How To UNLOCK a Password Protected Western Digital WD SATA Hard Drive Without Knowing the Master or User Password
How To UNLOCK a Password Protected Western Digital WD, IBM or Hitachi SATA Hard Drive Without Knowing the Master or User Password
NEW INSTRUCTIONS (June 4, 2013)
Look, you are here for a reason. You are stuck. The drive is locked and you’re screwed. The whole reason for this post is to HELP YOU OUT. I’m not the author. This software can be found in its bare form for free. I made this available because as a fellow man, I know what its like to help a bro out.
What I’m trying to say is if this works for you, please help out the next guy by posting your experiences at the bottom of this page as a comment. Thanks! :>
I have made everything easier and more clear. Now you just boot from an .iso file and it does the rest automatically.
*This guide was intended for Western Digital drives only at this time. I have some reports that software also works on IBM and Hitachi IDE/SATA drives, but I have not confirmed that yet by myself, so I do not claim that it will here yet. If you unlock a non-WD drive, please post your results as a comment. See Step 8 for IBM/Hitachi command line switches. Thanks.
1. Read everything on this page. You need to understand that you need a compatible chipset, proper SATA/IDE BIOS settings, and that the WD Unlocker Software only unlocks hard drive bios passwords, and has *only been tested on Western Digital drives. It has not been tested on SED self encrypted drives.
NOTE: UNTESTED ON WD My PASSPORT USB DRIVES.
SATA/IDE ONLY! NO USB!
SATA/IDE ONLY! NO USB!
2. Repeat Step 1.
3. You will need:
-SATA/IDE hard drive connected to the primary 1 or secondary 2 slot or plug.
Updated list of supported drives (no guarantees):
Maxtor (except STM),WD,Toshiba,Quantum
Fujitsu (except MHW,MHZ,MHY,MJA). There is a mistake for MHX
Nikimi (former Quantum & Maxtor)
MDT (former WD)
Native Hitachi (DK-xx,HTC..G7AT00)
IBM/HGST (many models,except 100h_byte_NVRAM & 4K-NVRAM & 2.5″ with blue controllers. (mcu=ARM & B9A3..), disks without NVRAM)
ExcelStore(former HGST).
Seagate(with parallel flash)+Grand(UX with serial flash).
NOTE: UNTESTED ON WD My PASSPORT USB DRIVES.
SATA/IDE ONLY! NO USB! (not tested, no guarantees)
-Compatible chipset. I recommend early Intel based with both IDE+SATA support such as Pentium4 based. I know for a fact that a modern quad core based system such as a Dell T3500 or Lenovo s20 Thinkstation DO NOT WORK. You need an OLDER chipset. I can confirm a HP Compaq d530 desktop WILL WORK. The first time I unlocked a drive, the software failed to detect the drive on two more modern motherboards, until I tried a different third older motherboard and it worked. Knowing this will save you hours of frustration.
YOU MUST HAVE A COMPATIBLE CHIPSET!
YOU MUST HAVE A COMPATIBLE CHIPSET!
YOU MUST HAVE A COMPATIBLE CHIPSET!
-BIOS SATA/IDE controllers set to the most NATIVE and non-AHCI or non-RAID mode you can set. This setting will vary greatly between motherboards. Try every setting if something fails or the unlocker does not see a drive. You can test a good setting by booting and running a copy of MHDD 4.x (mhdd32ver4.5.iso). If MHDD detects and lists the hard drive, then your BIOS settings are correct. If you cannot see the drive, try different drive controller settings in your bios, or get another motherboard.
-USB flash drive or blank cd/dvd disc and burner drive to burn the .iso file.
-the WD Unlocker Software .exe file (*written by Moltke) and a boot .iso. This software is freely available on the internet. I have done all the other extra hard work and created a complete boot package with all the files you need ready to go. This includes the hours of research, file procurement, creating a boot .iso, modified and optimized the startup configuration, and then repackaged these up with nice easy instructions. No fucking viruses here. If you don’t want to donate, go click around and download from the russian forums and try your luck. Either way you still need a boot package. The prepared package is available if you like for a small donation here:
Download ZU Hard Drive Unlocker files here:
TERMS OF SALE:
NO REFUNDS DO NOT PURCHASE IF YOU WANT A REFUND
NO RETURNS
NO SUPPORT
NO GUARANTEES THAT IT WORKS ON YOUR HARDWARE
DO NOT BUY THIS SOFTWARE UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING.
**** Warning the .rar file you might be tempted to download from OTHER untrusted links has a very nasty new variant of the Win32/Virut virus. DON’T DOWNLOAD IT! You get what you pay for! Look you can mess around and register at a dozen Russian forums, download and open a hundred infected zip files, but I’m telling you, don’t waste your time, I’ve already done all the work for you.
****
Unlocker Boot .iso Package Price has increased to $4.99 as of 6/7/2013
You will be emailed a download link after checkout.
No Guarantees. No Refunds. No Support. No Returns. All Transactions are FINAL.
I didn’t write the unlocker software, it will either work or it won’t. I have only compiled and repackaged into a easy to use ready to go download. Your small donation goes to offset my site server costs… but hey! It’s only two bucks! Otherwise, your drive is a guaranteed useless dead brick.
4. Download the above software file and save it. Open the .zip/compressed folder.
5. Insert USB Flash Drive. (you could alternatively burn the .iso file to CD or DVD and boot from that instead and skip to Step 8):
6. ——> From the .zip package file you downloaded n Step 3 <——— , Run YUMI-0.0.9.5.exe and install the Unlocker_Boot_Image.iso file on the USB Drive. YUMI will format and erase all data on the USB drive, so backup any important files first. See the readme.jpg graphic. (The Unlocker_Boot_Image.iso file is only available/downloadable from the shopping cart in step 3.)
7. After your boot USB flash drive has been created, Open the USB drive folder and copy the file /multiboot/menu/menu.lst to the root / and /multiboot folders. Copy/Paste it back to the USB drive into these two folders-> ‘ / ’ (root) and ’/multiboot/’ . This fixes a GRUB error that sometimes keeps the boot menu from showing. Basically just copy the menu.lst file to every folder on the USB Drive to enable GRUB to find it. If you do not do step 7, your boot will probably (but not necessarily) fail at the GRUB prompt. 
8. Boot to the USB drive on the computer with the locked drive attached. Choose “Directly Bootable ISOs or Windows XP” from the YUMI boot menu. Then Choose ”Boot Unlocker_Boot_Image.iso” from the GRUB boot menu. The unlocker software should automatically load some drivers and start. My drive took 80 minutes to unlock. Just let it work. If you must quit hit CTRL+C. You may restart the unlocker by typing ‘unlock.exe /A‘ (all) or ‘unlock.exe /P‘ (primary) or ‘unlock.exe /S‘ (slave/secondary) at the dos prompt. For Hitachi Global Star HGST / IBM drives add a ‘.’ Type ‘unlock.exe /P.‘ ”.” for . For Native Hitachi drives add an ’8′. If you have success at unlocking a drive, please post a comment adding any additional knowledge that you can share, thanks! :>
Examples:
unlock.exe /A = Western Digital drive on (A)ll controllers
unlock.exe /S. = IBM or Hitachi Global Star drive on secondary controller
unlock.exe /P8 = native Hitachi drive on primary controller
If You Have Success In Unlocking Your Hard Drive Using This Software, Please Post Your Results As a Comment to This Page So That You May Help Others. Thanks
THANK YOU MOLTKE ! You Deserve all the Credit.
RDR Western Digital Data Recovery -093446 86830 
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