Tuesday, April 22, 2008

ATAUtil: About The Utility

I have coded this utility entirely in 'C' language, which is the best language for accessing any device at low level. It has three layers of code.
1. The top layer deals with graphics for user interaction with the utility.
2. Second layer is for creating command request and completion data, as understood by the ATA protocol.
3. Third layer which is the lowest level deals with actual ATA controller register to perform operation requested by user.

Using this utility user,
1. Can get the information about different device connected to primary (master and slave) and secondary channel (master and slave) of IDE/ATA controller.
2. Will be able to know that whether his hard disk supports Security feature or not.
3. Can set user and master password in his hard disk and lock-unlock hard disk if security feature is supported.
4. Can enable or disable the security feature.
5. Can get information about current security settings.

For any assistance contact me at: sandeep.vaniya@gmail.com
I would encourage to write comment instead of mailing me in case of any issue/query about the utility. So solution will be available to everyone. I will be notified by email whenever you write comment.

2 comments:

  1. Hi Sandeep Well done Congratulations. We are into data recovery business & have hardware equipments to unlock hard disks ( to access firmware of the drive)
    Its appreciable to do something like this. Keep it up.
    HDD.tech
    India

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  2. I have purchased 2 Western Digital SATA HD's that are password-locked, and I have been unable to unlock them with a Master Password because I do not know what it is.

    I assume this situation is very common and that there are many other people in a similar situations. There are other utilities that will perform this function.

    As I understand it, it is possible to read the area of the Hard Drive where the Master Password is stored, and then export that data to a file. While there are several utilities that can do the basic functions, I am not able to find a utility that will report the Master Password of a Western Digital hard drive.

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