IBM Travelstar Laptop HDD Password Removal

[TVrepairman000]

Hi

I have a IBM / Hitachi Travelstar laptop HDD model DJSA-205 5Gb drive IDE 2.5"

The problem I have is than my mate thought it would be funny to set a password on my laptop but did not understand that this implemented a hard disk password, now I cannot read or write to the HDD without first entering the password, that my mate does not know, he just typed randomly on the keyboard, and assumed I could take out the internal cmos batt and clear, not so.

Now I cannot boot my Win 2000 I cannot format, Fdisk, Low level erase, all read / write access has been blocked, AGGGGHHHH!

The password is stored in a writable chip / in the drives onboard firmware as well as on the disk platter inside so swapping the drive PCB does not work either.

Does anyone know how to / have a utility to remove or even view the password.

I have tried ATAPWD.exe but this is as much use as a nun on the pill without the HDD master (manufacturer master, no chance of getting) or user password, if I had this is would be solved.

Have seen a few sites that say I can send ATA commands to the hard disk and basically factory default it this means loosing all my data, How do I do this the loose of my data does not bother me as it's backed up, but the £3000 pounds worth of 3rd party software that's locked to the hard drive serial number is my biggest issue and as the company who wrote it a few years ago for me has gone bust I can't generate a new key which they would of done for free if they were still around.


Any help would be great.

Thanks

[oddfeld]

I suspect you're stuffed if you've yanked your CMOS battery since you will have wiped the password from your BIOS. I don't think there is a master password for Hitachi drives - there is a manufacturer password but it's different for every serial number and Hitachi won't give them out.

I gather there are hardware solutions for unlocking drives, PC3000 PCI card etc, but being a niche market you're probably looking at several hundred quid to buy one - you're probably better off just sending it off to a data recovery company.