Perhaps this is less of a forensics question and more of a computer support question, but since it involves encryption maybe this is the best place.
I have a computer that would otherwise be destroyed, but it's quite nice and new so would be a shame.
The trouble is it's encrypted and nobody can crack it, when you turn it on it asks for the password immediately but that's it.
Let me be clear, there is no interest in recovering the data on the computer - it can be totally overwritten.
All I want to know is - is there any way to reformat and reinstall the whole hard drive so it can be a new working system again?
Or is the hard drive effectively an expensive paper weight and the only solution is to replace the entire hard drive?
If the hard drive has an ATA password, you should replace the entire hard drive.
If the hard drive has an ATA password, you should replace the entire hard drive.
Well, it depends.
@wotsits
There are mainly 5 (five) kinds of passwords
1. BIOS ones
2. Dedicated chip (usually on laptops only) ones
3. ATA passwords (within the disk firmware)
4. Software password (within the disk partitioning/formatting, like as an example, bitlocker)
5. Something else
Some of this can be reset (which is different from "cracking" them, i.e. once reset all data will be lost, but this is not an issue in your case).
If you provide the EXACT device identification, make/model of the computer and/or of the hard disk it would be possible to understand which of these types of password/protection is in use and if there is a known reset procedure (and if it is worth it, as an example there are/were laptops, typically IBM/Lenovo where it is needed to replace a chip on the motherboard, which may be not worth the effort).
jaclaz
PC 3000?
It's a Sony Vaio.
I'm not 100% but it looks like it was encrypted with DiskCryptor
It's a Sony Vaio.
I'm not 100% but it looks like it was encrypted with DiskCryptor
Well, you didn't really add any meaningful information, there are more Sony Vaio's models than stars in the sky and you didn't specify if you attempted to access its BIOS/UEFI.
Usually you have to press (often very fast and many times) the F2 key, but it may dependon the SPECIFIC, EXACT model.
Anyway (the other way round) you can remove the hard disk from it and attempt to wipe and partition/format it when connected to another computer (if the password comes from DiskCryptor or other software - #4 in the provided possibilities - it will work nicely.
jaclaz
I will try to access the BIOS but the thing is as soon as you turn it on it's black screen and immediately requesting password, so not sure if it will work.
If I can access the BIOS then what?
If I remove the hard drive and attach it to another computer to reformat then how can I mount the disk? The computer won't recognise it until it's been decrypted.
I will try to access the BIOS but the thing is as soon as you turn it on it's black screen and immediately requesting password, so not sure if it will work.
If I can access the BIOS then what?
Maybe it will be possible to understand which among the 5 possible "password" has been implemented.
If I remove the hard drive and attach it to another computer to reformat then how can I mount the disk? The computer won't recognise it until it's been decrypted.
It seems to me like you miss the way software disk encryption works.
A disk is a device that exposes a number of areas that can store information, the "sectors", they are nothing but a number of pages of a book.
This particular book has been "handwritten" with a pencil, you can read it fine but you cannot actually understand what is written in it because it is coded, but nothing prevents you from using an eraser, remove everything written on it an then rewrite whatever you like.
Any OS won't "recognise" what is written on the disk, but it will recognize the device alright, and IF the password is of the #4 type above, it will have no issues in wiping the contents and re-intiailize the disk structures (partitioning/formatting/etc.).
jaclaz