Format An Encrypted Drive ?

[MeNTaL CaT]

Hello everyone, new to the forum and hoping you can help me out.
have an external drive that is encrypted with storagecrypt, whic
stops the drive from initializing until a password is put in t
unlock the drive. Being the idiot that i am i have forgotton th
password :crybaby: . I have managed to retrieve the files with fil
scavenger, but im wondering if anyone knows how to bypass th
encryption so that i can format the drive, any help would b
gratefully received, Many Thanks, MeNTaL CaT

 

[Rod Speed]

Hello everyone, new to the forum and hoping you can help me out.
I have an external drive that is encrypted with storagecrypt, which
stops the drive from initializing until a password is put in to unlock
the drive. Being the idiot that i am i have forgotton the password
:crybaby: . I have managed to retrieve the files with file scavenger,
but im wondering if anyone knows how to bypass the encryption
so that i can format the drive, any help would be gratefully received,

What sort of drive is it ? A normal hard drive in
an external housing or a flash drive of some kind ?

You should be able to wipe the drive with something,
depending on how the encryption is implemented.

Even if it does have some rather sophisticated access control,
and thats unlikely given that you could get the files back, you
should be able to remove the drive from the housing, put it
into the PC and wipe it with something like clearhdd, if its
a normal hard drive and not say a flash drive.

If its a flash drive, one of the utes that allows access to damaged
drives can likely monster the encryption and format the drive.

 

[MeNTaL CaT]

Its a normal hdd in an external shell, i was surprised that fil
scavenger recognised it, nothing else i have tried will eve
acknowledge the drive exists. The encryption sits in its own volum
on the hdd, the encryption is 256 bit. How tricky is it to remove th
housing on the ext hdd and placing in my pc case ?, and wil this mak
it easier to access ? Thanks for your help, MC. :

 

[Arno Wagner]

Its a normal hdd in an external shell, i was surprised that file
scavenger recognised it, nothing else i have tried will even
acknowledge the drive exists. The encryption sits in its own volume
on the hdd, the encryption is 256 bit. How tricky is it to remove the
housing on the ext hdd and placing in my pc case ?,

No idea.

and wil this make
it easier to access ? Thanks for your help, MC.

If the protection really does not let you format, then
it is ion the hardware of tha case. There are very few
disks on the market that can do encryption themselves and
they are expensive, so it is unlikely that you have one of
them.

So removing the disk from the case should allow you to
remove the partitions. If it does not, then an ATA
passwiord may be used. In that case thereis no encryption,
but also no way around hving the password.

Arno

 

[Rod Speed]

Its a normal hdd in an external shell, i was surprised that file
scavenger recognised it, nothing else i have tried will even
acknowledge the drive exists. The encryption sits in its own volume
on the hdd, the encryption is 256 bit. How tricky is it to remove the
housing on the ext hdd and placing in my pc case ?,

Pretty trivial for someone like me. May be a bit daunting for you.

I'd try some of the wipers first, like
http://dban.sourceforge.net/
That one has a list of others at the bottom too.

One of the ones on the knoppix bootable CD should work too.
Or the Ultimate Boot CD.

and wil this make it easier to access ?

Yes, clearhdd will certainly wipe it if its internal.
It likely wont see the drive in the external case.

 

[345]

No idea.


If the protection really does not let you format, then
it is ion the hardware of tha case. There are very few
disks on the market that can do encryption themselves and
they are expensive,

That is just plain wrong. Most of the laptop
drives will do the ATA standard protection.
Some of the 3.5" drives too.

so it is unlikely that you have one of them.

So removing the disk from the case should allow you to
remove the partitions. If it does not, then an ATA
passwiord may be used. In that case thereis no encryption,
but also no way around hving the password.

That last is just plain wrong too. Not that hard
to format the drive if its that level of protection.

 

[Alan Kakareka]

Does your HDD has ATA password on it ?

 

[Alan Kakareka]

If it does not, then an ATA

passwiord may be used. In that case thereis no encryption,
but also no way around hving the password.

Actually there are two levels of ATA pass protection, HIGH and MAX.
You can use master password to unlock HDD, if security level was set to
HIGH, using master password will not delete all user data, if security level
was set to MAX then using master password will delete all user data.

Or use special software and techniques to see what actual user password is

--
Alan Kakareka
Data Recovery Service
786-253-8286 cell
http://www.247recovery.com
--

 

[MeNTaL CaT]

The only encryption on the drive is the storagecrypt program that
put on it, taking the case off and putting it in my case sounds a bi
difficult (im a pc newbie).File scavenger names the drive "Dis
0" (no drive letter). Are there any programs out there simila
to clearhdd, that may be able to access the drive ? (im trying th
linux progz atm), thanks for your replies, MC

 

[Rod Speed]

The only encryption on the drive is the storagecrypt program that i
put on it, taking the case off and putting it in my case sounds a bit
difficult (im a pc newbie).File scavenger names the drive "Disk
0" (no drive letter). Are there any programs out there similar
to clearhdd, that may be able to access the drive ?

You'd have to try them, I havent tried them in that particular situation.

(im trying the linux progz atm),

If that doesnt work, get the Ultimate Boot CD, one of
those on that should be able to wipe/format the drive.

 

[Folkert Rienstra]

That is just plain wrong.

The encryption, Roddy, the encryption.

Most of the laptop drives will do the ATA standard protection.

But not the encryption, Roddy, not the encryption.

Some of the 3.5" drives too.

That last is just plain wrong too.
Nope.

Not that hard to format the drive if its that level of protection.

Please tell, Roddy, please tell.

 

[Michael Cecil]

The only encryption on the drive is the storagecrypt program that i
put on it, taking the case off and putting it in my case sounds a bit
difficult (im a pc newbie).File scavenger names the drive "Disk
0" (no drive letter). Are there any programs out there similar
to clearhdd, that may be able to access the drive ? (im trying the
linux progz atm), thanks for your replies, MC.

Just download Darik's Boot and Nuke. It's a well-regarded DoD level drive
eraser that you can get for free. http://dban.sourceforge.net/

 

[Arno Wagner]

That is just plain wrong. Most of the laptop
drives will do the ATA standard protection.
Some of the 3.5" drives too.

Yes, they will do the password feature. But no, the data will not
be encrypted on disk. The drive does just not let you access it,
but data-recovery outfits should find it easy to access. If
the data us encrypted, data-recovery companies cannot access it.

That last is just plain wrong too. Not that hard
to format the drive if its that level of protection.

Are you sure? AFAIK you cannot format the drive if the
highest level of ATA protection is set.

Arno

 

[345]

Yes, they will do the password feature. But no, the data will not
be encrypted on disk. The drive does just not let you access it,
but data-recovery outfits should find it easy to access. If the
data us encrypted, data-recovery companies cannot access it.

Its less than clear that his drive is actually encrypted since
he could get the data back with file scavenger. It much more
likely to be just another access restriction approach instead.

Are you sure?
Yep.

AFAIK you cannot format the drive if the
highest level of ATA protection is set.

You dont necessarily have to use the highest level tho.

If you dont, you can override the password protection,
and have the drive wipe itself when you do.

And there are commercial services that will bypass even the highest
level of ATA protection too, you just have to send them the drive.

 

[Ren]

Its less than clear that his drive is actually encrypted since
he could get the data back with file scavenger.

He didn't say that the contents was useful tho.
And if the drive was password protected file scavenger
certainly would not be able to get to the contents either.

It much more likely to be just another access restriction
approach instead.

And what he said about the drive not being seen by anything
taken with quite a grain of salt. Probably just a simple
partition table manipulation scheme.

Nor with the lowest.

You dont necessarily have to use the highest level tho.

You haven't got a clue what is used -if any at all-, Roddy.

If you dont, you can override the password protection,
and have the drive wipe itself when you do.

But not without *a* password, Roddy.

 

[345]

He didn't say that the contents was useful tho.

Corse he did.

And if the drive was password protected file scavenger
certainly would not be able to get to the contents either.

He clearly said it could.

And what he said about the drive not being seen by anything

He didnt say that. He clearly said that file scavenger could get the files back.

taken with quite a grain of salt. Probably just
a simple partition table manipulation scheme.

Then it wasnt actually encrypted at all.

Nor with the lowest.

Removing the access control sees the drive
wipe itself and it can then be formatted fine.

You haven't got a clue what is used -if any at all-, Roddy.

You cant even manage to work out what he said about file scavenger.

But not without *a* password, Roddy.

The master password isnt necessarily changed, ****nert.

 

[MeNTaL CaT]

Sorry if my posts are a bit misleading, what im calling encryptio
probably isnt, i presumed it was because the program was calle
storagecrypt (that i used on the drive). I still havent found an
wiping program that will recognise it, but still looking in hope
thanks a lot for all your replies, greatly appreciated, MC

 

[Neil Maxwell]

Sorry if my posts are a bit misleading, what im calling encryption
probably isnt, i presumed it was because the program was called
storagecrypt (that i used on the drive). I still havent found any
wiping program that will recognise it, but still looking in hope ,
thanks a lot for all your replies, greatly appreciated, MC.

From Storagecrypt's web site (copy/paste):

"Encrypt and password protect second hard drive , portable hard drive
, flash memory disk. It's so faster that few seconds is enough for
encrypting 100GB drive .It's easy to use for anyone with a minimum
computer skills . "

Anything that "encrypts" 100GB in a few seconds isn't touching the
data at all.

The fact you got some files back with a recovery program indicates
that Storagecrypt is essentially useless from a data security
perspective.

Looks like it's effective at keeping you from reusing your HD, though!

 

[Arno Wagner]

From Storagecrypt's web site (copy/paste):

"Encrypt and password protect second hard drive , portable hard drive
, flash memory disk. It's so faster that few seconds is enough for
encrypting 100GB drive .It's easy to use for anyone with a minimum
computer skills . "

Anything that "encrypts" 100GB in a few seconds isn't touching the
data at all.

Exactly. You cannot even write or read that much data in a few seconds.
AES without hardware support is somewhere around 20MB/s on current
CPUs.

I think the key phrase here is "a minimum computer skills". Otherwise
the customer may suspect that he is defrauded.

The fact you got some files back with a recovery program indicates
that Storagecrypt is essentially useless from a data security
perspective.

Looks like it's effective at keeping you from reusing your HD, though!

Which begins to puzzle me. What does this thing do? Install some
driver that recognizes the HDD and only allows some specific
types of access? In that case it may be necessary to get rid
of that driver.

Arno

 

[MeNTaL CaT]

As far as i know the program is on the external hdd only, because
recently formatted pc drive and that made no difference at all.
thought that (like you said) the program installed some sort o
driver on my main drive that needs a p/w to initialize, but this i
not the case. still searching for that magic program to sort my driv
out, the linux progz didnt work unfortunately, thanks for you
replies, MC