ATA Security eXtension BIOS v2.11
Posted: Tue Nov 27, 2007 1:31 pm
I just found an interesting utility called ATA Security eXtension BIOS v2.11. Maybe someone else finds this interesting as well.
On the website http://www.fitzenreiter.de/ata/ata_eng.htm it says:
The ATASX BIOS ROM provides the "ATA Security Mode Feature Set" which
most modern SATA, ATA/IDE hard disks (HDDs) support but the most PC BIOS do not.
While booting ATASX can
+ unlock already locked HDDs with the correct user password
(automatic and manual entering)
+ also freezes the SATA, ATA security functions on unlocked ATA HDDs.
Requirements:
=============
+ You need a 386 processor or higher
+ a vga video adapter
+ a network card or
+ a module based BIOS
(Really old mainboards have a BIOS which consists of one compiled code.)
Many network cards have an E/EEPROM socket with an attached E/EEPROM.
So, the ATASX BIOS can be used as a Etherboot/Network BOOTROM replacement.
Tested on 3Com Etherlink ISA and Realtek 8029 PCI.
Also including it into a mainboard BIOS is possible.
Tested on Medion Titanium 8000 and ASUS A7N8X-E.
If the ATASX BIOS detects a PCI BIOS, it scans the PCI Bus for IDE-Controller.
Is there no PCI BIOS present then only the legacy ports will be used.
(Primary: 1F0H and Secondary: 170H)
There are different releases of ATASX included:
All versions support the features at boot (... see listed above).
Some has an internal setup to change the ATASX settings of the harddisks.
\ATASX The standard version with colors and setup
\BlackWhite\ATASX A smaller version whithout colors
\NoSetup\ATASX Smallest version is without Setup. You have to configure
this with the included DOS-Setup. In some cases this
is the suggested version because the user can't change
the ATA Security settings.
On the website http://www.fitzenreiter.de/ata/ata_eng.htm it says:
The ATASX BIOS ROM provides the "ATA Security Mode Feature Set" which
most modern SATA, ATA/IDE hard disks (HDDs) support but the most PC BIOS do not.
While booting ATASX can
+ unlock already locked HDDs with the correct user password
(automatic and manual entering)
+ also freezes the SATA, ATA security functions on unlocked ATA HDDs.
Requirements:
=============
+ You need a 386 processor or higher
+ a vga video adapter
+ a network card or
+ a module based BIOS
(Really old mainboards have a BIOS which consists of one compiled code.)
Many network cards have an E/EEPROM socket with an attached E/EEPROM.
So, the ATASX BIOS can be used as a Etherboot/Network BOOTROM replacement.
Tested on 3Com Etherlink ISA and Realtek 8029 PCI.
Also including it into a mainboard BIOS is possible.
Tested on Medion Titanium 8000 and ASUS A7N8X-E.
If the ATASX BIOS detects a PCI BIOS, it scans the PCI Bus for IDE-Controller.
Is there no PCI BIOS present then only the legacy ports will be used.
(Primary: 1F0H and Secondary: 170H)
There are different releases of ATASX included:
All versions support the features at boot (... see listed above).
Some has an internal setup to change the ATASX settings of the harddisks.
\ATASX The standard version with colors and setup
\BlackWhite\ATASX A smaller version whithout colors
\NoSetup\ATASX Smallest version is without Setup. You have to configure
this with the included DOS-Setup. In some cases this
is the suggested version because the user can't change
the ATA Security settings.