Password Problem for Secure Drive

[rnsolo]

Hello everyone. This is my first post, although i have been browsing through this forum for quite some time now. Great Forum...

I'm wondering if someone has encountered this same problem regarding the password for the Secure drive which was created using the Client Security Solution software preloaded in T60. My problem is I can not change the password on the Secure Drive (Drive R) even though I never created any password during the setup of that drive. There is no problem however in accessing it, its just that I can't change the password. It asks for an administrator password when i try to access/modify its properties, i have tried all passwords which is currently in use in my T60 with no success.

Any feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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Thinkpad T60P 200783H (HK model - same whinning problem when on batteries)

[s0larian]

I had the same problem. Just copy anything out of the Secudrive (if you have used it already), unmount it and delete the file in the My Documents folder (sufix of the file is .vol). After that create a new drive with the Private Disk application (Think Vantage -> Client Security -> Protect Data) and use the password you like. Than you can mount it manually when you like it, you can even use a certificate if you want so you don't need to use your password always (there a free tools to generate Windows certificates).

That's what I am doing, Authentification to Windows with Client Security and using a certificate stored in the TPM chip. Of course the default Secudrive does exactly the same thing, you can just use the drive when you are authenticated to Client Security. But I always wish to have additional a password, so I can backup the Private Disk drive to any location and mount it even on a computer without Client Security or a TPM chip to access the data when the systemboard of the Thinkpad has to be relaced.

[rnsolo]

great advice s0larian. thanks very much...

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Thinkpad T60P 200783H (HK model - same whinning noise problem when on batteries)

[paradox79]

I had the identical problem.

I solved it by going into the BIOS and changing the security settings
At that point I was able to go back into the thinkvantage client security options and disable the password.

good luck

[bri]

I did the same thing as s0larian, deleted the one that was there and created a new one. Haven't figured out how to use certificates yet though.

Is there a more direct way to mount the drive other than going through all the CSS screens? And how about using fingerprint authentication instead of having to put in a password? I've eliminated having to type system passwords using the fingerprint feature of SS, so I'll probably just having the Secure drive mounted when the user is logged in.

[astpaul]

I had the identical problem.

I solved it by going into the BIOS and changing the security settings
At that point I was able to go back into the thinkvantage client security options and disable the password.

good luck

Could you describe how you did that??? I currently have a SecureDisk blocked because I forgot the password.

[claudeo]

If you use the option to automatically mount the secure drive when the user logs it, AFAIK you must also let CSS handle the password automatically -- which means its own password.
This is risky for your data, since you don't know what the password is--only CSS does, and if it ever forgets you are SOL. When I updated CSS recently, there was a moment of worry when I realized that I could not open the secure drive. I had to first let the system do a translation of the old CSS settings into new CSS settings then reboot and there was the secure drive, already mounted and open by the time I went looking for it.
What I learned from that was that there was a price for convenience. The price is to make frequent backups of the info in securedrive to another drive (I use a truecrypt volume, since truecrypt is robust and free, you can install it on any system in seconds, and it is not tied to ThinkVantage software).

[astpaul]

If you use the option to automatically mount the secure drive when the user logs it, AFAIK you must also let CSS handle the password automatically -- which means its own password.
This is risky for your data, since you don't know what the password is--only CSS does, and if it ever forgets you are SOL. When I updated CSS recently, there was a moment of worry when I realized that I could not open the secure drive. I had to first let the system do a translation of the old CSS settings into new CSS settings then reboot and there was the secure drive, already mounted and open by the time I went looking for it.
What I learned from that was that there was a price for convenience. The price is to make frequent backups of the info in securedrive to another drive (I use a truecrypt volume, since truecrypt is robust and free, you can install it on any system in seconds, and it is not tied to ThinkVantage software).

I will surely do that... when I'll have recovered the data ... if i can

Any ideas or method, folks?

[toomak]

Hello,
I tried to follow previous posts with no luck.
I still get the Enter Disk Password message when trying to access the secure drive I created. None of my passwords seem to work, and I can't access the drive. I don't mind removing it, as long as I get the space back (I'm still used to my desktop 300GB so I need every MB...
How do I get the space back and what should I do to avoid a disaster in the future?
Thanks

[astpaul]

Hello,
I tried to follow previous posts with no luck.
I still get the Enter Disk Password message when trying to access the secure drive I created. None of my passwords seem to work, and I can't access the drive. I don't mind removing it, as long as I get the space back (I'm still used to my desktop 300GB so I need every MB...
How do I get the space back and what should I do to avoid a disaster in the future?
Thanks

You can delete the file directly and go into the Secure Drive admin tool and delete the entry for that disk.

[toomak]

So what you're basically saying is that while the computer is accessible, anyone can delete my encrypted, sensitive, password protected data, without having to know the password???

This sounds terrible (although very useful for me this time...)