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Latest problem is a locked SATA disk. It is a Samsung 870 QVO SSD. It has been locked a long time ago with the Dell BIOS password utility. But because an admin password was set, the system never prompted the disk password. The admin password is deleted now, however the SATA password is still set. The password is unknown. The data is gone for good and I got a backup, just want to be able to format & use the drive again.

On my way to a solution I've tried multiple suggested fixes. With a bootstick I tried to use SEDutil for unlocking - but the SSD is not locked with the "new" Opal algorithm, so SEDutil was not able to help with a PSID revert. Later I tried to use UBCD, but the password tool there was unable to detect the disk.

There seem to be a few other people having this issue. Some RMA'd their drive, others went ahead with hdparm. sudo hdparm -I /dev/sda finally recognized the SSD and even printed out basic information about the SSD. The next step - unlocking the drive - failed. I've tried both a random user password and the Samsung master password, which seems to be 32 t's. Both times I've got an Illegal Request Error. I doubt this is hdparams way of telling me the password is wrong. The drive is not frozen. Here is a copy of the hdparm output.

Dell has a Data Wipe option included in the BIOS, it did not do anything to the locked drive. Inserting the 32 t's in the password field did not wipe the drive, neither did using the previous admin password.

Hopefully someone of you has an idea. In the meantime I'll keep on debugging this and report back.

Earl Hughes
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Well, let me report back quickly. The system in question has a Dell ProSupport contract attached to it and as I was able to research the Dell BIOS automatically generates a master password when setting a user SATA-password in the BIOS. To get the master password I had to confirm the system belongs to me and the Dell technican then supplied the master (recovery) password. Typed it in the Dell unlock prompt, it seemingly unlocked and told me "secure erase completed successfully". But after a reboot the drive was still locked.

After the call with Dell I tried to unlock the drive using the hdparm program mentioned earlier. But I still got the Illegal Request Error. Both the Dell technican and I are of the opinion it is a hardware fault. Looks like I'll have to get it RMA'd. Closing here, as I'll no longer be able to try other things out. At least for me the question is solved, hopefully others have better luck with the Dell master password. Thank you!

Earl Hughes
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