Harddrive password

T

tacosareveryyummy

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
Jul 25, 2005
Messages
5,300
So I've been given a harddrive from a friend that is password locked. When it's in the original laptop, the computer doesn't boot without the pasword being entered. This is separate from the cmos password.

Is there anyway to get around this password without resorting to formatting the harddrive? I don't have the serial number from the laptop so I can't call dell atm. I thought maybe I could access the drive from my linux install once I get home.
 
Not sure that formatting the drive would even solve the problem. Some drives operate as a simple password. Others use drive-level data encryption hashing. Going to need the make and model number for the drive to know for sure.
 
Was he using truecrypt on the drive? Or anyother encryption software?
 
Something like TrueCrypt is my first thought. And without him giving you the password, you're hosed.
 
Sounds like full drive encryption to me...be it hardware on the drive, or software like truecrypt or some other brand.
 
PTNL said:
Not sure that formatting the drive would even solve the problem. Some drives operate as a simple password. Others use drive-level data encryption hashing. Going to need the make and model number for the drive to know for sure.
Click to expand...

Yup. Might be hardware - in which case you probably won't even be able to format it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top