From: Bill Morrow - http://thinkpads.com (penzance_at_icanect.net)
Date: Wed Oct 07 1998 - 13:34:08 EDT
Chris..
Chris Schumann wrote:
>
> It's the drive electronics, alright. A new drive can be used, or a brand
> with a different or non-existent password scheme (like Toshiba).
hmm.. never tried the password thing with a trashiba HDD..
>
> ThinkPads do not force you to use drives with this capability, thankfully.
>
> It "should" be possible to desolder the chip that holds the password and
> replace it, but depending on how determined the IBM drive engineer was,
> that chip could very well be inside the disk's seal, so you'd need a
> cleanroom environment to perform the operation. IBM would probably not do
> it because of the cost, and not many of us have cleanrooms in our
> workshops.
you don't NEED a cleanroom.. just a semiclean environment..
(i have a drive i opened LONG ago, i glued a clear plastic cover over
the disc's and head actuator.. and i run it from time to time to
demonstrate how these things work)
>
> A "cheaper" method (for IBM anyway), would be to make a machine that
> guesses passwords. Put on the drive and let it run for a few days, clear
> the password and return it as fixed or sell as refurbished.
IBM does not need THAT kind of income. It was once mentioned to me that
the actual 'cost' for a new HDD was $40.. i suppose that does not take
into account ramping up production and all THAT entails, just the cost
to put a HDD in your hand..
so IBM won't mess with that sort of thing..
the best suggestion so far from this discussion has been the swap the
electronics thing, but i'll bet it won't work.. i THINK each HDD has HDD
specific data written to the electronics package and swapping will carry
the wrong data with it for the target HDD..
>
> Chris Schumann <whizkid_at_dwave.net>
-- Happy Trails...** Bill Morrow ** :-) WEB page http://thinkpads.com Thinkpad User Community: http://thinkpads.com/enter.html bill_at_thinkpads.com
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