Toshiba 6100 "Buit in HDD Password"?

[chrisrob]

My Toshiba Laptop suddenly started giving this message:
BUILT IN HDD PASSWORD =
It will not allow access to the Bios and will not boot from other media. Any way to get around that message?. Replacing the hard drive causes the machine to operate normally , but I need to access the old hard drive!

 

[wolluf]

Can you get an adapter and connect drive to a PC?

 

[mudskipper]

You can find your manual on-line by going to

http://www.toshiba.com,

clicking support, entering your product, and clicking "user guides" on the left. Fair warning, it is a large PDF (only loads a bit at a time, but a slow connection could be painfully tedious).

At any rate, page 178 says "A hard disk drive password--Prevents access to the hard disk even if it is removed and installed in another computer"

If this model is anything like the 6000, then it has to be sent in to have the password removed. I believe that Toshiba can do it for you, and there is another company that can as well. I don't recall the name of it, but a google search should turn it up. Be aware that they will likely make you produce a bill of sale to ensure that you are the rightfull owner of the drive/data.

Sorry for the bad news, but I hope that this helps! Mudskipper
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Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[chrisrob]

Thanx Mudskipper.. I will try that. I did call Toshiba and they said it was a fatal failure.. no chance of data recovery. I didn't quite believe them so I will do that google search.

 

[mudskipper]

Ah--well if nobody actually set up the HDD password, then it is likely that Toshiba's support is right. At that point, don't count on anybody getting data off. I was (sorta) assuming that this error came up because somebody fiddled with password settings.... Mudskipper
___________________________________________________________________________________

Groucho said it best- "A four year-old child could understand this! Quick! Run out and find me a four year-old child: I can't make heads nor tails out of this!"

 

[wmbran]

Would it be possible to get an update on your problem, I have the same on, No one has set a password and yet it is asking for one.

 

[scubaman99]

My Tosh 6100 running Win2K prof. (Toshiba OEM installed) just did the same thing...

the first round of talking with toshiba laptop support, there only advice was to take it to a Toshiba authorized repair center.

so i called two local Toshiba authorized repair places... both told me that there is NO way to recover the drive... and that a new drive will have to be installed... AND if i wanted my data saved i will have to take the drive to a data recovery specialist first AKA "Drive savers"

called drive savers and they said it would be aprox $2,700 to recover the data...

not satisfied with this answer i called toshiba back and kept pushing untill i got a supervisor who also said "Take it to a data recovery shop like drive savers"

still not satsfied with that answer, i tried attaching the drive to a different system, mounting it on a different box, booting up with cd to try and access the hd... no luck...

so as a last ditch effort i called the Toshiba Hard drive Technical support number (my 6100 has the 60gb HD which is a Toshiba HD model HDD2138). guess what the Toshiba tech support guy said.... "take it to a data recover shop... AKA drive savers"

Rule number one... Backup regularly and often... or pay Drive savers $2,700....

that is unless someone else had a better experience??? Do tell!!!!