deauthorizing the HD

I'm about to replace the HD in my CF-30 mk1 with a 60GB SSD. From my last CF-29, I realize the TPM "locks" the hard drive to the specific computer, rendering anything but usable in anything else. And it's next to impossible to defeat.

I'd like to de-authorize the HD in the CF-30 so I can use it elsewhere. How do I go about doing that?

... with a doorstop 120GB PATA HD from the CF-29 that I could put to good use.. grrr..

 

Is the original lock done through the bios only ,or from windows software ?
I have never used it, only the old basic hard drive lock in the bios on earlier toughbooks
And that only made it imposible to swap between the same model, removal of the hard drive alowed you to format in another computer



Alex

 

Depends on the model you have. There shouldn't be any HDD to unit locking unless you have specifically enabled it, or you have a corporate-bespoke unit that enabled it.

The TPM does hard drive encryption, but Toughbooks don't use it to lock the HDD to the unit.

 

Actually the TPM does no hard drive encryption. It is not designed to do bulk encryption. It can only generate or hold credentials - like authentication keys and perhaps encryption keys for use by something else (e.g. bitlocker). It can also be used to measure software to verify there has been no unauthorized changes. But, more to the point, (and as was alluded to above) almost nobody and nothing uses the TPM in laptops today.

Unless you have explicitly loaded drivers and utility software for the TPM, or use Bitlocker, you are unlikely to be using the TPM at all. If you are using Bitlocker, you may have to go through some extra steps to move a hard drive from one system to another. but installing a new hard drive should not be a big deal.

 

BTW, if you have set a BIOS ATA password, you will probably want to turn that off before changing drives. You do not want the system to come up expecting to have to unlock the new HDD with a password you set for the old drive. This has nothing to do with the TPM, though.

 

If you want to splice hairs, then indeed. TPM as you say only stores the keys used for authentication/encryption, but generally speaking the end result is that the hard disk is not usable without the TPM chip (without complete formatting); hence the above wording.

On a by-the-point, I know of quite a few companies that are using Bitlocker with the TPM - it's a much cheaper solution then buying Safeboot (or whatever name it is going under now) or one of the other companies doing similar things if you have migrated to Win7.

 

ahh that's the thing then, probably a bios ATA password - if I move the drive to another system, it boots up asking for a password. But I've tried all that I can remember and nothing works. I can't do anything with the drive in a USB/Firewire enclosure as it doesn't mount.

 

Well, I guess my experience is a little different. I do not know of a single person who uses or likes Bitlocker.

What I wrote about the TPM is accurate.