Originally posted by SkyDog


I've never tried it, but I doubt it. There's an EEPROM on the hard drive itself that stores password info for the disk password. If the password isn't validated, the hard drive doesn't allow access. Even if you were able to format the drive somehow, when you put it back in the laptop, you still wouldn't have access to it since the format wouldn't kill the data in the EEPROM chip.
Might as well replace the drive unless the laptop is a POS. You can get a 20GB for under $100 or a 40GB for around $150.

Eric