If this is a retail external drive, you can try reformatting or resetting it using the appropriate program that was provided with the drive, which may remove the password. Just remember that reformatting or resetting will erase all data off of the drive. Consider the data lost if you can't remember the password, and I'm not sure if the drive vendor can help recover or remove the password without data loss.
If this is a boot password, you can try unplugging all power sources from the computer and remove the CMOS battery for several minutes, which will reset the BIOS to its default settings and potentially clear the BIOS/boot passwords. There maybe a jumper on the motherboard that may clear or disable the passwords as well. This is going by older Dell systems that I've worked with. Newer systems likely have the password flashed into the BIOS, in which this method will not work. If you can prove ownership of the system, Dell should be able to remove the password for a fee.
Kflash08
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629 Posts
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November 11th, 2024 04:06
If this is a retail external drive, you can try reformatting or resetting it using the appropriate program that was provided with the drive, which may remove the password. Just remember that reformatting or resetting will erase all data off of the drive. Consider the data lost if you can't remember the password, and I'm not sure if the drive vendor can help recover or remove the password without data loss.
If this is a boot password, you can try unplugging all power sources from the computer and remove the CMOS battery for several minutes, which will reset the BIOS to its default settings and potentially clear the BIOS/boot passwords. There maybe a jumper on the motherboard that may clear or disable the passwords as well. This is going by older Dell systems that I've worked with. Newer systems likely have the password flashed into the BIOS, in which this method will not work. If you can prove ownership of the system, Dell should be able to remove the password for a fee.