NASLite Network Attached Storage

Hi.

Not really a NL question but maybe someone can help. I was given an old computer (P4, 512mo RAM, 1 WD SATA drive, DELL). It was used in an office and they changed all their computers.

There was a BIOS password that I have unlocked via the motherboard. My problem is with the WD hard drive. The drive was password locked too and I can't find a way to format the drive. After the bios starts, I'm asked the hard drive password (that I don't have) and if I "esc", the hard drive is not mounted.

I wanted mounting NL on it and I have to decide if I have to throw away the HD and buy a new one or if I can format it.

TIA for your help.

Just boot the NL image and tell it to install on the drive. It will format it for you, it doesn't care about a windows password.

Mike

Thanks Mike, I'll try... but it is NOT a windows password. You set this password in the BIOS and if you do not give the password, the drive is not "seen" by the BIOS, thus not by the OS either.

Regards

Then reset the password in the BIOS.

Mike

Very funny If I knew the password, I'd already used it to unlock it. It is a computer that was thrown away that I have "recycled".

So - put the drive in another PC with a BIOS that doesn't understand / ignores the password on the HDD and blitz the MBR there.

I use GDISK (a DOS program that came with Ghost 2003) for all my drive flattening and partition creation.

will naslite not format it - a drive does not need to be recognized in bios for naslite to see it - thats sort of off the top of my head

but i thought a HD password was stored on the drive in its firmware - if so then non of the suggestions so far will work - i do know they can be got round though - i assume google is giving you no answers

and from google



look here http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/

has a harddrive password tool on it - who knows it may work

I found this linkhttp://www.hardwareanalysis.com/content/topic/43545/ which has a procedure that someone claims worked for them.

Hi.

Thanks for the ideas. Have not resolved the problem yet but I have some clues (in case someone else has the same problem...)

Formating in NL2 doesn't work. NL sees the drive but if I "format" the drive, I get an error message (which gets erased too fast for me to note it)

No success with ultimate boot CD (but have not tested all the programs on it yet)

I found 2 softwares that may work (their site says it WILL work but didn't have time to test yet). Both are paying products.

http://www.hddunlock.com/download/ will reinitialize the drive and all the data will be deleted. $5 to $40 depending on the size of the drive.

http://www.hdd-tools.com/products/rrs/download/ will delete the password and will keep the data on the drive. $50 for 1 drive

Both software come with free test version in order to know before paying if it will work or not. Both work under Windows.

I have also asked the question to WD and am waiting their answer.

Stay tuned, I'll keep you updated...

I think there is no simple way to do this. This is the ATA PASSWD spec of the disk it self (if the disk supports it).It has a MASTER password and a USER password with diffrent security level for both. The only thing i can recall of removing it is to connect it to a modded xbox (not 360) and run a boot xbx cd like "Auto installer deluxe" which has the utility to remove or put a new password that you can see in the disk, no matter what the password is now. That's if the disk is IDE and of course if you can find a modded xbx. I have done this many times and it worked. I know this is'nt much of a solution to you but that's the only thing i can tell. Finally if you can't unlock the disk, there is no way you can format it or use it. Reoving the password, you WILL lose the data.