Text 20199, 44 rader
Skriven 2006-08-08 19:44:00 av MARTIN ATKINS (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av JEAN PARROT
Ärende: Old HD.
===============
-=> JEAN PARROT wrote to MARTIN ATKINS <=-


 JP>     Hello Martin, nice talking to you !

 MA> A bootable removable disk wouldn't need to see the HD. I'm sure
 MA> though you've already been down this road before.

 JP>         Yes, I have gone down that path before and to no avail. As
 JP>    soon as the HD is connected, the system freezes. There is only one
 JP>    setup that allowed me to "see" a PW locked HD, I have it saved here
 JP>    on a USB HD, it is called ATAPW. I got on it, selected the locked
 JP>    drive and tried to overwrite the already present PW, the drive
 JP>    rejected it. This ATAPW is not really needed becauze if you know
 JP>    the PW you can change it via the BIOS and you need to know it to
 JP>    change it in ATAPW.

Looks like they gotcha no matter what you try. It would be interesting 
though to see what a Linux system would make of it. If it's not
in the MBR then theoretical Linux would never get as far as the
security partition because it doesn't use the BIOS to read the disk.

I don't for one minute think i would have any more success than
you but it does tickle the old curiosity bone.

 MA> Look at it from the vendors point of view. They are only interested
 MA> in the original purchaser of the product. Once they have the money
 MA> they have no further interest in the disk other than costumer
 MA> support.

 JP>         This was not obtained from a vendor, it was from a firm that
 JP>    upgraded a bunch of laptops to larger HDs. It would have been nice
 JP>    of them to wipe them clean after removing the PW so that they could
 JP>    still be used. IBM has a PRG called SDD.exe, Secure Data Disposal,
 JP>    that wipe a HD clean.

Other than the small incentive of making the re-sale of the systems 
easier and getting a better return i doubt they care much what
happens to them. I presume the disks where sold to you after they
where separated from the laptops. If so you can bet your life the
second hand dealer busted his arse trying to wipe them. :-}
 
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