Hitachi DK23EA-30 HD Password

Anonymous

Laptop Expert

May 1, 2005 4:15:40 PM

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

I have a Compaq Presario 2100 with a Hitachi DK23EA-30 HD. Actually it
is my parents' laptop, and I am trying to fix it for them. Initally,
when they brought it to me, I found that on boot it up, it says that
the OS cannot be loaded.

Later on, I found out that it was a HD password problem by using
Hitachi's Drive Fitness Test app which I downloaded from their website.
Basically, the BIOS can not communicate with the HD because it doesn't
have a "password". I've see a couple of the other posts talking about
this problem. Looks like no one has been able to resolve this, and no
one really knows how to fix it. I've tried to contact Hitachi
directly, but have not yet heard back from them.

So given that this HD seems like it is pretty much lost, I would like
to know if anyone knows how something like this happens? I mean my
parents do not mess with BIOS settings, let alone HD passwords. Is
there a virus or something like that which can cause this kind of
damage? I just don't want something like this to happen again.

Any information would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

More about : hitachi dk23ea password

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Anonymous

Laptop Expert

May 3, 2005 2:13:35 AM

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

mikmas@gmail.com schrieb:
[snip]
>
> So given that this HD seems like it is pretty much lost, I would like
> to know if anyone knows how something like this happens? I mean my
> parents do not mess with BIOS settings, let alone HD passwords. Is
> there a virus or something like that which can cause this kind of
> damage? I just don't want something like this to happen again.

i have read in recent IT magazines that there is kind a virus going
around which sets a password on disks where this feature is not locked.
because this passwords are set by coincidence you can throw away the
disk. you would spend hundreds of dollars just to recover the files by
sending it to a specialized data recovery service.

on some HD there is a possibility to lock this password feature, so when
buying a new HD for your parents laptop turn the password feature off.

regards
Martin

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Anonymous

Laptop Expert

May 3, 2005 2:43:56 AM

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Martin Stausberg wrote:
> mikmas@gmail.com schrieb:
> [snip]
>
>>
>> So given that this HD seems like it is pretty much lost, I would like
>> to know if anyone knows how something like this happens? I mean my
>> parents do not mess with BIOS settings, let alone HD passwords. Is
>> there a virus or something like that which can cause this kind of
>> damage? I just don't want something like this to happen again.
>
>
>
>
> i have read in recent IT magazines that there is kind a virus going
> around which sets a password on disks where this feature is not locked.
> because this passwords are set by coincidence you can throw away the
> disk. you would spend hundreds of dollars just to recover the files by
> sending it to a specialized data recovery service.
>
> on some HD there is a possibility to lock this password feature, so when
> buying a new HD for your parents laptop turn the password feature off.
>
> regards
> Martin
>
>
>
My German is a bit limited but this URL
http://www.heise.de/ct/ftp/projekte/atasecurity/windows... appears to
be very interesting. The first program listed apparently can adjust the
noise from the HD (acoustic management; I would not mess with this, but
....), display its security settings and lock them. The second appears to
be used to autmotically lock the HD security settings at boot up and on
wake-up after standby so that they cannot be changed by a virus.

If anybody has some experience of these programs, I would be glad to
read from them. I am not sure I want to test them without further info.

--
John Doue

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