HDD Protected

bob517406 · 06-17-2008, 11:28 AM

My brother just came from college and he brought an Acer Aspire 5670.
His college was upgrading some computers so there were a lot of laptops that were going to go to the trash. the studends were allowed to take those "old" laptops/computers home. the problem with this laptop is that the HDD is protected. I contacted Acer and they can service it for about $150.00 dollars. i was looking online and i saw a 120 gb HDD w/vista for about $200.00...the drive the laptop has is an 80 gb (i think, i forgot) what i'm wondering is if i change the HDD will i be able to use the computer or is it still going to ask for the password? or since i don't need anything on that hard drive is there anyway to format it and take the password off?

Banscare · 06-17-2008, 11:42 AM

I'm going to look into this, as it's an interesting question.

Banscare · 06-17-2008, 11:50 AM

Enter the BIOS and change the boot order to boot from CD. Boot up with the OS CD in the drive, Install your OS. You are now the administrator. There may be a BIOS password set depending on the school's policy but if thats the case carefully open the laptop (consult documentation) and pull the silver flat battery out for a few minutes. This flashes the BIOS erasing any passwords. Buying a new hard drive will also work.

*Laptops can be a pain to disassemble so take your time.

06-17-2008, 11:28 AM	#1 (permalink)
bob517406 Registered User Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 12 OS: XP 32-Bit SP3	HDD Protected My brother just came from college and he brought an Acer Aspire 5670. His college was upgrading some computers so there were a lot of laptops that were going to go to the trash. the studends were allowed to take those "old" laptops/computers home. the problem with this laptop is that the HDD is protected. I contacted Acer and they can service it for about $150.00 dollars. i was looking online and i saw a 120 gb HDD w/vista for about $200.00...the drive the laptop has is an 80 gb (i think, i forgot) what i'm wondering is if i change the HDD will i be able to use the computer or is it still going to ask for the password? or since i don't need anything on that hard drive is there anyway to format it and take the password off?

06-17-2008, 11:42 AM	#2 (permalink)
Banscare Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: St John's NL Posts: 190 OS: XP Pro 64bit My System	Re: HDD Protected I'm going to look into this, as it's an interesting question. __________________ Ban Computer Support Specialist (MCP, MCSE)

06-17-2008, 11:50 AM	#3 (permalink)
Banscare Registered User Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: St John's NL Posts: 190 OS: XP Pro 64bit My System	Re: HDD Protected Enter the BIOS and change the boot order to boot from CD. Boot up with the OS CD in the drive, Install your OS. You are now the administrator. There may be a BIOS password set depending on the school's policy but if thats the case carefully open the laptop (consult documentation) and pull the silver flat battery out for a few minutes. This flashes the BIOS erasing any passwords. Buying a new hard drive will also work. Laptops can be a pain to disassemble so take your time. __________________ Ban Computer Support Specialist (MCP, MCSE) Last edited by Banscare; 06-17-2008 at 11:55 AM.*