After seeing a SMART error coming up while trying to load data onto the 20GB drive I have in the laptop, I decided to replace the drive. I found a 30GB in my stash, and when I went to format it, it says "Cannot Format - Locked" in Disk Utility... Weird...
What happened is the laptop I took it out of, the previous owner put a security password on the drive. Unfortunately, this means the laptop drive is useless unless you have the password...
Well, enter HDD Unlock This tool, for $5, I was able to brute-force the drive and cracked it. So now I have a 30GB HDD, and I am installing Mint PPC onto the drive. I can't get the old 20GB cloned over, so I have to completely reinstall. Oh well... I got time. I just hope the power doesn't go out in the middle (we have storms). And my battery is shot (after the initial run, the battery went to crap, I think a cell is shorted).
I got a brand new replacement battery coming. It cost $45 for it, and with a wifi card, USB 2.0 card, etc.. this will be a fully decked-out machine. it runs really nice under Mint with 512MB RAM. the DVD Decoder hasn't been used yet, but I am unsure if Linux can access it. It might so I will try it and see...
Anyways, if anyone has a locked drive, and they want the drive back (but not the data) that tool will work great. I think the max is $35 for up to 1TB. You purchase a 1 drive license to unlock one drive. You need Windows 2k/XP/Vista/7 to do it, and I would recommend using a tower. You can't use a FireWire or USB case as it won't pass the instructions to the chip for the ATA Lock command.
Anyways, glad I have a new drive. The 20GB is going to get taken apart for the rare earth magnets and probably used in one of my dad's projects.
What happened is the laptop I took it out of, the previous owner put a security password on the drive. Unfortunately, this means the laptop drive is useless unless you have the password...
Well, enter HDD Unlock This tool, for $5, I was able to brute-force the drive and cracked it. So now I have a 30GB HDD, and I am installing Mint PPC onto the drive. I can't get the old 20GB cloned over, so I have to completely reinstall. Oh well... I got time. I just hope the power doesn't go out in the middle (we have storms). And my battery is shot (after the initial run, the battery went to crap, I think a cell is shorted).
I got a brand new replacement battery coming. It cost $45 for it, and with a wifi card, USB 2.0 card, etc.. this will be a fully decked-out machine. it runs really nice under Mint with 512MB RAM. the DVD Decoder hasn't been used yet, but I am unsure if Linux can access it. It might so I will try it and see...
Anyways, if anyone has a locked drive, and they want the drive back (but not the data) that tool will work great. I think the max is $35 for up to 1TB. You purchase a 1 drive license to unlock one drive. You need Windows 2k/XP/Vista/7 to do it, and I would recommend using a tower. You can't use a FireWire or USB case as it won't pass the instructions to the chip for the ATA Lock command.
Anyways, glad I have a new drive. The 20GB is going to get taken apart for the rare earth magnets and probably used in one of my dad's projects.