Help unlocking hard drive

[nmorson]

I have a Seagate ST3500630A hard drive (1/2Tb) purchased less than a
week ago on ebuyer. And the summary is I've managed to lock it whilst
building an Xbox Media Centre. And I can't unlock it. I have the
password from the Xbox's eeprom but that's not working - neither is
xboxscene, the master password set by the locking/unlocking utility
that I used.

I've emailed Seagate and asked for a link to the firmware download to
flash the drive but so far they've been unresponsive on the issue. Is
there another way? I can't believe I've just stuff an £80 hard drive!
Please help - I have tried all of the unlocking utilities I can find
but it rejects any password I throw at it

 

[Rookie]

(e-mail address removed) wrote in @e10g2000prf.googlegroups.com:

I have a Seagate ST3500630A hard drive (1/2Tb) purchased less than a
week ago on ebuyer. And the summary is I've managed to lock it whilst
building an Xbox Media Centre. And I can't unlock it. I have the
password from the Xbox's eeprom but that's not working - neither is
xboxscene, the master password set by the locking/unlocking utility
that I used.

I've emailed Seagate and asked for a link to the firmware download to
flash the drive but so far they've been unresponsive on the issue. Is
there another way? I can't believe I've just stuff an £80 hard drive!
Please help - I have tried all of the unlocking utilities I can find
but it rejects any password I throw at it

Maybe you could have better luck trying in an xbox related newsgroup?

 

[Grinder]

I have a Seagate ST3500630A hard drive (1/2Tb) purchased less than a
week ago on ebuyer. And the summary is I've managed to lock it whilst
building an Xbox Media Centre. And I can't unlock it. I have the
password from the Xbox's eeprom but that's not working - neither is
xboxscene, the master password set by the locking/unlocking utility
that I used.

Do you have an eeprom.bin file, that would have been created by making a
backup in the EvoX dashboard?

 

[Grinder]

I have a Seagate ST3500630A hard drive (1/2Tb) purchased less than a
week ago on ebuyer. And the summary is I've managed to lock it whilst
building an Xbox Media Centre. And I can't unlock it. I have the
password from the Xbox's eeprom but that's not working - neither is
xboxscene, the master password set by the locking/unlocking utility
that I used.

Also, describe the process by which you locked the hard drive.

 

[nmorson]

Also, describe the process by which you locked the hard drive.

I have an eeprom.bin file that was created when I first installed
EvoX. Using xboxhdm I copied a known good root drive from the existing
xbox to the new hard drive. Then I locked it using xboxhdm with the
command lockhd -a which automatically fetches the password from the
eeprom. Problem is, I think the software changed the master password
to xboxscene. I overlooked this when later rebuilding the drive again,
and tried to unlock it using the eeprom.bin file (with the old
password in it from the xbox). Even though I've now tried unlocking it
using the password xboxscene it's not interested. I'm assuming there
are a default number of attempts before the drive locks up for good,
requiring a firmware flash.

I've located firmware for older Seagate drives, and even fairly recent
ones but not a 1/2Tb model. As a last resort I will flash it with one
of these and see what happens, although I'm fairly certain it will
brick the drive for good.

 

[Grinder]

I have an eeprom.bin file that was created when I first installed
EvoX. Using xboxhdm I copied a known good root drive from the existing
xbox to the new hard drive. Then I locked it using xboxhdm with the
command lockhd -a which automatically fetches the password from the
eeprom. Problem is, I think the software changed the master password
to xboxscene.

It will set a *master* password of xboxscene, but it should still lock
the drive with an xbox-friendly password generated from eeprom.bin.

I overlooked this when later rebuilding the drive again,
and tried to unlock it using the eeprom.bin file (with the old
password in it from the xbox).

And that unlock failed? What's the exact message you get when you try
to unlock the drive?

Even though I've now tried unlocking it
using the password xboxscene it's not interested. I'm assuming there
are a default number of attempts before the drive locks up for good,
requiring a firmware flash.

That's not true as far as I know.

I've located firmware for older Seagate drives, and even fairly recent
ones but not a 1/2Tb model. As a last resort I will flash it with one
of these and see what happens, although I'm fairly certain it will
brick the drive for good.

I think you're being a bit rash. Do you have any reason to suspect
flashing the firmware will unlock the drive?

 

[km]

I have an eeprom.bin file that was created when I first installed
EvoX. Using xboxhdm I copied a known good root drive from the existing
xbox to the new hard drive. Then I locked it using xboxhdm with the
command lockhd -a which automatically fetches the password from the
eeprom. Problem is, I think the software changed the master password
to xboxscene. I overlooked this when later rebuilding the drive again,
and tried to unlock it using the eeprom.bin file (with the old
password in it from the xbox). Even though I've now tried unlocking it
using the password xboxscene it's not interested. I'm assuming there
are a default number of attempts before the drive locks up for good,
requiring a firmware flash.

I've located firmware for older Seagate drives, and even fairly recent
ones but not a 1/2Tb model. As a last resort I will flash it with one
of these and see what happens, although I'm fairly certain it will
brick the drive for good.

Whatever you do to it you should be able to get it back to a usable
state so long as there is no physical damage to the drive.

In my role as helper for a charity I have received many donated drives
which had a variety of operating Systems and partition arrangements.
Often it is easier to use a utility downloaded from the Hard Disk
Manufacturers site that enables you to low-level format (sometimes
referred to as "write to zeros") the disk and start all over again.
The utility is installed on a floppy disk and you make the floppy the
first bootable option - then follow the options. The latest utility
software will check the drive first to ensure it is a compatible disk
for the rewriting process.

I have no knowledge of xbox set-up, so the one proviso is that the
disk you have for the X-box set up will recognise an unformatted and
un-partitioned drive, and undertake that for you after carrying out
the low-level formatting.

km

 

[Grinder]

I have an eeprom.bin file that was created when I first installed
EvoX. Using xboxhdm I copied a known good root drive from the existing
xbox to the new hard drive. Then I locked it using xboxhdm with the
command lockhd -a which automatically fetches the password from the
eeprom. Problem is, I think the software changed the master password
to xboxscene. I overlooked this when later rebuilding the drive again,
and tried to unlock it using the eeprom.bin file (with the old
password in it from the xbox). Even though I've now tried unlocking it
using the password xboxscene it's not interested. I'm assuming there
are a default number of attempts before the drive locks up for good,
requiring a firmware flash.

Just a bit more on this:

If you have indeed locked the hard drive using xboxhdm's lockhd and your
eeprom.bin file, then xboxhdm's unlockhd and that same eeprom.bin should
work to unlock it.

If for some reason, you have lost the eeprom.bin, you can use atapwd
(from the DOS boot portion of the xobxhdm boot disc) to unlock the drive
using the *master* password: XBOXSCENE (It's case sensitive if I
remember correctly.)

 

[Grinder]

I still think that unlockhd from your xboxhdm disc can be used to unlock
your drive, but I've found this site that might provide a plan B (or C):

http://www.seagateunlock.com/

I see now where updating the firmware, for some Seagate models, will
unlock the drive.

 

[nmorson]

I still think that unlockhd from your xboxhdm disc can be used to unlock
your drive, but I've found this site that might provide a plan B (or C):

http://www.seagateunlock.com/

I see now where updating the firmware, for some Seagate models, will
unlock the drive.

Many thanks for all your help. I have tried:
xboxscene in lower/upper case - no joy with xboxhdm
atapwd in pure DOS mode - with xboxscene password (uppper/lower case)
and also by typing in key from eeprom.bin - no joy
writing zeros (using a program which I forget the name of) to the
drive - although this was in the Windows environment - I could try
this in DOS mode
Seatools - Seagates disc recovery/test program - no joy (will do basic
short/long tests but not advanced, reports error - that's all)

The message that atapwd is giving is 'Rejected' when I type in the
password. When using unlockhd through xboxhdm I am getting 'Device
ready' upon unlock but the drive remains locked. I've read on one or
two xbox forums that flashing the firmware is probably the only way
out, and since this is where I believe the key is stored, probably my
only chance of rescue.

Annoyingly I do have the original eeprom with the key - but nothing is
working. The drive is being recognised by the BIOS

 

[nmorson]

MANY THANKS! to all who gave me hope in this forum and especially to
Grinder who supplied the final solution (link to seagateunlock.com) to
unlocking my hard drive! I've got it back!!!!!! I don't know who or
where you are in the world but cannot thank you enough. Final solution
for anyone who stumbles across this thread in time to come:

1. Unplugged the power to the hard drive (for 24hrs although I suspect
that 5mins would've been enough)
2. Replugged the power and booted with dos boot disk
3. Ran atapwd and chose UNLOCK WITH MASTER PASSWORD and entered
XBOXSCENE
4. COMMAND COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY was reported instead of REJECTED
5. Rebooted again but this time re-enabled Primary IDE as AUTO in the
BIOS (if you leave this set to AUTO, all the hard drive unlocking
tools I've used report DRIVE FROZEN, so Primary IDE must be set to
NONE before attempting any unlock)
6. In Computer Management in Vista, Initialised disk successfully

I've not formatted it yet as it will need to be formatted in FATX for
the Xbox, not NTFS which Vista/XP etc. use but confident that all will
work well now.

The only slightly odd thing is that upon unlocking, all other hard
drive unlock tools were still reporting the drive as locked (even
though it was set to NONE in the Primary IDE section of the BIOS)! And
atapwd wouldn't allow a low level format. xboxhdm wouldn't allow any
access to format the drive either! Wierd.

Upon entering Windows it said the disk needed to be initialised so I
can only think that somehow the partition table became corrupted
somehow. For any Xbox users, this may be because I had used
Xbpartitioner on the Xbox to create a 465Gb partition using 32Kb
clusters when the remaining space was using 16Kb clusters.

**************************************Thankyou
all**************************************

 

[Grinder]

Many thanks for all your help. I have tried:
xboxscene in lower/upper case - no joy with xboxhdm
atapwd in pure DOS mode - with xboxscene password (uppper/lower case)
and also by typing in key from eeprom.bin - no joy
writing zeros (using a program which I forget the name of) to the
drive - although this was in the Windows environment - I could try
this in DOS mode

The key in eeprom.bin is encrypted. I'm not sure how you extracted it,
but that would be something good to know. xboxhdm's unlockhd cannot
unlock the drive with the provided eeprom.bin, I would think that it's
not locked with that key, or that the hd might actually be failing.

 

[nmorson]

The key in eeprom.bin is encrypted.  I'm not sure how you extracted it,
but that would be something good to know.  xboxhdm's unlockhd cannot
unlock the drive with the provided eeprom.bin, I would think that it's
not locked with that key, or that the hd might actually be failing.- Hide quoted text -

I didn't extract the key from the eeprom.bin - I guessed that xboxhdm
had reset the password to xboxscene. Upon first build it used the
eeprom.bin file to lock the drive and then set the master password to
xboxscene (I obviously missed this screen when setting it up). What
doesn't make sense is how the same eeprom.bin file managed to unlock
it later so that I could rebuild the drive when the master password
had been set to xboxscene. This would not have been stored in the
eeprom.bin as I was using the original file.

As for the drive failing, it's a one week old Seagate 1/2Tb model so
think it unlikely

 

[Grinder]

I didn't extract the key from the eeprom.bin - I guessed that xboxhdm
had reset the password to xboxscene. Upon first build it used the
eeprom.bin file to lock the drive and then set the master password to
xboxscene (I obviously missed this screen when setting it up). What
doesn't make sense is how the same eeprom.bin file managed to unlock
it later so that I could rebuild the drive when the master password
had been set to xboxscene.

There is a hard drive key, derived from eeprom.bin *and* a master
password that gets set by xboxhdm. Knowing either one can unlock the
hard drive.

This would not have been stored in the
eeprom.bin as I was using the original file.

Ok, I don't understand that at all. Xboxhdm, nor lockhd/unlockhd make
any modifications to eeprom.bin. The reason eeprom.bin is used is so
that the drive can be locked with the same key that the xbox will
attempt to unlock it with. *In addition* to that, a master password is
set on the drive so that you can unlock the drive without having to know
the xbox-specific key.

 

[nmorson]

There is a hard drive key, derived from eeprom.bin *and* a master
password that gets set by xboxhdm.  Knowing either one can unlock the
hard drive.


Ok, I don't understand that at all. Xboxhdm, nor lockhd/unlockhd make
any modifications to eeprom.bin.  The reason eeprom.bin is used is so
that the drive can be locked with the same key that the xbox will
attempt to unlock it with.  *In addition* to that, a master password is
set on the drive so that you can unlock the drive without having to know
the xbox-specific key.

That's useful to know and explains why I can lock the hard drive with
the eeprom.bin file (although once the master password is set to
XBOXSCENE this file will not unlock the drive).

Thanks again for all your help

 

[sipart]

I've locatedfirmwarefor olderSeagatedrives, and even fairly recent
ones but not a 1/2Tb model. As a last resort I willflashit with one
of these and see what happens, although I'm fairly certain it will
brick the drive for good.

I have seen your posts and sorry I can't help with your problem but I
have a problem of my own and wondered if you could point to where you
found software to flash Seagate drives and firmware as well? I have a
160gb Seagate (ST3160021A with 8.11 firmware). It is apparently
lockable but it doesn't conform to the ATA security spec, but its
widely known as lockable drive (but of the few that are documented as
locked show they are on firmware 8.01).

Cheers

 

[Grinder]

I have seen your posts and sorry I can't help with your problem but I
have a problem of my own and wondered if you could point to where you
found software to flash Seagate drives and firmware as well? I have a
160gb Seagate (ST3160021A with 8.11 firmware). It is apparently
lockable but it doesn't conform to the ATA security spec, but its
widely known as lockable drive (but of the few that are documented as
locked show they are on firmware 8.01).

I can't say where the OP got the flashing tools he's mentioned, but
there are a few at this site:

http://www.seagateunlock.com/

Can you brick a drive by flashing the wrong firmware? Seems like you could.