How to format a Verbatim Execute Portable HDD 500 GB with Nero software encryption

Question

I bought from an office closure a portable HDD, which seems to be encrypted with Nero software. Of the 500 GB it tells me, 40 GB are there. I cannot see the complete 500 GB.

So, I do not care about the data on it. This is not a hacking request. I just want to have my HDD formatted with Fat32 or NTFS, so that I can use it.

I tried it in DOS mode with Diskpart and "clean all", but that did not work. There was stated an error. I tried it under Windows disk management (does not even list it there).

I also tried to boot a laptop with a Linux DVD to mount and format it there, but no luck/success there, too. It also shows only 40 GB. :(

So I tried to google it, but no success there either. Can someone help me?

Answer 1

Sounds like there's some hardware-based encryption going on there. Try this;

Boot from a Linux LiveCD like you did before, and issue the following command:

sudo badblocks -svwf -b 4096 -c 4096 -t 0x00 /dev/sd_whatever

where 'sd_whatever' refers to whatever block device (e.g. sda, sdb, sdc, etc.) the drive gets. Do not use sda1, sda2, sdb1, etc. as those refer to partitions on the device rather than the whole device itself. This command will do a destructive read/write test on the entire disk, writing zeroes to every sector.

If this command succeeds then you're good to go. If it does not, try removing the physical hard disk from the enclosure and repeating the process with the drive attached directly to a SATA port in your PC.

If it still won't work after all that, then you're out of luck. You'll need to use the Nero software to access the drive and there's no way around it. But with any luck, the drive is either encrypted via software or via hardware through the enclosure and not the drive itself.