General Information
Supported Drives
DiskSense Units
Pricing

Features

Disk Diagnostics
Disk Duplication
Selective Head Imaging
File Recovery
Firmware Recovery
Password Removal
Disk Utilities
Case Management

Information

Video tutorials
FAQ
Version log

Other Products

Atola Insight
Atola Imager
Atola Forensic Imager
Atola Bandura

Password Removal

The value of quick and easy password removal

Password recovery

Hard drives locked with ATA passwords can be a big problem for data recovery technicians. When a hard drive is locked with an ATA password, there is no way to gain access to the drive without the password and there is no way to crack the password using ‘brute force’ style methods. The Atola Insight’s automatic password removal function is able to access the hard drive’s firmware area and unlock it in under 2 minutes with just a few mouse clicks.

Atola Technology has developed the data recovery industry’s leading password removal tools for years and the Insight includes our top of the line technology with a smooth, user-friendly interface.

Click here to skip to this section’s FAQ at the bottom of the page

HDD security status

Identify HDD security status

The Atola Insight automatically checks the hard drive’s security status when the drive is first initialized at the beginning of a case. The security status is displayed on the main screen for the user’s convenience. The user can also re-check the status with a click of a button.




Automatic password recovery

Automatic password removal

If a drive is locked with an ATA password, the operator can choose to unlock the drive or just extract and view the password without unlocking the drive. This entire process takes under 2 minutes and works for both High and Max security levels. Extracting the password and unlocking the hard drive has no impact on MD5 or SHA hash values because passwords are stored in the hard drive’s firmware.

Password is extracted

Extract the password

After the password removal function is initiated, the password is extracted in less than 2 minutes. The password security level (High or Maximum) does not impact the procedure in any way. The password will be listed in both HEX and alphabetical form. Like all Atola Insight functions, this entire process is automatically logged in the Case Management system.

Frequently Asked Questions

Click questions to expand text

  1. How do hard drives become locked with ATA passwords?
    ATA passwords can be set through the computer’s BIOS or using special products like the Atola Insight. Freeware tools are available as well.
  2. Does this function remove BIOS passwords?
    No. BIOS passwords are a different form of security that does not have to do directly with hard drive programming or the ATA standard (although, depending on the specific computer, an ATA password might be set by the BIOS when defining a BIOS password).
  3. What hard drives are supported?
    Automatic password removal works for most hard drives available on the market. For more specific information, please refer to the Supported Drives List.