# HD can not be unlocked by 'camcontrol security'



## Mjölnir (Feb 9, 2017)

I set a user and master password on a SATA disk drive and I can not unlock it since.  After setting the pw, I've frozen the drive with `camcontrol security -f`

Any idea?

I can issue `camcontrol inquiry` successfully, but most other `camcontrol` commands fail.  Especially, I can not unlock the drive with `camcontrol security da0 -k passwd`.

When I connect the drive with a SATA/IDE bridge into the CD/DVD slot of my laptop or directly as the 1st internal HD (to the internal SATA port) the computer wont even boot because the BIOS asks me for the HD password even if I set the BIOS to not ask for the HD password on boot... so currently the only option is to connect it external via USB2.

Yes, I'm aware of exchanging Z/Y in the pw on the german keyboard and I read the camcontrol.8() RTFM several times and hopefully understood it.

Thx in advance for any help!


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## Phishfry (Feb 9, 2017)

There are now hard drive firmware-level passwords where you have to use the bios to send the correct password to the drive.
http://www.howtogeek.com/186881/har...ined-should-you-set-one-to-secure-your-files/

Where exactly did you set the password? In the bios?


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## Mjölnir (Feb 10, 2017)

Phishfry said:


> Where exactly did you set the password? In the bios?


I set both the user and master pw with `camcontrol security da0 -s passw0rd -U <user/master>`

And I forgot to mention that I "freezed" it afterwards with `camcontrol security da0 -f`


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## TheDreamer (Feb 20, 2017)

From what I've read, most laptop bios's will freeze drives before hand off to the OS, so if you want the drive unlocked then the only time you can do it is when the bios prompts for it (before it get's frozen.)  To thaw a drive, requires power cycling or hardware reset.

The Dreamer.


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