[ltp] Hard disk password & linux

[wes schreiner]

Senectus . wrote:

>On 5/18/05, Peter B. West <lists@pbw.id.au> wrote:
>  
>
>>Vijay Garla wrote:
>> ...
>>    
>>
>>>So, to summarize, has anybody set their hdd password?  No big deal -
>>>I'll give it a shot, but I'd like to create an image of my harddrive
>>>first, just in case (again, bad experiences mucking with partitions and
>>>the hard drive in the past).
>>>      
>>>
>
>I'm pretty sure that HD password is saved in the BIOS and therefore
>gets accessed at POST, so after it's used it's not seen by the OS.
>PS don't ever forget it because it's impossible to reset, IBM will
>flat out refuse to help and can only be fixed by a BIOS Chip or
>Motherboard replacement.
>  
>

Close, the password is stored is a separate chip.  The whole of the BIOS 
can be read by any OS (think reflash) so nothing very secret can be 
stored there.  While IBM will not help you get around this password, 
there are third parties that have built a business around this.  For 
example, see this site: <http://www.ja.axxs.net/unlock/>

wes