Hard disk password

[synchromesh]

Recently I purchased a Hitachi 7K200-200 disk on Craigslist. Unfortunately it appears that the disk is passworded. I was able contact the previous owner and he gave me the password. However, when I plug the disk into a Macbook or my desktop I'm not prompted for password. Do I need a Thinkpad to unlock it? If so, any specific instructions? Otherwise, how can I do it from a regular PC?

[loyukfai]

AFAIK, most, if not all, notebook computers (well, except Macbooks so it seems) handle HDD passwords just fine.

Cheers.

[synchromesh]

I've read some conflicting stories, some people claim that the same model Thinkpad is required to do the unlocking. Could that be true? This came out of a T61p according to previous owner. Would unlocking work in a regular T61?

[Harryc]

My hunch is that any recent Thinkpad that has TPM support would allow you to enter the HD password, and that would include your T61. Make sure that the security chip is set to active and the hard drive password is set to active in BIOS.

[synchromesh]

Hopefully you're right. Otherwise it will be hard to trace down a T61p since I don't know anyone who owns one.

[synchromesh]

Update: unlocked ok on my friend's T61! Went through a procedure to enable/disable "user defined" password option and got the drive working without it! This can be locked unless somebody wants to add anything.

[Harryc]

Thanks for the information. We generally don't lock threads unless they are in violation of a rule or for a 'sold' item in the Marketplace forum.

[synchromesh]

I've been using Marketplace for so long I forgot about that.