Help with password removel of WD3200BPVT

[alienslare]

Hello everyone,

Hope this post would definitely find you all in a good state of mind.
Well here it is iv got a Western Digital WD3200BPVT that has been protected by a password.

Short story: the drive had been pulled from lenovo laptop and the password was made through it (or i dont even know who,how or when). Just know there is a password and i need to remove it regardless of the data loss im getting.

The question is "HOW TO REMOVE??????????????????????"

 

[TRWOV]

you could try with Hiren's Boot CD 14.0. I don't recall the exact steps but I managed to unlock an Original Xbox hard drive with it.

If you still have the laptop is far easier to unlock the hdd with it as some bios stall when encountered with a locked hard drive for which it doesn't have the password for. A workaround is to plug in the drive AFTER Hirens begin to load.

You basically have to save the contents of the hdd's eprom (where the password is saved) and then unlock the hdd with it.

If you can't get access to the eprom somehow, another way is to use a master password (use a Google search) BUT that will reset the password hash and MIGHT render the drive's content inaccessible (you'll end up with a drive in RAW format, as fresh from the factory).


EDIT: It might be possible that the laptop's bios would allow you to unlock the hard drive without the need for a 3rd party tool. Look around the security options.

 

[alienslare]

you could try with Hiren's Boot CD 14.0. I don't recall the exact steps but I managed to unlock an Original Xbox hard drive with it.

If you still have the laptop is far easier to unlock the hdd with it as some bios stall when encountered with a locked hard drive for which it doesn't have the password for. A workaround is to plug in the drive AFTER Hirens begin to load.

You basically have to save the contents of the hdd's eprom (where the password is saved) and then unlock the hdd with it.

If you can't get access to the eprom somehow, another way is to use a master password (use a Google search) BUT that will reset the password hash and MIGHT render the drive's content inaccessible (you'll end up with a drive in RAW format, as fresh from the factory).


EDIT: It might be possible that the laptop's bios would allow you to unlock the hard drive without the need for a 3rd party tool. Look around the security options.

Thanks for the reply TRWOV unfortunately i dont have the laptop with me, i really dont care about the data. Hiren's Boot CD i'll download it right away but there are alot of tools in it to work around. Which one is the right for it? and after hiren loads? means iv to plug it through usb otg?

i did not get the master pasword method? means i'll have to put the master password and the drive will unlock itself?

 

[kn00tcn]

wait what, how does this work on a technical level? the data is actually encrypted? is it even NTFS?

 

[TRWOV]

Thanks for the reply TRWOV unfortunately i dont have the laptop with me, i really dont care about the data. Hiren's Boot CD i'll download it right away but there are alot of tools in it to work around. Which one is the right for it? and after hiren loads? means iv to plug it through usb otg?

i did not get the master pasword method? means i'll have to put the master password and the drive will unlock itself?

The tool to use is MHDD with the UNLOCK option: http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/mhdd_manual.en.html#password
Hiren's 15.2 ships with MHDD 4.6

EDIT: MHDD doesn't work with USB drives, you must connect it to a SATA port in your PC.


After unlocking the drive you need to disable the password protection with DISPWD or the drive will lock itselt again after you turn the PC off.

Either you need to know the user password (usually the same as the laptop bios password) OR use a master password. In my case on the original Xbox hard drive the user password was widely known (TEAMASSEMBLY) but I don't know which works for your drive. Using a google search it seems that older IDE WD drives were unlocked with WDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWD, I suppose it hasn't changed but you never know.

Another way to get the password is dumping the contents of the HDD's eprom or the hard drive sectors that store the password data but I don't know what program would do that. If you use the master password the hard drive will return to a RAW state for the obvious reasons.

wait what, how does this work on a technical level? the data is actually encrypted? is it even NTFS?

All hard disks have a hardware password capability build in. This password is usually stored both in a chip on the HDD controller (the printed circuit board on the hard disk) and on the hard disk itself in a special hidden sector. Setting this password will make the hard disk completely unusable to anyone that doesn’t know it and not only on your computer, but on any computer. A lot of newer laptops will set the HD password together with the BIOS password, completely locking all the hardware. The data itself isn't encripted, it's just that the drive won't access any data until it receives the password. Swapping the controller of the protected hard disk with exactly the same controller from an unprotected HD will not remove the protection on most disks, as the password (together with most of the firmware) is also stored on the hard disk itself and both must check.

That being said, it isn't impossible to get the data back, just that it isn't possible for a person at a user level, you'd need to use specialist's tools for reading the platters directly.

 

[TRWOV]

OP, did you manage to unlock the hard drive? What was the password?

 

[SaiZo]

Run viktoria (victoria?) HDD test from HiRens Boot CD, under "Security manager" there is a blank form where you enter the following:
WDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCW

And then just click "unlock".

The WD HDD should be primary btw..

 

[natr0n]

Why not full format the drive ?

YOU don't need the data right?

 

[TRWOV]

Why not full format the drive ?

YOU don't need the data right?

He can't. While the drive is locked you can't do anything with it. Some bioses won't even post with a locked drive for which they don't have a password.

 

[Lunat!c]

hard drives are not the most expensive hardware in the world, why dont you get a newer and better hard drive.

 

[TRWOV]

why would you throw away a working piece of hardware? Besides the learning experience might aid him in the future.

 

[Lunat!c]

well its only if he can't fix it

 

[alienslare]

The tool to use is MHDD with the UNLOCK option: http://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/mhdd_manual.en.html#password
Hiren's 15.2 ships with MHDD 4.6

EDIT: MHDD doesn't work with USB drives, you must connect it to a SATA port in your PC.


After unlocking the drive you need to disable the password protection with DISPWD or the drive will lock itselt again after you turn the PC off.

Either you need to know the user password (usually the same as the laptop bios password) OR use a master password. In my case on the original Xbox hard drive the user password was widely known (TEAMASSEMBLY) but I don't know which works for your drive. Using a google search it seems that older IDE WD drives were unlocked with WDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWDCWD, I suppose it hasn't changed but you never know.

Another way to get the password is dumping the contents of the HDD's eprom or the hard drive sectors that store the password data but I don't know what program would do that. If you use the master password the hard drive will return to a RAW state for the obvious reasons.




All hard disks have a hardware password capability build in. This password is usually stored both in a chip on the HDD controller (the printed circuit board on the hard disk) and on the hard disk itself in a special hidden sector. Setting this password will make the hard disk completely unusable to anyone that doesn’t know it and not only on your computer, but on any computer. A lot of newer laptops will set the HD password together with the BIOS password, completely locking all the hardware. The data itself isn't encripted, it's just that the drive won't access any data until it receives the password. Swapping the controller of the protected hard disk with exactly the same controller from an unprotected HD will not remove the protection on most disks, as the password (together with most of the firmware) is also stored on the hard disk itself and both must check.

That being said, it isn't impossible to get the data back, just that it isn't possible for a person at a user level, you'd need to use specialist's tools for reading the platters directly.

Sorry for the delay i just did the above but the password isnt what is suggested and it says "fail" as for type 1 and type 0 both. I even tried victoria but the harddisk still rejects the password.
For the record i plugged the harddrive to a desktop computer and no other harddrive was plugged with this password protected one.

Any idea what else might help in my case?

 

[Frogger]

read the info on zong unlock http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/44008-HDD-Password-unlock-SUCCESS-with-ZU-exe-(zong-unlock)?p=822544&viewfull=1#post822544 works on most drives for me

 

[Jetster]

He can't. While the drive is locked you can't do anything with it. Some bioses won't even post with a locked drive for which they don't have a password.

I have never come across this. How do you password a drive from being formatted? Active kill will wipe it. or just delete the volume? And a BIOS post if not even related to the drive. You mean the drive in encrypted?

 

[Baum]

read post 5, and yes swapping the stupid hdd pcb doesn't help as i tried that once for fun

 

[TRWOV]

I have never come across this. How do you password a drive from being formatted? Active kill will wipe it. or just delete the volume? And a BIOS post if not even related to the drive. You mean the drive in encrypted?

All hard disks have a hardware password capability build in. This password is usually stored both in a chip on the HDD controller (the printed circuit board on the hard disk) and on the hard disk itself in a special hidden sector. Setting this password will make the hard disk completely unusable to anyone that doesn’t know it and not only on your computer, but on any computer. A lot of newer laptops will set the HD password together with the BIOS password, completely locking all the hardware. The data itself isn't encripted, it's just that the drive won't access any data until it receives the password. Swapping the controller of the protected hard disk with exactly the same controller from an unprotected HD will not remove the protection on most disks, as the password (together with most of the firmware) is also stored on the hard disk itself and both must check.

This isn't a special feature either, it's part of the ATA standard: http://www.scs.stanford.edu/11wi-cs140/pintos/specs/ata-3-std.pdf

Sorry for the delay i just did the above but the password isnt what is suggested and it says "fail" as for type 1 and type 0 both. I even tried victoria but the harddisk still rejects the password.
For the record i plugged the harddrive to a desktop computer and no other harddrive was plugged with this password protected one.

Any idea what else might help in my case?

The password I provided was used for IDE drives so it's no surprise that WD has chaged it. I'd try to get a hold of the person you sold the laptop to (if that's the case) and ask them for the user password OR find the current master password.

It could also be that the HDD was locked with the Maximum security option (unlikely) and would only unlock with the user password.

 

[Jetster]

So are you talking about Bitlocker? or something else?

 

[TRWOV]

So are you talking about Bitlocker? or something else?

No, it's a feature of the ATA spec, vendor and OS independent.

 

[Solaris17]

No, it's a feature of the ATA spec, vendor and OS independent.

This. HDDs have contained the ability for hardware level locking since way back this lock is not data specific. which means the data isnt "encrypted" HOWEVER. the hardware also stores a key on a hidden partition before logical track 0/1 iirc and the handshake must match or the drive will not flip bits and all editing is impossible. its alot like write lock on a floppy. only this is read/write.

 

[remixedcat]

This kinda drive locking is when someone sets the password in BIOS and uses it as a 2 factor like authentication in addition to a windows login and password.

My mom prefers to use a BIOS password instead of a windows password for one laptop and the other has both a BIOS password and a login/pass for windows 7.

 

[Jetster]

Thanks RMC I ddint realise the password stays with the drive

 

[TRWOV]

read the info on zong unlock http://forums.mydigitallife.info/threads/44008-HDD-Password-unlock-SUCCESS-with-ZU-exe-(zong-unlock)?p=822544&viewfull=1#post822544 works on most drives for me

wow, that's really wicked. Thanks for the share.

I suppose this program has a database of master passwords since brute force is quite slow (drives have to power cycle after 5 attemps).

I was just going to suggest the OP to try the passwords that show up in this presentation: http://www.csnc.ch/misc/files/publications/harddisk_ata_security_v1.1-1.pdf

but that Zong app is even better. *downloads*

 

[alienslare]

OK iv tried the zong unlock method various times even for almost 18hours but nothing happened. tried different test beds including a laptop (dell precision m4400 with hdd ata mode)
repeated steps over and over tried different sata ports nothing worked but the drive did got wiped out through HDAT in hiren boot cd.

any further help?

 

[TRWOV]

It could be that the HDD was locked with the Maximum security option (disables master unlock) and will only unlock with the user password. I suppose Zong uses a database of master passwords for the unlocking so it wouldn't help in this case.

I just got a couple of levono Thinkpads, I'll fiddle in the bios and see if Maximum is an option.


EDIT: Sorry to break this to you... not only is "Maximum security" an option, it also is the default:

You'll have to get the user password somehow.