ssd hdd password

[brainw]

I have a Intel 520 series 120gb fitted and I am not able to set the hdd password in the bios, this wasn't a problem with my old hard drive and always worked fine, been in touch with intel support they have said this must be a problem specifically with my x61 as they have not heard of anyone else having this problem.
unfortunately I don't have another x61 to test this on so I'm a bit stuck and intel say they won't change the drive under warranty because the ssd shows no other issue's.

has any one here tried one of the 520 series who could check this for me.

thanks............................

[hunterman223]

Looks like it's not only you.

http://communities.intel.com/message/158174

Intel support is full of it, if you google "can't set hdd password intel ssd" like I just did there's plenty of results. I have set a password before on my Crucial M4 and it worked fine. Maybe an issue between Lenovo and Intel, or maybe Intel uses some non-standard way of setting the password.

[brainw]

Looks like it's not only you.

http://communities.intel.com/message/158174

Intel support is full of it, if you google "can't set hdd password intel ssd" like I just did there's plenty of results. I have set a password before on my Crucial M4 and it worked fine. Maybe an issue between Lenovo and Intel, or maybe Intel uses some non-standard way of setting the password.

Actually one of those posts belong to me, been talking to intel support but they will not accept it is an issue with there drive.

[hunterman223]

Do you have another computer you can swap it into and try to set the password?

Either the drive's firmware or the Lenovo bios must have a nonstandard way of setting passwords. I'm afraid there's not much else you can do but wait for a firmware/bios update that might not fix things anyways.. Do you really need a HDD password? If the data itself is not critical consider setting a power-on password instead. The drive could still be swapped out and read, but the computer would be useless.. or check into either TrueCrypt or BitLocker. (if you have Vista/W7) If you have a need for it encryption shouldn't slow down an SSD too bad, but it does cause more wear I believe. If you don't need full-disk encryption consider making an encrypted container with TrueCrypt and storing sensitive files inside. This eliminates the extra wear and the extra overhead as well.

[brainw]

Don't have another laptop that has sata so bit stuffed there, I like to set hdd password when travelling just in case it does get stolen or lost so i guess i'll have to clone my old hdd and use that until intel come up with a fix though they say it's not broken so it won't be anytime soon so it looks like i made a bad choice as far as buying a 520 series.

cheers..

[EOMtp]

The following is unlikely to fix the issue, but stranger things have happened, and you have nothing to lose by trying it:
Change the SATA type in the BIOS (Compatibility vs. AHCI) from whatever it is presently to the other one, then save, turn off power, power back up, enter the BIOS ... and see if the other mode of the SATA setting permits you to set the HDD password.

[Note: If you change from Compatibility to AHCI, then change it back, lest Windows may not load if it does not have the AHCI drivers installed.]

[brainw]

The following is unlikely to fix the issue, but stranger things have happened, and you have nothing to lose by trying it:
Change the SATA type in the BIOS (Compatibility vs. AHCI) from whatever it is presently to the other one, then save, turn off power, power back up, enter the BIOS ... and see if the other mode of the SATA setting permits you to set the HDD password.

[Note: If you change from Compatibility to AHCI, then change it back, lest Windows may not load if it does not have the AHCI drivers installed.]

Great stuff thanks it worked I can now set the password np.