Unlocking my passport 1TB hard disk

[shangauri]

My WD hard disk (my passport 1 TB) got auto locked and stating "repeated password attempts". I could not format it as well. I am fine with foresaking this hard disk but I need to recover arnd 650 gb worth of data in the same. Can someone suggest some ways for recovery?

I would like your opinions on following ways

1. mounting in a linux system - will it help as i feel locking up is a OS related issue (mine was locked in a windows pc)?

2. Giving it to a third party recovery person - they charge really high - but can they do it? 

[Joe_S]

Another user account or PC might be able to access it that or a Linux Live CD that's about you can do. You can try professional data recovery but I don't know if they can do anything. The drive is hardware encrypted so don't open the case and try and connect as an internal or put in a new enclosure it won't help.

Joe

[shangauri]

Thanks Joe. I tried with other PCs though it didnt help. Yet to try in Linux OS. That should be the last try from my side. else have to check with some data recovery guys. its extremely disappointing with WD. I am not quite sure if i will go for WD product again or even suggest to my friends. 

[Joe_S]

It's the hardware encryption. I will also avoid drives in the future that have the hardware encryption. I would explain the encryption problem to the data recovery firm before sending it off. No sense wasting time or money if they can't do anything. Sorry I couldn't help more.

Joe

[fzabkar]

Password protection is a thorny subject. Whilst I would be frustrated if I forgot my password and locked myself out of my data, I would be perhaps more upset if this password were easily cracked by anyone who wanted to know how.

That said, I don't believe any data recovery company is able to read your password using any of their proprietary tools. Instead they probably resort to brute force dictionary attacks in the hope that a typical user will have chosen a weak password that is vulnerable to such an approach. In your case they would circumvent the HDD lockout by reverting to a version of bridge firmware that isn't limited to a maximum of 5 unsuccessful password challenges.

FWIW, here is a current thread on the subject, but I don't feel comfortable with the claims of any of the parties involved:

http://forum.hddguru.com/unlock-smartware-password-true-t20227.html