intel ssd 320 - how to enter ata - pwd without user interaction

[ESchl1]

Hello,

i want to use the aes 128 bit protected data encryption off the ssd 320 in an autonomous computer. The problem is, no user interaction is possible and i'm looking for an other way to enter the ata password so that the access to the drive is possible. Are there any methods to enter the password and unlook the drive after the system is running e.g. by a software tool? The SSD will be used with a Windows 7 Embedded operating system.

kind regards

Emanuel

[FMcNu1]

Hello and welcome to the Intel® Embedded Community,

Are you still looking for an answer to this ? I am trying to find someone in Intel to help you

Can you say:

1. Is the SSD your boot device? (I'm guessing no since you mention trying to unlock it after the system is up and running..)

2. Do you have a custom board and/or custom BIOS ?

Felix

J. Felix McNulty

Community Moderator (Intel contractor)

[ESchl1]

Hello and thank you for the support!

The SSD 320 is not the the boot device. Only sensor data will be stored on this drive. Furthermore the system used the Kontron ETXexpress-MC mainboard with an TPM Chip and an American Megatrends AMIBIOS8 bios. If it's possible only hardware encryption should be used.

Many Thanks!

Emanuel

[FMcNu1]

Hello again, Emanuel,

I did some research with the Intel people in the know, including someone very knowlegeable on AMI BIOS, and what I am told is the following:

The ATA drive password is set in the BIOS. (I think you already know this)

The password challenge also comes from the BIOS. This is independent of the Intel SSD (or any other drive). Therefore if you want to simulate the user entry by injecting the password by a software tool, you will need to have something that interacts with the BIOS, or you may have to modify the BIOS itself.

What this points to is that you will probably get the best answer from your BIOS vendor, who you said is AMI. If you don't already have a direct relationship with AMI, you may have to access them through the board vendor Kontron.

By the way, here's an interesting paper I found on the general subject.

http://www.csnc.ch/misc/files/publications/harddisk_ata_security_v1.1-1.pdf http://www.csnc.ch/misc/files/publications/harddisk_ata_security_v1.1-1.pdf

This paper is not enorsed or even associated with Intel in any way. I just thought it would be helpful.

I hope this helps

Felix