Hard disk ATA password on T4x0

[caramerdo]

My trust old T400 is dying, and I just bought a second hand T420 to replace it.
I have an Intel 520 SSD with built in AES encryption. The encryption is activated by the ATA password (aka hard disk password in the BIOS - see http://security.stackexchange.com/quest ... encryption).

The way these ATA passwords work is not really standardised, and I've read somewhere online that if you set the password on one computer you cannot decrypt it on the other due to the way the password is set.

So does anyone know or have experience to answer the following:
- If I move the SSD from the T400 to the T420 it should work without a problem right? (I assume YES, since the same password setting scheme must be used for all Lenovos).
- What about if I move the SSD to another laptop from another brand?

And nope, I don't have another laptop to test...

[RealBlackStuff]

Remove the password while the HD/SSD is still in the original machine.
That's the only guaranteed safe way.
Don't believe everything Lenovo claims...

[ajkula66]

So does anyone know or have experience to answer the following:
- If I move the SSD from the T400 to the T420 it should work without a problem right? (I assume YES, since the same password setting scheme must be used for all Lenovos).

Most likely not. The hardware is different enough for the process not to work.

- What about if I move the SSD to another laptop from another brand?

That will definitely not work.

Take RBS' advice and remove the password while the T400 is still bootable.

[caramerdo]

For future reference:

I put the drive directly from my T400 in my new T430 and it worked perfectly - asked me for a password as normal and unlocked it. No need to remove the password!