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HDD Specifications:

Toshiba MK5065GSXF | HDD2L13 | P TN01 T | 500 GB

Problem:

I would like to make this HDD into a bootable device with clnpwd utility on it that I will connect as one and only storage(SATA slot) to my Acer laptop to force boot from it(as boot menu is not available) and remove supervisor password from BIOS using clnpwnd utility. I was able to successfully make a USB stick(that I tested on another machine) with the exact same purpose but USB-slots are not to be seen by my Acer E5-571G even when I remove HDD and try to force it to boot from them(It says connect emergency device and proceeds to "boot menu" which is just blank).

clnpwd.zip: A look inside clnpwd.zip archive A look inside Ms-Dos System Files subfolder

Context of the problem: How do I reset Aspire E5-571G Insyde BIOS supervisor password?

P.S I used Rufus for the USB stick but it is not possible with HDD

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2 Answers 2

Reset to default
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Rufus developer here.

One thing that you might not be aware of is that, by design (to avoid people erasing backup or valuable large external drives by mistake) Rufus does not list external USB HDDs by default. But you can enable such listing by clicking Show advanced device properties to display additional options, and then check List USB Hard Drives. Alternatively, you can also simply press Alt-F.

Now, this is only designed to work for drives that are plugged on a USB port, and it is not exactly clear from your post whether you've been putting your drive in a USB enclosure or if you are trying to access it through the SATA bus. I would strongly recommend that you use an external enclosure, because then Rufus should work once you enabled listing of USB HDDs.

This being said, there exists a hidden and unsupported cheat mode in Rufus that might allow you to list internal SATA based drives, if they have been configured as hot-plug/removable in your BIOS. To do just that, you will need to press Ctrl-Alt-F.

However, please be very mindful that this is entirely dependent on your BIOS ability to set the drives as removable, which not all BIOSes can do and, even for those that have that capability, might not work with all SATA ports. In other words, if Ctrl-Alt-F works for you, great. But if it doesn't, then you're 100% on your own.

Hope that helps.

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  • I was indeed lucky to stumble upon someone from the Rufus team here. It is not an external HDD but I was using SATA>USB on another machine to do the thing so your advice for the "Alt+F" is a big help, thank you very much, that solves the problem completely and in an elegant and simple way! And thank you personally for being a part of the Rufus team as it is a tool I've used countless times for different things throughout time and it is a big helper!
    – jeancroissand
    Commented Jul 23, 2019 at 16:44
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I have been lurking through google, its derivatives and other platforms for just about 5 hours as of now and it is surprising how little info there is about making an external HDD bootable the same way it's done for a USB stick, either I am blatantly incompetent in the question which may very well be true or that is a very unpopular thing to do as most people can just use USB stick/CD/Floppy to do the same tasks(which I am not able to sadly)

But I am pretty much sure now there is a way similar to what Rufus does but using only cmd/terminal and some MS-DOS/FreeDos files to make it happen.

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