMOS hard drive password work? BillW50 04-29-2008
Posted by BillW50 on April 29, 2008, 1:52 pm
Please log in for more thread options
 How does the CMOS hard drive password work? I have a Gateway MX6124, btw
if it matters. I mean if I set it and the laptop or the hard drive dies,
what happens next? Can the hard drive be read installed in another
laptop? Or do you need the password for it and that laptop must support
passwords too? I am just curious how this all works as I might need this
knowledge someday. ;-)

--
Bill


Posted by - Bobb - on April 29, 2008, 3:46 pm
Please log in for more thread options
> How does the CMOS hard drive password work? I have a Gateway MX6124, btw
> if it matters. I mean if I set it and the laptop or the hard drive dies,
> what happens next?

Quick answer - nothing - you buy another drive.

> Can the hard drive be read installed in another laptop?
NO

> Or do you need the password for it and that laptop must support
> passwords too?

The reason for password protecting a hard drive or the BIOS on a laptop is
SECURITY. The cost of a drive or a pc is immaterial compared to the
ability of someone else ( "the bad guys") to get at your data.
Having said that, google " hdd password " and you'll find places like
this:
http://www.hddunlock.com/

> I am just curious how this all works as I might need this knowledge
> someday. ;-)
>
> --
> Bill


Posted by BillW50 on April 29, 2008, 5:10 pm
Please log in for more thread options
- Bobb - typed on Tue, 29 Apr 2008 15:46:31 -0400:
>> How does the CMOS hard drive password work? I have a Gateway MX6124,
>> btw if it matters. I mean if I set it and the laptop or the hard
>> drive dies, what happens next?
>
> Quick answer - nothing - you buy another drive.

Okay if the hard drive password is set and it dies (the hard drive) and
you throw in a new hard drive, the laptop does nothing to stop the new
hard drive from working right?

>> Can the hard drive be read installed in another laptop?
> NO

Well I like to buy two of the same laptop models and I do in this case
as well. I do this for troubleshooting and spare parts. I assume I can
still swap hard drives (takes 30 seconds to do so) and whether the hard
drive has a password or not, things are still ok as long as I know the
password of a password protected hard drive.

>> Or do you need the password for it and that laptop must support
>> passwords too?
>
> The reason for password protecting a hard drive or the BIOS on a
> laptop is SECURITY. The cost of a drive or a pc is immaterial
> compared to the ability of someone else ( "the bad guys") to get at
> your data. Having said that, google " hdd password " and you'll find
> places like
> this:
> http://www.hddunlock.com/

Well that sounds okay with me. As virtually everything I have on any of
my computers is boring data like news clippings and research data. So no
big deal there. The only things I do have that could be worth anything
to others is maybe things like Yahoo passwords and other website
passwords. Although even this isn't too much of a big deal I don't
think. As if they were not changed, I could change the passwords anyway
before the bad guys had access to them. Plus they really can't do much
damage except to pretend to be me anyway.

Also thanks for the keyword to search for. I found a lot of interesting
things on Google. And I found some people claiming that they boot up
their laptops that didn't have any hard drive passwords and then
suddenly ask for them. That would be scary if true. Although it sounds
like to me these people are actually asking how to remove the password
so they (the bad guys) can access the hard drives to me.

--
Bill


Posted by Barry Watzman on May 1, 2008, 1:11 am
Please log in for more thread options
That is not correct.

If the laptop dies, you can put the hard drive into another laptops THAT
SUPPORTS HARD DRIVE PASSWORDS, enter the CORRECT password and the drive
will "unlock".

Of course if the drive dies, then it's toast (but not because of the
password).



- Bobb - wrote:
>
>> How does the CMOS hard drive password work? I have a Gateway MX6124,
>> btw if it matters. I mean if I set it and the laptop or the hard drive
>> dies, what happens next?
>
> Quick answer - nothing - you buy another drive.
>
>> Can the hard drive be read installed in another laptop?
> NO
>
>> Or do you need the password for it and that laptop must support
>> passwords too?
>
> The reason for password protecting a hard drive or the BIOS on a laptop
> is SECURITY. The cost of a drive or a pc is immaterial compared to the
> ability of someone else ( "the bad guys") to get at your data.
> Having said that, google " hdd password " and you'll find places like this:
> http://www.hddunlock.com/
>
>> I am just curious how this all works as I might need this knowledge
>> someday. ;-)
>>
>> --
>> Bill
>

Posted by Barry Watzman on May 1, 2008, 1:10 am
Please log in for more thread options
Hard drive passwords are handled in the drive and it's part of the IDE
spec. Using this is quite risky, you can get locked out of your own
drive. Basically, at power on, the ONLY command that the drive will
recognize is the "enter password" command, and until that is done (with
the correct password), the drive isn't even detected by the bios at all
(it acts like a "dead" hard drive to all commands (including "identify
drive") except the enter password command, until the correct password is
entered).

That means, among other things, that you will never be able to use that
drive in any computer (laptop or desktop, internal or external) that
doesn't support hard drive passwords in it's bios.

Once the correct password is entered the drive behaves normally until
the next reset or power down. There is, for most practical purposes, no
way at all to bypass the password.


BillW50 wrote:
> How does the CMOS hard drive password work? I have a Gateway MX6124, btw
> if it matters. I mean if I set it and the laptop or the hard drive dies,
> what happens next? Can the hard drive be read installed in another
> laptop? Or do you need the password for it and that laptop must support
> passwords too? I am just curious how this all works as I might need this
> knowledge someday. ;-)
>

Similar ThreadsPosted
Compaq EVO N600C Password-protected CMOS - Lost password - Help - d'oh September 18, 2005, 1:52 pm
Hard Drive Password Problems February 3, 2007, 5:03 am
hard drive password spontaneously turning on... April 10, 2005, 1:06 am
Phoenix Bios 4.0 - Blank password will not work August 15, 2005, 7:08 pm
100GB Hard Disk Drive, 7200rpm versus 160GB Hard Disk Drive, 5400rpm September 2, 2007, 5:58 pm
Toshiba SC415 Satellite: outboard A/drive doesn't work September 28, 2007, 4:54 pm
Password-protecting folders on a USB flash drive January 28, 2005, 9:12 pm
Hitachi drive needs password on laptop but not desktop? November 14, 2005, 12:42 pm
Having hard time retrieving Laptop hard drive data October 17, 2006, 8:10 pm
upgrading hard drive on laptop - most painless way to transfer drive image? April 5, 2005, 10:05 pm

Our other projects:

Art Dolls, Fairies and Mermaids - Sunnyfaces.net

Roy's Linux, Programming and Search Engines messages

1-Script XML SitemapXML Sitemap