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HDD password missing in the BIOS ?

Lucius_Snow
Level 7
Hello all,

I've just bought a G750JX and put inside an Intel 520 SSD to get the AES encryption (to procect my data if the laptop is stolen). However, i can't find the option "Set Master Password" under "HDD User Password Status". I don't understand why because it is mentionned in the manual.

Do you have it with your configuration ?

Thank you.
19,458 Views
9 REPLIES 9

Pitcher1
Level 9
you mean you just have set user password? do you have see set master password before you install new hdd? how many hdd do you install in?

Lucius_Snow
Level 7
I have both user password and admin password, but not master password for HDD.

I haven't checked the BIOS before installing the new SSD.

I've got only one SSD at the moment (in SATA0 port), i'll put a second one in the days coming.

Thank you.

Myroslav
Level 7
27658

also have a read of these two articles. I actually have no ****ing clue why you would use this ****, but to each their own:

http://vxlabs.com/2012/12/22/ssds-with-usable-built-in-hardware-based-full-disk-encryption/
http://vxlabs.com/2012/11/28/adding-the-ata-security-extension-bios-to-amibios/
G750JW: i7-4700HQ, 12GB DDR3L 1600MHz, GTX765M 2GB GDDR5, OZC Vertex 4 256GB+Hitachi HTS727575A

Lucius_Snow
Level 7
I've read this article too : http://vxlabs.com/2012/12/22/ssds-with-usable-built-in-hardware-based-full-disk-encryption/

That's why i took the Intel 520, to be sure the encryption is sure. I don't know about the BIOS modification described with the P5KC. It's hard to tell if you can do the same with G750JX BIOS !

Anyone has seen this option ? Maybe with another drive plugged in SATA, or maybe in another slot.

Lucius_Snow
Level 7
Problem solved ! The fonction is active in the BIOS only if two drives are present in the slots.

cl-Albert
US Customer Loyalty Agent
Hmm...I haven't fooled around with SSDs and hard drive passwords, but I was able to set a hard drive password with my G750Jw unit and a single non-SSD hard drive, so I'm concerned your SSD drive may still not have a hard drive password set or be secure.

1. Suspect that your 'second' hard drive is a non-SSD hard drive and the hard drive password you set is only for this hard drive and not your SSD drive, so basically, your SSD drive is unprotected if somebody removes your other second (non-SSD?) hard drive, or connects your SSD drive to another system unless the data has been encrypted.

2. If you didn't already know, it appears the hard drive password stays with the hard drive instead of the notebook/motherboard, so if the hard drive is removed, it still cannot be read without the hard drive password.
In my testing I moved my G750Jw hard drive with hard drive password to a G75VW notebook and the hard drive password followed the hard drive itself instead of the notebook, but you may want to look into it more (with your SSD manufacturer?) to confirm my assumption is correct and find out how to secure your data properly.

I've got two SSD inside my G750JX. The one i want protected is the Intel 520 which has built-in encryption. According this article, it should not be readable if removed : http://vxlabs.com/2012/12/22/ssds-with-usable-built-in-hardware-based-full-disk-encryption/

I haven't tested the Intel 520 SSD on another G750 but i tried it on a USB3 dock, and it was not readeable.

cl-Albert
US Customer Loyalty Agent
Okay, sounds good.
May not be worth the trouble, but if you haven't already, you may want to make sure if the second hard drive is removed, you can't still boot to Windows or access the first hard drive without some kind of password, etc.
I'm still wondering why you weren't able to set the hard drive password with just 1 hard drive originally although this may be because the SSD drive cannot be read on another system as you confirmed and you just need to prevent unauthorized access to it on your notebook.

jarpatus
Level 7
Got my G750 and found out also that if I plug in only my Samsung 840 EVO, HDD password is not avialable. If I then add 2nd HDD it suddently becomes avialable. What is this, why won't asus let me set password for my SSD only, it makes no sense at all? Also it is misleading marketing since I specifically wanted laptop which is able to set password for SSD since decent (read: Samsung, Intel) drives will then encrypt everything on hardware level and no need to fool aroud with software encryption. But Asus won't allow this if you have only one HDD, I do not understand.

Btw. I can confirm, that my SSD does have password set, it is not only the HDD which has password. Samsung Magician software will state that password is set and data is encrypted. Do not know about HDD then, but I do not care about that personally...