Hard Disk Security

Hello All,

I am not sure that I can search the Forum, so fogive me for possibly repeating this question.

I purchased Acer ASpire 5755 last year (in January to eb precise). I am not that good at computers. Recently I (accidentally) setup Hard Disk password. I haven't used my computer for several weeks after that and now I cannot repeat the password for the life of me. I have my purchasing receipts with me (proof of onwnership) and all that. I purchased compouter at Staples.

I really want to get by this so that i can use my computer once again.

Can someone please help, I'd be very thankful.

Cheers,

Niko

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Vince53

Welcome abord, Niko. I had never heard of a hard drive password before reading your post, so I can only repeat info from the internet:

The only way of retrieving any files from a password protected hard disk without knowing the password is to send it to a data recovery company for unlocking, but not all data recovery companies could or would unlock a password protected HD.

Some laptops provide a utility to lock a hard disk with a password. These passwords are not the same as BIOS passwords. Moving a locked hard disk to another machine will not unlock it, since the hard disk password is stored in the hard disk firmware and moves with the hard disk. Also, adding a new (unlocked) hard disk to a locked machine may cause the new hard disk to become locked. Also, note that hard disk lock passwords cannot be removed by reformatting the disk, fdisk or any other software procedure (since the disk will not allow and reads or writes to the disk, it cannot be reformatted.)

In Maximum security mode, you cannot unlock the disk! The only way to get the disk back to a usable state is to issue the SECURITY ERASE PREPARE command, immediately followed by SECURITY ERASE UNIT. The SECURITY ERASE UNIT command requires the Master password and will completely erase all data on the disk. The operation is rather slow, expect half an hour or more for big disks. (Word 89 in the IDENTIFY response indicates how long the operation will take.)

Despite what these three sites I listed said, it is pretty well agreed that it is possible to erase your hard drive and regain the use of your computer. If you take it to a reputable computer shop, they can either do it or ship your laptop to a company that can.