Toshiba Canvio Basics external hdd ,data and hardware encryption.

Bunker · Mar 2, 2015

hello

i recently bought a toshiba canvio basics 1 tb hard disk. There is no inbuilt data and hardware encryption software preinstalled on it from Toshiba.
What i wanted to know is can i use Western Digital's smartware software to encrypt and password protect my toshiba hard disk , please let me know.

thanks in advance.

popatim · Mar 2, 2015

Its my understanding that it supports encryption only if the disk drive its working with has hardware encryption capabilities.

Bunker · Mar 2, 2015

popatim :

i did not understand what u said . If you are asking that does my hard disk support encryption . the answer is Yes . i have encrypted my toshiba hard disk using windows bitlocker. But can i encrypt and password protect it using WD smartware software ???

fzabkar · Mar 3, 2015

WD's SmartWare drives have hardware based AES encryption. WD's software only works with WD's drives.

popatim · Mar 3, 2015

as an fyi - the paid version supposedly works with any drive supporting hardware encryption.

From the mannual:

from the manual said:
Non-WD Device Support
The WD SmartWare Pro software upgrade extends the backup function to:
Direct-attached non-WD drives (USB)
Unsupported WD devices
Supported cloud services
Upgrading to the WD SmartWare Pro software requires purchase of an activation code.
Or you can upgrade for a free 30-day trial.

fzabkar · Mar 4, 2015

@popatim, thanks for the heads up. I wasn't aware of the Pro version.

According to the manual, "password protection is not available on non-WD drives and unencrypted WD drives".

WD SmartWare Software User Manual Version 2.4.x:
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705057.pdf

AIUI the SmartWare password is not a standard ATA password. Instead the bridge firmware reserves a small area at the end of the drive for a "key sector" or "magic sector". This key is used for encryption and for storing the password (in a very secure way) and is backed up in the drive's own firmware. Non-WD drives would not have this key. SmartWare would know how to set this password and to set up a password challenge, but it would rely on WD's vendor specific bridge firmware to do it.

As for encryption, WD's drives are not themselves encrypted, at least not like FDE or SED drives. Instead the USB-SATA bridge firmware transparently handles the hardware based encryption, not the SmartWare software. In other words, the host sends unencrypted data to the drive via USB, and the bridge firmware then encrypts it and writes it to the drive.

In short, SmartWare does not implement encryption on any drive, not even on WD's encrypted models, and SmartWare passwords are only available on WD's encrypted drives.

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Toshiba Canvio Basics external hdd ,data and hardware encryption.

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