BIOS, Hard Drive Passwords and Encryption on 530 SSDs

[CGree2]

I am trying to ensure my data is encrypted on my 530 Series SSD with a DH87MC Desktop Board. One of the reasons I bought this drive was for the AES 256-bit encryption. But I'm not real clear on how to do that – I've not seen/found any detailed guidance from Intel other than it's *supposed* to work when you set a hard drive password in the BIOS. Does anyone know if such a guide exists?

I've tried to set the "Master Hard Disk Drive Password" in the Visual BIOS (version MCH8710H.86A.0047.2013.0606.1508) but it still says "Not installed". When I hover the mouse over this option, the information panel says "Create user and supervisor passwords, and adjust other security settings". I've created user and supervisor passwords, both now say "Installed". But I don't know what "adjust other security settings" refers to. Can anyone help?

[CGree2]

Hmmm. Not sure what I did (other than completely powering down) but I was able to set the password.

It would still be nice if Intel could provide detailed guidance on how BIOS passwords & encrypting SSDs work and how to configure them.

[Silvia_L_Intel1]

Hello ChrisG,

We do not have a detailed document explaining how to set a hard drive password, but some information we can give you is the following:

• Hard driver password is limited to only one hard drive, therefore it is not available when you choose RAID SATA mode. It won't matter if you use or not the SATA port 0.
• RAID volumes are not supported.
• A hard drive has to be connected to the SATA 0 port. This will enable the 'HDD Password' options on the BIOS.
• The password needs to be at least 2 characters and at most 8 characters long. 0.

This link will show you the list of desktop boards that have HDD password support. http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-034023.htm http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-034023.htm

This other one will provide you information on how clearing BIOS passwords.

http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-002842.htm Desktop Boards — Clearing BIOS passwordshttp://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-002842.htm http://www.intel.com/support/motherboards/desktop/sb/CS-002842.htm