Text 16640, 99 rader
Skriven 2006-03-20 13:36:54 av Gordon Huff (1:106/2000.0)
  Kommentar till text 16566 av JEAN PARROT (1:123/140)
Ärende: Re: MBR ?
=================
-=> JEAN PARROT wrote to GORDON HUFF <=-

 JP>         Here is part, very small part of the HD Technical Manual:

==snip==

Yes...this is what the ATA-3 spec says.

 JP>         If you are interested, give me your addy and I will attach the
 JP>    manual. Very good reading. The way that I see it now, the PW is the

No thanks.

 JP>    ultimate protection and without it, you are up a creek without a
 JP>    paddle. My only left resort is to mechanicaly flush the medium
 JP>    together with the PW. I do not need the data, just the use of the
 JP>    drive.

I understand.


 GH> Three kinds of password can be set from the user
==snip==
 JP>         That is exactly what the manual states

 JP>         IBM maintains that they do not set a PW at all. The manual
 JP>    states that it can be set but they do not. They maintain that the
 JP>    OEM system builder, the seller, the IT technician or the user can
 JP>    set the MPW and then on top of this another PW, the user's.

OKeh ... the HD part of IBM sez they didn't do it. Maybe the
ThinkPad people did it ... etc.

That's why I suggested you look at other drives in your
collection ... to see if they have the original Master
password .. and what it is.

The spec sez the master password persists - it might be
all zeros or garbage but it's always there.

 JP>         That is the crux of the matter, the device is stupid and can
 JP>         only obey a prope password, to defeat it, one needs it.

Which is what you want a security precaution to do.
I am suggesting you determine the Master password because it
always unlocks the drive.

 JP>         Maybe, I would have to have one. The 7 HDs that I have are all
 JP>    PW protected.

*Every* HD you have is PW protected? -- Why on earth did you
do this? I'd tell you to unlock everything you can and then
go to work on the Master passwords.

Looking at the ATA-3 spec, you can see what you 
have to do to force your way in.

 GH> The articles I read differed on where this information
 GH> is kept - some say firmware in the hard drive, others
 GH> say the "test cylinder" and some say the boot track.

 JP>         The manual from IBM, a copy of the Hitachi manual, states that
 JP>    it is on a protected sector of the medium, linked to the MBR.

Then it's on the test cylinder - and the MBR tells you where
the test cylinder is.


 JP>    what wouldld wwe see if one HD was placed in a system that does not
 JP>    honour this protection ?

The protection is in the hard drive ; in a system that doesn't
know "ATA-3" nothing will happen - only the ATA-3 specific 
commands will work and the system doesn't know them.

 GH> By the way - if you have enough of these hard drives
 GH> there is a market for them.

 JP>         Gordon, I have 7 of them. If there is a market, I would not
 JP>    pass them on to anybody as they are not useable. I also read that

I mean folks who are buying laptop drives, knowing that they are
PW locked. I saw someone who buys them - 20 drives minimum.


 JP>    they can be placed into a Mac and there formatted ??? As they are

Macs tend to follow the specs ; not much help there.
I found a patch for Linux that might do this - but the actual
details wondered off into library functions.

 JP>    ATA, would a non ATA machine see them allowing a format ? I am

Maybe the equipment at the factory.

Regards, Gordon
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