Was running the secure erase command with hdparm and lost power while my Kingston SNV425 was being erased and now the controller seems to have locked the drive. The bios sees it, but if it is set as the primary boot device,it asks for a password. The drive never had a password, and web searches return links to a few forum posts with the same issue but responses are usually 'stolen drive, get lost'. gparted doesn't see the drive so I can't blow it away and recover functionality.
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Lost pwer while secure erasing Kingston SSD
- Thread starter Plester
- Start date
Sounds like a nightmare. Consider low level format with this:
http://www.killdisk.com/
Or, send it back to Kingston and have them do it.
http://www.killdisk.com/
Or, send it back to Kingston and have them do it.
razel
Platinum Member
The drive is password locked. During secure erase a password is required. You'll need to find out what that was. If the program you ran didn't ask you for one, you'll need to find out what they used. If you ran the command utility hdparm, you typed it in. If you used parted magic and did the GUI version, I believe it'll ask you for one and if you don't specify the password is null or blank.
That drive is recoverable, you just need the password.
That drive is recoverable, you just need the password.
I set a specific password using hdparm and that has not worked, I have also tried NULL which as you say parted magic sets when secure erasing, which again doesn't work.
🙁
Not looking good. Can you return it to Kingston for "refurb?"
http://communities.intel.com/message/129573
http://communities.intel.com/message/129573
Only thing I can think of is that a BIOS security freeze might be blocking a drive 'unlock' request.
Power off.
Unplug SATA from the SSD, leave power connected. Power up and boot the comp.
Once OS has booted, plug the SATA cable into the SSD.
Now try unlocking the drive using hdparm and the password.
Some BIOSs will 'freeze' certain 'secure' functions (e.g. activating or removing a password) on an HDD during POST, so that malware can't take a drive prisoner (a frozen drive will ignore 'security' commands sent to it). Once a drive has been 'frozen' it can only be 'unfrozen' by removing power from the drive. By hot-plugging the drive, you avoid the BIOS 'freezing' the security state of the drive, and it may have a better chance of accepting hdparm commands.
Power off.
Unplug SATA from the SSD, leave power connected. Power up and boot the comp.
Once OS has booted, plug the SATA cable into the SSD.
Now try unlocking the drive using hdparm and the password.
Some BIOSs will 'freeze' certain 'secure' functions (e.g. activating or removing a password) on an HDD during POST, so that malware can't take a drive prisoner (a frozen drive will ignore 'security' commands sent to it). Once a drive has been 'frozen' it can only be 'unfrozen' by removing power from the drive. By hot-plugging the drive, you avoid the BIOS 'freezing' the security state of the drive, and it may have a better chance of accepting hdparm commands.
Last edited:
razel
Platinum Member
Can you run hdparm with the -I parameter and let us know the result?
If it says 'locked', you must manually unlock it before you can do much else. You cannot issue the secure-erase command on a locked drive, even if it's the correct password. You must have it say 'not locked'
I don't have the hdparm parameter off the top of my head. But there is a drive unlock parameter where you specify the password. You must do that 1st. After it's unlocked, you must then remove the password or change it so it doesn't drive lock as a default. There are two types of passwords... one is master the other is user. If you used hdparm command line to do the secure erase, you specified it when you typed it in. You can try typing hdparm or hdparm -help or --help to get a listing of parameters.
I used to remember years ago that some laptops can lock the drive and you can easily unlock it during bootup at the BIOS. I don't know why this isn't obvious to BIOSs these days. I would have expected that during bootup if it finds any locked drives in your system that it should ask you for a password. Too bad... now this complex method is apparently the only 'easy' way.
If it says 'locked', you must manually unlock it before you can do much else. You cannot issue the secure-erase command on a locked drive, even if it's the correct password. You must have it say 'not locked'
I don't have the hdparm parameter off the top of my head. But there is a drive unlock parameter where you specify the password. You must do that 1st. After it's unlocked, you must then remove the password or change it so it doesn't drive lock as a default. There are two types of passwords... one is master the other is user. If you used hdparm command line to do the secure erase, you specified it when you typed it in. You can try typing hdparm or hdparm -help or --help to get a listing of parameters.
I used to remember years ago that some laptops can lock the drive and you can easily unlock it during bootup at the BIOS. I don't know why this isn't obvious to BIOSs these days. I would have expected that during bootup if it finds any locked drives in your system that it should ask you for a password. Too bad... now this complex method is apparently the only 'easy' way.
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