# Unlocking a locked hard disk (lost password) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 17, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777 "2011-06-17T01:49:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/1 "2011-06-17T01:49:38Z")
Customer has a laptop that they have inadvertently locked the hard disk on. HDD Unlock reports the disk is not supported. Tried looking at the disk from Ubuntu, no luck. Any idea how to proceed with this? They want to reinstall Windows 7, which I assume will be on a partition somewhere on this disk, but I can’t access the drive to make the install disk. It is a 250 GB drive from an Asus Aspire laptop. ---
**Author:** ![ChrisBooth12](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@ChrisBooth12](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChrisBooth12)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/2 "2011-06-17T04:31:59Z")
Locked from the BIOS? if there is an FDE chip on it you are screwed ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 5:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/3 "2011-06-17T05:47:44Z")
Here’s some unlocking info for hard disks and BIOS passwords [http://www.rockbox.org/lock.html](http://www.rockbox.org/lock.html) > **[BIOS Password and Locked Hard Disk Recovery](https://www.pwcrack.com/bios.shtml)** > > Password recovery services, lost password, forgotten password, Word, Excel, Access, Zip, Outlook, Wordperfect, 1-2-3, and many others. If no unlock hacks work they are pretty much SOL. Assuming notebook BIOS itself is not locked might be simpler to simply buy a new hard gig 250 disk, 250 gig units new with warranty are only 47 dollars. > **[Western Digital Scorpio Blue 250GB 5400 RPM Internal HDD - Newegg.com](https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-scorpio-blue-250gb-wd2500bevt/p/N82E16822136387)** > > Buy Western Digital Scorpio Blue WD2500BEVT 250GB 5400 RPM 8MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 2.5" Internal Notebook Hard Drive Bare Drive with fast shipping and top-rated customer service. Once you know, you Newegg! The time you spend unlocking the disk will exeed this very quickly. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/4 "2011-06-17T06:29:20Z")
> [@astro](#): > > Here’s some unlocking info for hard disks and BIOS passwords > > [Rockbox - Unlocking a password protected harddisk](http://www.rockbox.org/lock.html) > > [BIOS Password and Locked Hard Disk Recovery](http://www.pwcrack.com/bios.shtml) > > If no unlock hacks work they are pretty much SOL. Assuming notebook BIOS itself is not locked might be simpler to simply buy a new hard gig 250 disk, 250 gig units new with warranty are only 47 dollars. > [http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136387](http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136387) > > The time you spend unlocking the disk will exeed this very quickly. Just seems a waste of a perfectly good hard drive. The other problem is how to install the os, this is one of those cheapie laptops where the install files are on a partition. We have the activation code, but we lack a Win7 install disk. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/5 "2011-06-17T08:05:28Z")
**Exactly** which model of Asus Aspire? And what is the locking mechanism? Have they used some method of whole-disk encryption? Or is this a BIOS lock? If it’s whole-disk encryption then there may be a recovery option - a file saved to a USB stick, perhaps - but this varies tremendously. I’d just wipe it and restore from his backup. ---
**Author:** ![Stan\_Shmenge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/94ad74/32.png) [@Stan\_Shmenge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stan_Shmenge)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/6 "2011-06-17T09:36:33Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > **Exactly** which model of Asus Aspire? And what is the locking mechanism? Have they used some method of whole-disk encryption? Or is this a BIOS lock? > > If it’s whole-disk encryption then there may be a recovery option - a file saved to a USB stick, perhaps - but this varies tremendously. I’d just wipe it and restore from his backup. This is some kind of drive level lock that is placed via the system bios, but is stored on the drive itself. The drive cannot be accessed in any way, and cannot be formatted, even when attached to a completely different computer. The drive is effectively bricked without the password. ---
**Author:** ![EvilTOJ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee59a6/32.png) [@EvilTOJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EvilTOJ)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/7 "2011-06-17T12:40:19Z")
It sounds like they may have Truecrypt installed on it, which will render a hard drive unusable without the password. The only suggestion would be to try a low-level format with a HDD program to make the drive usable again, but without the password they’re screwed. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/8 "2011-06-17T13:10:25Z")
> [@Stan\_Shmenge](#): > > Just seems a waste of a perfectly good hard drive. The other problem is how to install the os, this is one of those cheapie laptops where the install files are on a partition. We have the activation code, but we lack a Win7 install disk. You can usually order system restore disks from the manufacturer for a small fee. Since you are going to wipe the disk and reinstall windows anyway that might be your easiest way out. ---
**Author:** ![cdsilv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cdsilv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cdsilv)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/9 "2011-06-17T15:20:44Z")
there are jumpers that can be reset and watch batteries removed, but you really need support info for that - this is to prevent theft… ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/10 "2011-06-17T20:20:39Z")
> [@cdsilv](#): > > there are jumpers that can be reset and watch batteries removed, but you really need support info for that - this is to prevent theft… Sorry but your syntax is geeking me out: **Théoden** : Jumpers can be reset, watch batteries removed… **Aragorn** : They do not come to muck with your jumpers and batteries, they come to lock up your _data_! ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2011, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unlocking-a-locked-hard-disk-lost-password/585777/11 "2011-06-17T23:45:12Z")
> [@EvilTOJ](#): > > It sounds like they may have Truecrypt installed on it, which will render a hard drive unusable without the password. The only suggestion would be to try a low-level format with a HDD program to make the drive usable again, but without the password they’re screwed. It isn’t Truecrypt - that is not set with the BIOS. It will be ATA Disk security - as detailed [here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AT_Attachment#HDD_passwords_and_security). There are some options and tools available for attempting recovery of the password, but if you just want to reuse the disk, you could issue a Secure Erase (using Linux hdparm commands) and flatten the disk for reuse. Si