HOW can I bypass the password for a format ?

[Capdragon]

Trying to clean virus' from a friends hard drive.
I need to partition and format her hard drive, BUT when I try to do so, it keeps asking for the admin password.
The store she purchased from has goine out of business so there is no one with this info.
There's probably a simple work around, but darned if I can recall it
Thnks for any and all help here
The drive is an older WD, a WD200 Protege
JR

 

[wahnula]

I found some interesting items under "hard drive password removal:

http://www.hdd-tools.com/products/rrs/

http://www.hdd.profesjonalnie.pl/hpr.php

You may have a password embedded in the drive firmware. May as well get a new drive.

Tony

 

[paparazi]

I guess you could connect the hard drive on it's own then simply use a Windows 98 boot disk to format then reconnect as slave and format properly in XP.
Martin


We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[wahnula]

I am in an ethical quandary about this entire issue. Offering information that could be used (by others, not the OP)to defeat a password for less-than-altruistic motives is troubling.

Besides, it's a 20 GB drive, how much time is it worth anyway? Two six-packs on eBay.

Tony

 

[paparazi]

I've had another read of your post and assume you are talking about the bios being passworded?
This can normally be removed by taking out the onboard button battery for a minute or so (bios will set defaults)
I'm not entirely sure what wahnula is refering to? if the customer owns the PC they have the right to reformat as they feel fit?
Anyway, you will obviously need a legitimate licence to reinstall Windows so all is above board.
One last note* as XP goes into setup is gives the user the option to delete and remake partitions as they wish.

Martin


We like members to GIVE and not just TAKE.
Participate and help others.

 

[wahnula]

paparazi,

I am talking about the Drive-Lock HDD protection feature in almost all laptops and many PCs, one that enables the true owner to lock down the HDD via the firmware of the drive itself. Format does nothing, and circumvention is possible, but difficult. Usually can be re-set by pros for $$$.

Most owners remember their passwords (LOL), or can guess them after a short while. It's those other folks I'm worried about. The ones with black hats. If they steal my laptop I want them to get a pile of hardware, not my personal files.

I would not be appreciative of someone in this forum giving them a tutorial on defeating my HDD password. That's my ethical quandary. I want to share knowledge, but...

Tony