Hard Drive Mysteriously Becomes Password-Protected and Possible Solutions(YMMV)

[gadget42]

several times over the last few years we have had hard-drives "mysteriously" become "password-protected" from unknown causes.
(bit-flip, bit-rot, something not quite right in/on the hardware/firmware/software/etc...nobody really knows for sure)

here are the links we reviewed and collected as we learned how to put our hard-drives back into service again.

https://ipv5.wordpress.com/2008/04/10/4/
https://ipv5.wordpress.com/2008/04/14/list-of-hard-disk-ata-master-passwords/
https://hddguru.com/software/2005.10.02-MHDD/
https://www.hdat2.com/download.html
https://www.ultimatebootcd.com/download.html

the most recent hard-drive rescues were a few days ago on a Seagate Barracuda and a Western Digital Scorpio Blue.

both were done easily using an old p4 frankenbox and hdat2 on a cd.

seem to recall using mhdd years ago but can't say for sure given the passage of time.

hope it helps others and saves them some time rooting out all the reference materials!

*YMMV(your mileage may vary)

20211201-modified(corrected typo)

[gadget42]

follow-up to the previous post:

the western digital scorpio blue was once again mysteriously password-protected after mostly being in isolated cold storage.
ran the hdat2 stuff on it again to unlock it and then to run some diagnostics which reported that the drive was failing(sledgehammer time...sigh).

sharing is caring

[gadget42]

came across some old notes and was refreshing/reviewing them and noticed that the original post lacked this link:

https://serverfault.com/questions/712849/how-to-unlock-an-ssd-disk-with-hdparm

sharing is caring
(better late than never?)

[vinceASPECT]

Hello Forum,

Ye,  there coulld be multiple  conditions and unexplainable  issues with complex drive arrangements.

There is likely "conflicts of software" and indeed firmware issues
or undetected hardware issues which only manifest when such hardware enrolled is deloyed in specific  configurations.


Always wish for tripLicate hardware backups ......redundancy

mirroring  & backups etc should get the disaster recovery scenario fully covered and other secure sites................... with remote backups

Hope that with mutiple redundancy it wasn't ...........and IS not  further issue.

Thx
C.

[vinceASPECT]

Hello Forum,

Ye,  there coulld be multiple  conditions and unexplainable  issues with complex drive arrangements.

There is likely "conflicts of software" and indeed firmware issues
or undetected hardware issues which only manifest when such hardware enrolled is deployed in specific  configurations.


Always wish for tripLicate hardware backups ......redundancy

mirroring  & backups etc should get the disaster recovery scenario fully covered and other secure sites................... with remote backups

Hope that with mutiple redundancy it wasn't ...........and IS not  further issue.

Thx
C

[gadget42]

is it the forum or the poster doing the double-posting?

[Rich]

Hi gadget42
It's the poster.

[vinceASPECT]

SIR,

iT HAS   A CORRECTED SPELLING.

tHX
c

[gadget42]

thanks Rich

[vinceASPECT]

HEllo F,  ALL,

Apparently, sometimes  with  tech  equipment  , storing at  a low temp  will re-calibrate  the devices static electricity state.

....... hardware recovery   ...........and things

Thx

C