Questions regarding PASSWORD protecting HDD's

[sojourner]

These questions are not specific to T-series notebooks but I hope the moderators will let it stay here because there is almost 5 times as much traffic!

There are numerous BIOS password options in the TP. The one I'm interested in specifically is for HDD's. Here are the questions:

1) If one password protects a HDD in a specific TP, can that HDD be moved and used in another TP (same model) if the HDD PW is setup in that BIOS?
(e.g. T41-1 bios pw=4321, T41-2 bios pw=4321, will HDD work in both notebooks)

2) if a PW protected HDD is removed and installed in ANY other PC (tower for example), can the data on the drive be recognized (read), or is the data in a scrambled (encrypted) form, or can data be seen at all (is it invisable)?

3) perhaps the answer for this next question can answer the above; does the BIOS PW acts as a 'filter' through which all data written to or read from the HDD must pass (encryption/decryption KEY)? Or does the PW allow/deny access to the MBR (so it will/will not boot)?

[RealBlackStuff]

The password and anything else involved in entering password etc. is stored on the hard disk itself.
AFAIK you can move the HD from one PC/laptop to another, where you will be asked to enter the password before you can access the hard disk.
BIOS has nothing to do with it.
If you forget the hard disk password, you WILL have a door stopper!

The BIOS does not filter any HD read/write.

[carbon_unit]

The HD password either allows or denies access to the entire drive. There is no filtering involved.
If the computer BIOS does not allow for HD passwords you will not be able to access the drive at all. If it does you will be prompted for the password and when the password is supplied you can access the drive.
This thread will be OK as long as there is no discussion on how to discover, delete or bypass a password.

[sojourner]

The HD password either allows or denies access to the entire drive. There is no filtering involved.
If the computer BIOS does not allow for HD passwords you will not be able to access the drive at all. If it does you will be prompted for the password and when the password is supplied you can access the drive.

OK, I understand the PW is required for access (i.e. BOOT capability only?).

What is still a mystery is; if the laptop is stolen (heard recently ONE THOUSAND laptops a DAY are stolen -- shocking) can the data be read if one inserts the HDD into another PC to VIEW (booting from a different HDD)?

In other words, if PW protecting HDD's in a TP only prevents boot, it certainly is a minimal type security! After hearing the statistic above, considering I travel with a laptop, perhaps the solution is to buy an SATA HDD with built-in hardware PW encryption (new electronics on some drives now include this feature), that way the drive IS -COMPLETELY- useless even if removed and placed in another PC (because ALL data is ENCRYPTED, NO recognizable data can be read).

So the question is:
can data be read on a PW protected HDD if one inserts the HDD into another PC for VIEWING?

[richk]

The disk is locked so it cannot be used on any computer without the password

[basketb]

...
So the question is:
can data be read on a PW protected HDD if one inserts the HDD into another PC for VIEWING?

The answer is yes, if you know the password.
The answer is maybe, if you have very specialized equipment (however, discussion about this is not allowed here and will get this thread locked).
The answer is no, if none of the above is true.

[RealBlackStuff]

Especially the Hitachi hard disks are very good to protect with a password, better than other brands.
Unless you have a specially equipped forensic lab, the HD password is unbreakable.

[davidspalding]

I use a Power-on password, with matching HDD password, for my T43, and use the FPR to pass those in and login to Windows XP. I recall that all IBM managers were required to have the HDD password feature enabled, and systems were audited quietly to confirm this. I like this level of deterrent because I generally only have to swipe/type at power-on, then can walk away from the laptop.

My data contains no atomic secrets, only financial information.

There are other ways to protect the data on your HDD. If you use the XP Syskey utility, you can lock the Security Accounts Manager (SAM) database such that you have to enter a password to reach login. This HDD could be used in any computer, but to boot up, someone would have to know your Syskey password.

[carbon_unit]

The answer is yes, if you know the password. (And the BIOS supports a HD password)
The answer is maybe, if you have very specialized equipment (however, discussion about this is not allowed here and will get this thread locked). (Don't go there, Let's keep this thread unlocked)
The answer is no, if none of the above is true.

My comments in bold text.

[sojourner]

1) If one password protects a HDD in a specific TP, can that HDD be moved and used in another TP (same model) if the HDD PW is setup in that BIOS?
(e.g. T41-1 bios pw=4321, T41-2 bios pw=4321, will HDD work in both notebooks)

2) if a PW protected HDD is removed and installed in ANY other PC (tower for example), can the data on the drive be recognized (read), or is the data in a scrambled (encrypted) form, or can data be seen at all (is it invisable)?

3) perhaps the answer for this next question can answer the above; does the BIOS PW acts as a 'filter' through which all data written to or read from the HDD must pass (encryption/decryption KEY)? Or does the PW allow/deny access to the MBR (so it will/will not boot)?

Had time (amazingly) to do some research and found the following:

Took a PW protected HDD from an R51 and installed it into a USB enclosure. Hooked that up to a T41. Drive was detected in W98 & XP but UNREADABLE, in fact would not even show up in explorer or XP's disk manager! So the answers to question #2 are:

- can the data on the drive be recognized (read) NO
- is the data scrambled (encrypted) NO
- can data be seen at all (is it invisable) NO, can't be seen, it's invisable

To answer questions in #3:
- does the BIOS act as a 'filter' through which all data written to or read from the HDD must pass (encryption/decryption KEY)? as a member previously stated above, NO
- does the PW allow/deny access to the MBR (so it will/will not boot)? no PW denies access, and let me add, I suspect the PW scheme alters partition table access too because when examined with DOS Fdisk, the drive appears, size is displayed properly but only one partition shows up, a NON-DOS partition of only 517mbytes, 1% usage. There are two partitions, the OS and HPA and total disk usage is approx 30%.

Lastly, if a HDD is PW protected with a USER PW the drive can be interchanged into another TP and work (at least it did switching between an R51 and T41). The user is prompted for a password at boot regardless of BIOS settings and F12 is not allowed until HDD PW is entered.

Conclusion:
It seems it would take a sophisticated user with specialized software and a LOT of time on their hands to circumvent access to a PW protected HDD. I'm very impressed with the effectiveness of this scheme and will not hesitate to use it when looking for an added layer of data security.