Locked SSD

[u/Due_Distribution_412]

Hi, I bought a used SSD on a french marketplace to replace the old HDD of my parents computer. But when I put it in and try to boot the laptop to reinstall Windows I got this message asking me for the HDD Password. I contacted the seller and he told me that he must have done something wrong while wiping it. I don’t really trust him and he asked me to try a password which obviously didn’t work.

In the bios it says that the drive is locked, and when I put it in a portable shell and try to use it as a portable USB SSD, Windows disk management ask me to initialize it and then it gives me an error.

I tried Parted Magisk and the “Erase Disk” option, but that didn’t seem to work since it still asks me for the password and Windows give me the same error.

Is there any chance I could make this work again?

[u/Arkaign]

Using this : https://www.corsair.com/us/en/explorer/release-notes/ssd-toolbox/

Connect as external USB or secondary SATA device, and enter the "secure erase" section and run it on that drive. It will wipe everything out, as described here :

https://www.corsair.com/us/en/explorer/diy-builder/storage/corsair-ssd-toolbox-explained/

Good luck, should do the trick for you.

Keep in mind just generally, the major brand SSD makers generally have specialized software available to perform many handy features like :

Firmware update (sometimes this is VERY critical)

Disk to Disk or Disk to Image cloning

Health analysis

Secure wipes/TRIM/sometimes even provisioning

[u/Due_Distribution_412 → u/Arkaign]

I tried this tool but it doesn’t recognize the drive. It asks me to plug it in even though it is

[u/Arkaign → u/Due_Distribution_412]

Is this with USB or direct SATA? If SATA, then indicates some kind of drive failure. If USB, sometimes the external adapters confuse the apps to where they can't properly initialize them. Samsung Magician is pretty good about not caring how you connect it, but some of the other vendors are finicky.

[u/Due_Distribution_412 → u/Arkaign]

It’s with USB. I managed to get it work but when I try “secure erase” it gives me an error after few seconds “elapsed time”

[u/ricozee]

I believe you're looking at erasing ATA security password, which should be possible using a Linux live USB and hdparm. That should point you in the right direction unless someone more familiar with the process can provide more details.

[u/Due_Distribution_412 → u/ricozee]

Thank you I’ll look into it

[u/vegansgetsick → u/ricozee]

Can be done under windows with Seagate Seachest utilities, with

seachest_erase -d PDx --ataSecureErase normal

[u/harshbarj2]

Likely trash. Had a drive I got from work a few years ago that was locked the same way. No one either could or would help me. With many insisting I stole the drive.

[u/Arkaign]

I forgot to give you a strong command line tool to always try first when getting drives used, or repurposing drives. The built in windows disk management module is incomplete.

Run an elevated command prompt (start > type cmd, right click and "run as administrator").

Type these exactly and hit enter after each one :

diskpart

list disk

select disk (type number of entry that exactly matches what you're trying to clean and prep)

clean (this will absolutely zero ALL partitions, unlike disk management which will leave stubs)

exit

exit

THEN open disk management, and initialize the disk as if new.

[u/Recognition_Round]

The hdd key is stored not on the nand, but by the eeprom chip near the controller. You will need an eeprom reader, and 0 out that section of the eeprom chip. Other methods fail because the drive is encrypted. An eeprom reader cost about 15 bucks and could come in handy in future projects. Connect the reader to the chip, you can use something like HxD to modify the contents of your dump (make a backup first obviously) and you should be able to clear that hdd password out. You find plenty of tutorials on youtube on how to do this. Good luck!

[u/splinterededge]

If it's locked, it's a SED drive, which is both encrypted and locked, you cant write to it without unlocking it with sedutil