Can an SSD be firmware locked to a certain chipset or PC manufacturer?

[dbwillis]

I updated a pool of machines, brand new ones, out of the box, (HP Z240) from 2x 256gb SSD to 1x 256 and 1x 1TB SSD

Simple swap of the 2nd drive (its in AHCI mode) to a larger one.
I thought I had a bad drive, but all 3 do the same thing...
When I take the removed/new drive and place it into another PC, the BIOS sees the drive and correct info, but upon bootup I get a message about drive 1 failure (when its the 2nd drive in another PC)
- tried to pop it into a USB enclosure and format it, AOk, still cant install to it and get the device error
- tried to pop it into another PC as a single drive and install Win7 to it, it sees the drive, can partition but not format, says it cant install to it, mentions "your PC cant boot to this device, make sure its enabled" (not the exact words)

Its the same model drive thats still in the Z240 and installs fine (swapped the drives and have the same problem)
Found a firmware tool on Hynix site, but its older than on the drive

Anyone have any ideas?

Drive info :>
SKHynix SC300 256gb
PN - HFS256G32MND-3210A
Firmware - 20131P00

 

[mda]

Maybe there is some sort of security or encryption configurable in the BIOS?

Disclaimer: I don't know anything about this topic, just throwing out random possibilities.

 

[allenpan]

that sounds extremely familiar, let me dig my memory tonight... this happen to me with Intel RST in the past

 

[allenpan]

try this
- disable secure boot
- disable TPU
- boot with USB of anything (windows?)
- format it at welcome screen using Ctrl+F8? to pull up CMD and fdisk the shit out of it

 

[cyclone3d]

You can also try using diskpart and running a "clean" function on it. Just be 100% sure you have the correct disk selected or you will completely wipe the wrong drive.

Then, if you put it as secondary in another computer, it should say it needs to be initialized when Windows detects it.

You can do it that way, or you can make a partition with diskpart after the clean operation.

Really, you should be able to use diskpart on it after putting it in another machine.

I'm guessing it has some sort of security partition on it or something. Using the diskpart clean function on it should clear out everything and let you start from scratch.

 

[cpierr03]

Most of those HP corporate OEM drives are SED, self encrypting drives. They have firmware level encryption, so if it's been enabled, taking it to another machine it will not work until unlocked

 

[allenpan]

i believe once the TPU (Trust Platform Unit) and Secure Boot is disable, it will trigger the firmware on the HDD to disable it no?