Dell N5110 bios issue when using caddy+SSD instead of ODD

The hard drive in this model isn't considered customer-replaceable (and it's anything but easy to replace - you have to strip the system down to bare metal to get to the drive).

Well, I managed to make the bios recognize ATA password on the SSD. If i use hdparm tool to activate the password, the bios does ask for SSD disk password. But the password I set in hdparm is not working in the BIOS because of the character mapping system.

Info here: thaeial.blogspot.ro/.../locking-and-unlocking-hdd-with-dell.html

I tried using the character mapping explained here: www.ee.bgu.ac.il/.../ScanCodes.htm

But didn't worked out.

Any help how to activate password into hdparm and make it work with the DELL bios?

What happens for example if my laptop will brick and I want to use the internal HDD in another system?

How does the password I knew from the Dell BIOS works in another BIOS?

I had a similar problem when I installed my Samsung 840 Pro + cadddy in my ODD. I have a 17R Inspiron N7110.

The SSD is recognized in the main BIOS screen but not in the boot order screen. I set my boot order like below and changed the HDD to inactive from active. It booted the SSD first.

This boot order boots the SSD first:

CD/DVD

USB storage device It booted the SSD first.

removable drive

eSATA

- Hard Drive
--- ST1000 hard drive

- Network
--- Realtek PXE B03 DOO

By "USB storage device It booted the SSD first." you mean I need to have USB device plugged in? Or typing error when copy paste?

I will try this but if it works, it still doesn't help me set an ATA password on the SSD that can be unlocked in the BIOS.

Because BIOS always sets password for SATA port 0 which is the HDD.

Also as I've mentioned, using 3rd party tools like hdparm don't work because the BIOS uses some crazy character mapping and typing the password I've set in hdparm doesn't work. BUT IT DOES ask for  the SSD ATA password, so if someone from Dell can tell me how the character mapping works in the BIOS i should sort this out!

It is absolutely vital that BEFORE you set up any hard drive password, you realize that the hard drive then becomes tied to the system - if the system fails, you cannot simply put the hard drive in another system and read it.  The only way to recover data once you set the hard drive password is to send the drive to a data recovery service.

ANY type of hard drive locking password or encryption scheme makes recovering data very, very difficult.  Be absolutely sure you keep an UNENCRYPTED backup of your data in a safe place at all times.

I'm sorry!  "USB storage device It booted the SSD first." is an error. It should simply be USB storage device. As long as hard drive was after CD/DVD, USB storage device, removable drive and eSATA, it would boot the SSD first. You can change those 4 devices' order around and it would still boot the SSD first. I always kept the network last because I didn't have a network. It too could be ahead of hard drive in the boot order and it should still boot the SSD first.

I also moved the bootmgr to the C partition using easyBCD:  www.sevenforums.com/.../209885-bootmgr-move-c-easybcd.html

The method with HDD passwords and hdparm is beyond me. I can't help you with those things. I just changed my boot order and it worked even though the SSD wasn't even seen (listed) in the boot order priority screen. Maybe easyBCD was the key. All I know is that my SSD boots first and I didn't have to get into the things that you are trying.

Good luck with yours!

@enj63

Well, not true if I set the password with hdparm and identify the character mapping of the BIOS when sending the password to the disk. But I don't think Dell wants to help.

@ Left C 

Tried setting the boot priority in that order but still doesn't work. At least F12 works.

Sorry the boot priority didn't work for you.

Give easyBCD a whirl. It might fix you up.

I used some of the information in the following tutorial when I installed my SSD: www.sevenforums.com/.../149969-ssd-install-transfer-operating-system.html

It's useless to try easyBCD since the drive has active partition and working bootloader.

I still want to know what is the REAL password Dell BIOS sends to drive.

If I type 'test' as password, what does the BIOS really send to the drive as password?

Is this so complicated?

Can you mark the partition inactive using an elevated command prompt?

diskpart

list disk

sel disk N (whatever disk that you need to change)

inactive

exit

exit

Will easyBCD help then? It is what I did.

I sure am glad that I never got into the mess that you are working with when I installed my SSD in the optical bay.. :)

Hello there. Could you please tell me how did you set the hdd as inactive?