Comments on: Hiding data with Host Protected Area (HPA) in Linux http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/ An Information Security Blog by NII Consulting Fri, 16 Dec 2011 01:39:22 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 By: Spork Schivago http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-16470 Spork Schivago Sat, 16 Jul 2011 23:01:42 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-16470 Hi Kush, Thanks for such a great program. It's 2011 now and your program says that it's only for IDE programs. I tried it with a 1.5TB sata drive and it only recognized 137GB's. Any chance you might update the program to support more recent drives? Thanks Hi Kush,
Thanks for such a great program. It’s 2011 now and your program says that it’s only for IDE programs. I tried it with a 1.5TB sata drive and it only recognized 137GB’s. Any chance you might update the program to support more recent drives? Thanks

]]> By: Iain http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-93 Iain Wed, 04 Jul 2007 16:56:10 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-93 Hi Kush Thank you for the comment and apologies for not responding earlier. I check here on most days and the first time that I saw your reply was today, 4 July 2007. I've been looking at this further and have "stumbled" upon dd. What a marvellous piece of software. I can write zeros or random data to a HD, copy the MBR from a FD to a file, write to specific areas of a disk, write the content of memory to a file ... and much more. I'm going to have fun playing around with this and seeing just what it can do! Hi Kush

Thank you for the comment and apologies for not responding earlier. I check here on most days and the first time that I saw your reply was today, 4 July 2007.

I’ve been looking at this further and have “stumbled” upon dd. What a marvellous piece of software. I can write zeros or random data to a HD, copy the MBR from a FD to a file, write to specific areas of a disk, write the content of memory to a file … and much more. I’m going to have fun playing around with this and seeing just what it can do!

]]> By: Kush Wadhwa http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-92 Kush Wadhwa Thu, 31 May 2007 12:06:57 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-92 Hello Iain Its a bit complicated question. And as far as my knowledge goes you can use dd command in linux or dd.exe in windows to achieve this task. Hello Iain

Its a bit complicated question. And as far as my knowledge goes you can use dd command in linux or dd.exe in windows to achieve this task.

]]> By: Iain http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-91 Iain Wed, 30 May 2007 17:37:36 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-91 Hello Kush I guessed that may be the case. I'm not sure about a utility to place the file(s) exactly where I need on the hard disk. I suspect that something like EnCase or WinHex could be used to write the data byte by byte te exactly where was required but that seems a bit tedious. Is there something else which could be used to write (say) MyInfo.txt to start at sector 673425 (hypothetical name and number, but I hope you get the drift!)? Thank you for your time. Hello Kush

I guessed that may be the case. I’m not sure about a utility to place the file(s) exactly where I need on the hard disk. I suspect that something like EnCase or WinHex could be used to write the data byte by byte te exactly where was required but that seems a bit tedious. Is there something else which could be used to write (say) MyInfo.txt to start at sector 673425 (hypothetical name and number, but I hope you get the drift!)?

Thank you for your time.

]]> By: Kush Wadhwa http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-90 Kush Wadhwa Mon, 28 May 2007 19:37:51 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-90 Hello Iain Thanks for your feedback. I mentioned in my article that HPA can only be set at the end of the hard disk i.e on the last partition or the free space which is at the end of the hard disk. Now coming to your point, you want to write some text files or we can say you want to put some files in HPA area. In that case what you can do is, you can remove HPA first using setmax utility and once you have put the desired files at the end of the hard disk, you can again create the HPA on the area where file is kept . You can create the HPA using setmax tool Hello Iain

Thanks for your feedback. I mentioned in my article that HPA can only be set at the end of the hard disk i.e on the last partition or the free space which is at the end of the hard disk. Now coming to your point, you want to write some text files or we can say you want to put some files in HPA area. In that case what you can do is, you can remove HPA first using setmax utility and once you have put the desired files at the end of the hard disk, you can again create the HPA on the area where file is kept . You can create the HPA using setmax tool

]]> By: Iain http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-89 Iain Fri, 25 May 2007 14:04:03 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-89 What a great article. I've examined a number of hard drives with free as well as commercial utilities and none of them seems to have a HPA. I'm not sure if my technique is correct. I suppose one way to check would be to put a text file into a HPA and then retrieve it. I see the article mentions creating a HPA using setmax but what about writing a file to the area? This is so fascinating and yet frustrating! What a great article. I’ve examined a number of hard drives with free as well as commercial utilities and none of them seems to have a HPA. I’m not sure if my technique is correct. I suppose one way to check would be to put a text file into a HPA and then retrieve it. I see the article mentions creating a HPA using setmax but what about writing a file to the area? This is so fascinating and yet frustrating!

]]> By: Naveed http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-88 Naveed Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:19:37 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-88 Kush Nice article. Keep up the good work. Kush

Nice article. Keep up the good work.

]]> By: Kush Wadhwa http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-87 Kush Wadhwa Sun, 08 Oct 2006 06:56:02 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-87 Hello Vikas I was looking for more utilities which could wipe out HPA. You added 1 more utility in my list. Thanks for giving good links & feedback. Looking forward for continued interaction with you. Hello Vikas

I was looking for more utilities which could wipe out HPA. You added 1 more utility in my list. Thanks for giving good links & feedback. Looking forward for continued interaction with you.

]]> By: Kush Wadhwa http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-86 Kush Wadhwa Sat, 07 Oct 2006 08:08:48 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-86 Hi Rahul Thanks for your feedback. Looking for continued interaction with you. Hi Rahul

Thanks for your feedback. Looking for continued interaction with you.

]]> By: Kush Wadhwa http://niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/15/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/comment-page-1/#comment-85 Kush Wadhwa Sat, 07 Oct 2006 08:07:55 +0000 http://www.niiconsulting.com/checkmate/2006/09/hiding-data-with-hpahost-protected-area-in-linux/#comment-85 Hi Monica Thanks for your feedback. Looking for continued interaction with you. Hi Monica

Thanks for your feedback. Looking for continued interaction with you.

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