Samsung 840EVO SSD self-encrypted drive on ASUS notebook, how to set the HW encryption password?

[countrystrong]

I have a Samsung 840EVO SSD disk on an Asus notebook, N series.
The good news is the 840EVO is a hardware self-encrypted drive (SED).
The not-so-good news is I need to rely on some third party software to set the hardware encryption password.
My question is: how do I do that?

I could use the Bitlocker encryption software, which can seemingly handle hardware encryption too, but my non-pro Windows 10 does not have Bitlocker.

Or, I could use some "TCG Opal" compliant SED manager software, but I don't know of any that isn't costly and enterprise oriented (apart from Michael Romeo's "msed" command line utility, but it's beta version, and needs some technical knowledge).

Looks like I am only left with the BIOS "Class 0 security mode" mentioned in the Samsung Magician utility.

After I set the HDD password in the American Megatrend BIOS, "Class 0" is now "Enabled" in Magician, while the other two options (Opal and Bitlocker) are "Disabled". Before they were all "Ready to enable" (provided you have the software).

I am not clear, though, if the HDD lock, in my case, is just another password... or it actually sets the drive's hardware self-encryption password.

Please note, I replaced the original HDD with the SSD drive when I bought the Asus notebook.

I would also like to know if I can reset the drive in case I forgot the "HDD password".

I am interested in any useful comments, not necessarily a straight up "solution" to my issue.


P.s.

I am still in doubt after reading a long thread on the ArsTechnica forum. There seem to be different opinions, and it might depend on the specific BIOS and hardware after all.


There was a similar thread on Tom's forum for the same 840EVO disk *but* on a different hardware, and the specific BIOS and hardware might be relevant to the question.
See
http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-2096420/samsung-840-evo-ssd-set-encryption-password.html

 

[countrystrong]

Here's the exact wording from Samsung Magician's Help. I am not sure as to what it means!

Class 0 is the security mode compliant with SATA security feature set in the condition of SED (Self-encrypting Drive) storage drive. SATA security feature set is a password system that restricts access to user data stored on a device. Class 0 can be enabled by setting a security password in BIOS. It may not be supported depending on the system or BIOS.

 

[Palorim12]

Enabling the ATA HDD password in the BIOS enables the encryption of the drive. If you try to access that drive as a secondary in a system without unlocking the drive. The drive won't be accessible.

My work laptop has one with that BIOS ATA password on and i spoke to Samsung when i set it up. they said that when you set the BIOS ATA password, it sends that password to the SSD's Controller, The Controller then Encrypts that password and stores it on the NAND, which is seperately encrypted. When you power on the system and input the password, the password you put in gets sent to the controller, it then checks it against the password stored on the NAND, if it matches, then the Controller unlocks the drive so you can boot to it.

 

[Palorim12]

Enabling the ATA HDD password in the BIOS enables the encryption of the drive. If you try to access that drive as a secondary in a system without unlocking the drive. The drive won't be accessible.

My work laptop has one with that BIOS ATA password on and i spoke to Samsung when i set it up. they said that when you set the BIOS ATA password, it sends that password to the SSD's Controller, The Controller then Encrypts that password and stores it on the NAND, which is seperately encrypted. When you power on the system and input the password, the password you put in gets sent to the controller, it then checks it against the password stored on the NAND, if it matches, then the Controller unlocks the drive so you can boot to it.

Thanks Palorim!

All in all, do you think it is more robust than the traditional ATA HDD lock, which they say can be broken in a couple of minutes if the attacker has right tools?

Do you know if the SDD can be reset in case you forget the ATA HDD password?
Of course you would lose all data, but at least you can reuse the drive.

Well the drive is encrypted once you set that password, so its not just locked. If you look online ppl have tried cracking it, but have been unable too, unless they knew part of the password.