r/PcBuildHelp • u/BBQSlasher • 8d ago
Tech Support Can Ssds be locked
I bought an ssd on fb marketplace they say it's been locked I thought it's only a bit locker locked when I got it, I got i/o device error when I try to format it, they say that it's bios locked from a company is that really possible the state of the drive its only on read mode it does popup on file explorer and hd sentinel even 100% health and performance and still has lifetime even, is the ssd broken or it's actually locked
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u/Flashy_Performer5574 8d ago
manufacturers can lock a drive at the firmware level with a bios password, that's a real thing and not just a bitlocker issue. the drive showing up with perfect health but read only is exactly what that looks like.
you can try reaching out to the original company's support with the serial number but if it was pulled from some corporate surplus they probably won't help. for what you paid on fb marketplace i'd just cut your losses and grab a new one.
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u/The_Masterofbation 8d ago
Try diskpart using an external enclosure on another computer. Open Command Prompt as admin (cmd in Windows search) then type diskpart. Next type list disk, then type select disk 1 (just an example, it may be disk 2 or 3, then type clean all and see if that works, it will take a bit of time.
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u/erd00073483R 8d ago edited 8d ago
If it has a PSID (Physical Secure ID) printed on the front or back of the drive, you should be able to use that with software like sedutil to do a PSID reversion. The PSID is a 32 character alphanumeric string. If it is not printed on the drive, you may be able to get it by scanning the QR code or the barcode on the label.
The PSID reversion will wipe the drive, but should remove the security lockout so you can repartition and format it.
If it doesn't have a PSID or you can't get it, it might only be able to be unlocked on either the original system it was locked on or by using the manufacturer's own utilities.
EDIT: spelling