«

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 21:13:12 -0600, Uncle StoatWarbler wrote:

> On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 19:40:50 -0600, techie wrote:
>
>> The IDE standard includes a system for password-protecting a drive,
>> with the password stored on the drive itself.
>
> If you can't remember the password, the only real solution is to replace
> the drive.

I don't 'forget' my own passwords - I put them in a small electronic
address book. It's password protected so if someone steals it they
still need the master password to get at all my other passwords.

If anyone does this, be sure to fill any data connectors with epoxy.
Otherwise a lot of these machines will let someone download the
unencrypted data onto a computer without having entered the password.

Also be sure to get one with good backlighting so you can read it in a
dark room.

Of course, you can also store your passwords on your computer - but
they're not as portable that way. Personally I don't care to store any
more passwords than I have to on an Internet-connected machine.

In article < alid>,
lid says...
> I don't 'forget' my own passwords - I put them in a small electronic
> address book. It's password protected so if someone steals it they
> still need the master password to get at all my other passwords.


No way would I consider doing that. I watched once a few years ago as a
friend tried to pull an address out of hers, and the thing locked up on
her. For good.
She lost about 5 years worth of people's addresses, paswords ... she was
devestated (she had NO hardcopy).

I prefer the old pencil and ringbinder method, which is also eminently
portable and I use my private lil' encryption method so it'd be useless
to anyone who found it and tried to abuse it.

-Peter

On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 23:24:18 -0600, techie wrote:

> On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 21:55:05 -0600, news.inspire.net.nz wrote:
>
>> From a exToshiba Service Centre Technician.
>>
>> Only way to break this is to go to Toshiba and get thme to remove it.
>>
>> If I remember correctly to get the HDD password utility one had to sign
>> a waiver, for this exact issue, before one was given the software to add
>> the password.
>
> More trouble than it's worth, then. Oh, well, I had at least a dollar's
> worth of fun just playing with the thing.
>
> Just for general info: MaxBlast doesn't see it at all, and Powermax
> shows it as a slave. However I've quaduple-checked the docs and it's
> definitely set up as a master drive. I'm assuming the password checking
> must be switching it over as a means to further complicate access.
> Unfortunately I'm away from home and none of the computers around here
> can handle two drives at once unless I spend some money on various
> things, so I can't just try to use it as a slave and see what happens. I
> don't have any jumpers with me but tommorrow I'm going to try to find a
> way to kludge it as a slave and see if maybe the switchover turns it
> into a master. Probably not but it keeps me off the streets.
>
> Interestingly, Powermax can access it as a slave drive after spending
> about a minute looking for something. It can test the sectors and even
> fill them with zeros, so the drive is accessible on some low level. I
> wiped the whole thing that way but booting afterwards gets the same old
> password prompt.
>
> Anyway thanks to all. I'm not done playing with this toy yet and will
> post any other interesting discoveries in this thread.

Tried using a powerful magnet to scramble the data ? Maybe it'd scramble
the password too.

--

.... Brendan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
ALONE, adj. In bad company. -- Ambrose Bierce
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: All comments are copyright 5/01/2004 7:16:44 p.m., and are opinion
only where not otherwise stated, and always 'to the best of my
reccollection'.

Brendan wrote:
> On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 23:24:18 -0600, techie wrote:
>
>> On Sun, 04 Jan 2004 21:55:05 -0600, news.inspire.net.nz wrote:
>>
>>> From a exToshiba Service Centre Technician.
>>>
>>> Only way to break this is to go to Toshiba and get thme to remove
>>> it.
>>>
>>> If I remember correctly to get the HDD password utility one had to
>>> sign a waiver, for this exact issue, before one was given the
>>> software to add the password.
>>
>> More trouble than it's worth, then. Oh, well, I had at least a
>> dollar's worth of fun just playing with the thing.
>>
>> Just for general info: MaxBlast doesn't see it at all, and Powermax
>> shows it as a slave. However I've quaduple-checked the docs and it's
>> definitely set up as a master drive. I'm assuming the password
>> checking must be switching it over as a means to further complicate
>> access. Unfortunately I'm away from home and none of the computers
>> around here can handle two drives at once unless I spend some money
>> on various things, so I can't just try to use it as a slave and see
>> what happens. I don't have any jumpers with me but tommorrow I'm
>> going to try to find a way to kludge it as a slave and see if maybe
>> the switchover turns it into a master. Probably not but it keeps me
>> off the streets.
>>
>> Interestingly, Powermax can access it as a slave drive after spending
>> about a minute looking for something. It can test the sectors and
>> even fill them with zeros, so the drive is accessible on some low
>> level. I wiped the whole thing that way but booting afterwards gets
>> the same old password prompt.
>>
>> Anyway thanks to all. I'm not done playing with this toy yet and will
>> post any other interesting discoveries in this thread.
>
> Tried using a powerful magnet to scramble the data ? Maybe it'd
> scramble the password too.

Isn't the password stored in a chip?
--
~misfit~

Peter Huebner wrote:

> In article < alid>,
> lid says...
>> I don't 'forget' my own passwords - I put them in a small electronic
>> address book. It's password protected so if someone steals it they
>> still need the master password to get at all my other passwords.
>
>
> No way would I consider doing that. I watched once a few years ago as a
> friend tried to pull an address out of hers, and the thing locked up on
> her. For good.
> She lost about 5 years worth of people's addresses, paswords ... she was
> devestated (she had NO hardcopy).
>
> I prefer the old pencil and ringbinder method, which is also eminently
> portable and I use my private lil' encryption method so it'd be useless
> to anyone who found it and tried to abuse it.

I agree with techie, sort of. I use Keyring on a Palm, it encrypts all the
information stored in it both on the Palm and on the PC. I think that is
safer than paper. I used to use a notebook, but wouldn't go back to that
now.

Unlike with paper, the data is easy to backup, if the Palm breaks, it
doesn't matter; in addition Keyring can generate passwords for you (using
criteria that you set).

Keyring is OS and is on Sourceforge.

Brendan <> wrote:

>Tried using a powerful magnet to scramble the data ? Maybe it'd scramble
>the password too.

Wouldn't it scramble the servo too, rendering the drive useless?

--
Tom Parker -
- http://www.carrott.org

On 5 Jan 2004 22:8:36 +1200, Tom Parker wrote:

>>Tried using a powerful magnet to scramble the data ? Maybe it'd scramble
>>the password too.
>
> Wouldn't it scramble the servo too, rendering the drive useless?

And render the drive useless ? Like it is at the moment ?

Don't know if it'd harm the drive though. Maybe he could take it into the
local TV repair outfit and get them to run the degauser over it for a while
?

Beyond that, carefully unscrewing the metal covers to expose the platters
(wear latex rubber gloves so you do not harm the platters) and then
carefully scrubbing them with a soft tooth brush and soapy water can clean
unwanted data from a HD.

--

.... Brendan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The worst aspect of `typical familyism'
(as media-merchandised) is that it
glorifies _involuntary_homogenization_.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: All comments are copyright 5/01/2004 11:43:33 p.m., and are opinion
only where not otherwise stated, and always 'to the best of my
reccollection'.

On Mon, 5 Jan 2004 21:14:56 +1300, ~misfit~ wrote:

>> Tried using a powerful magnet to scramble the data ? Maybe it'd
>> scramble the password too.
>
> Isn't the password stored in a chip?

If it is the magnet wouldn't work I suspect it'll be on the disk itself
- cheaper.

On the other hand, he's got nothing to lose.

--

.... Brendan

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Few people can be happy unless they hate some other person, nation, or
creed." -- Bertrand Russell
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Note: All comments are copyright 5/01/2004 11:42:22 p.m., and are opinion
only where not otherwise stated, and always 'to the best of my
reccollection'.

Tom Parker wrote:
>
> Brendan <> wrote:
>
> >Tried using a powerful magnet to scramble the data ? Maybe it'd
> >scramble the password too.
>
> Wouldn't it scramble the servo too, rendering the drive useless?

Yes.

On Mon, 05 Jan 2004 06:03:21 -0600, Brendan wrote:

> On Mon, 5 Jan 2004 21:14:56 +1300, ~misfit~ wrote:
>
>>> Tried using a powerful magnet to scramble the data ? Maybe it'd
>>> scramble the password too.
>>
>> Isn't the password stored in a chip?
>
> If it is the magnet wouldn't work I suspect it'll be on the disk
> itself - cheaper.

I can't find any tech sheets on how it's handled, but during my research
I came across a claim on a discussion board that the password is stored
in a reserved area of the platter.

One of the things a google search turned up was a post by a moderator on
the Dell message boards warning that anyone who asked how to defeat the
password or who provided an answer would be banned from the boards. That
suggests that there *is* a way to get around it.

> On the other hand, he's got nothing to lose.

$1

It's getting to be quite an interesting challenge. I love this kind of
thing - it exercises my technical ingenuity, and it's also a
less-boring way to learn new things.