I was wondering if anyone knows of a method or software that is less than $50 to unlock the HDD on the Z1?

I like some of the graphics others have put together for their startup screen. I'm having a hard time justifying spending $50 to have a different startup screen, that last for only 30 sec or so? Are there any other advantages?

Thanks

Right now there is no way I would try. I suppose it's possible to try yanking the drive out when the system is running, but I wouldn't do that on my $2K nav system.

Someone else tried this $50 utility and it works, I did it twice now and I know it works.

There are a lot of other things to "try" but there is a limit I would take with my Z1.

Right now the only thing you get out of your $50 is to get access to the whole hard drive worth of files and right now I know you can add backgrounds without the CD that you can switch between any time and change the boot up screen. There is talk about loading MP3's right to the hard drive but we can't do that right now and you won't ever be able to without unlocking the hard drive. But don't spend the $50 for that since we don't have that working yet.

Ducatiboy,
Just so I'm clear, to invest the $50, I would get this:

1. Ability to change the splash/boot up screen, and each time I wanted to change the bootup screen, I would need to take the HD out and change the file name of the bootup screen using a PC?

2. How many background files total can be stored to allow for changing at any time without the CD?

3. Relating to question 1 above, is it fairly safe to remove and re-install the Z1's hard drive multiple times for changing/adding bootup screen files and background files via a PC? Would you limit the number of time of removal/re-install on your $2K Z1?

TIA,
JSB

jsb123 said:

Ducatiboy,
Just so I'm clear, to invest the $50, I would get this:

1. Ability to change the splash/boot up screen, and each time I wanted to change the bootup screen, I would need to take the HD out and change the file name of the bootup screen using a PC?

Yes

jsb123 said:

2. How many background files total can be stored to allow for changing at any time without the CD?

I'm not sure of the exact number, but it's not 1000, it's more like 30. But I never counted the exact number, it might be 20 or 22 or something like that.

jsb123 said:

3. Relating to question 1 above, is it fairly safe to remove and re-install the Z1's hard drive multiple times for changing/adding bootup screen files and background files via a PC? Would you limit the number of time of removal/re-install on your $2K Z1?

TIA,
JSB

I suppose it's safe. There is a possibility that you can drop the drive on to the screen and scratch it or something. And there will be a insertion rating on that connector for how many time you can remove it and reinsert it without the connector failing but I don't know what that is. Without reading the specs on the actual connector they used, I would assume 100+ would be safe. I would guess that 1000+ would be safe. I would think that 10,000 would not be. But where the line is drawn, I don't know.

Ducati,
Thanks for the reply. I feel better now about tinkering with a new Z1 when I get my hands on one.

JSB

Thanks Ducatiboy...I was just hoping someone has found a way to do it for free.

any info on a free (or cheaper) ulocking method that is reliable and won't leave me with a $2K paperweight? (As impressive as it might be as a paperweight, I am partial to the funtionality of the unit as well) :wink:

Nothing free yet. Only the $50 service.

im sorry i must've missed some posts as far as the 50 bucks is concerned

what actually costs 50 bucks? since i want to install the Z1 this weekend, i might as well get this UNLOCKING done as well...

apercele79 said:

im sorry i must've missed some posts as far as the 50 bucks is concerned

what actually costs 50 bucks? since i want to install the Z1 this weekend, i might as well get this UNLOCKING done as well...

If you want to be able to remove the Z1 hard drive and put it into your desktop PC so you can mess with the stock files on the hard drive (only thing you can really do is change the boot image and add a few stock backgrounds).

Follow this:
http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728

The AFF repair station program is $50 to unlock your drive without losing any data.

But the drive can be removed any time, the access panel is behind the screen and you see it when you hit eject.

I was checking out that unlocking website and I noticed that they have different prices depending on the amount of "recoveries".

The cheapest one before the "$2400 unlimited" was 36 for $640 that comes out to $18 each.

Is there any way we can share the license?

mikek said:

I was checking out that unlocking website and I noticed that they have different prices depending on the amount of "recoveries".

The cheapest one before the "$2400 unlimited" was 36 for $640 that comes out to $18 each.

Is there any way we can share the license?

You need a password and it's linked to an account. My guess that goes against their user license agreement, but I haven't read it.

I have read a bunch of threads on this site about unlocking the hard drive on the Z1, and I know a lot of people have been looking for a way to do it for free. I'm not sure if this sounds a bit too simple, and I'm not sure if anyone has tried it, but since the Z1 unlocks the drive when you start it, what happens if you suddenly just disconnect the negative terminal to your car's battery? Will the Z1 have enough time/power to lock the drive? Basically, my suggestion is this:

1. Power up the Z1 and let it boot fully until you get to the NAV screen.
2. Press the eject button so you have access to your hard drive.
3. Disconnect the negative terminal to the car's battery.
4. Remove the already unlocked hard drive.

This way, you won't be doing a HOT SWAP like others have mentioned.

I know this sounds wayyyyy too simple, but has anyone tried it?

It doesn't take that much time or electricity to lock the drive. I know that with small capacitors they can park the hard drive heads after power is removed. It would not take much to trigger locking the drive on the last couple ms before power was lost.

But I don't think anyone has tried it.

Someone else tried the $50 program and we know it works and is safe. That was worth the $50 for me not to chance it with my $2000 nav system. If you would like to try that and let us know how it works out we would be interested.

I will give it a try perhaps sometimes this weekend. But just to clarify, if my hard drive was locked, I would not be able to access it (read it) from the PC, correct? Now if it was unlocked, I should be able to use the 2.5" ATA to USB adapter and connect it to the USB port of my PC and I should be able to read the files/partition in the drive using WinXP or Vista, right? And with just using the USB adapter, I can use the program Pulp Fiction mentioned to keep it unlock? Just want to make sure before I start messing around with it.

If the drive is unlocked you can hook it through a hard drive to usb adapter and you will see 4 partitions (4 drives) as described here:
http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=728

I'm almost 100% sure that you can NOT unlock the drive using a USB adapter, you need a laptop to desktop ide adapter and hook it to the master of the secondary IDE channel to unlock the drive. Then you can use that other utility to disable the security. Once you unlock it you can use the USB adapter.

Ok, I just gave it a shot, no luck on the unplugging the negative terminal.

Since the only thing we can do with it right now is just to change various screen pictures and icons, I guess I can wait a while. What I was hoping to do was to copy my music through my PC/laptop to the hard drive, or at least find a much faster way of doing it. Well, that's another free attempt to unlock the hard drive gone to the trash.

What's weird was that, while trying to hook up the locked hard drive to my PC using USB, both XP and vista would not stop searching for the drivers to properly hook up the drive. Then I tried restart the PC with the drive still hooked up on the USB port. First of all, it won't let me completely shutdown my PC until I unplugged the USB cable. While restarting, I tried hooking up the USB again and this time it won't even let me boot XP until I unplug it. Weird.

It could be something weird with the USB adapter you are using. If you were going to try something like this, I would check by using a laptop to desktop IDE adapter. If it failed with that then it's definitely not working. While the USB ones usually work, I don't put a lot of faith in them for drive debugging.

DB,

I found this tutorial online for unlocking TiVo hard drives. Apparently, they work on the same principle as the Z1/Z2 drives. They are unlocked at start-up but relock on shutdown. If I remember correctly, it was you that inserted a different HDD into the Z1 and had it locked automatically, right? If this was you and you still have that same locked HDD, maybe you can try this and see if it will unlock it. I would do it but I don't have any laptop hard drives to try it on. Supposedly it will not affect the data on the drive but I really don't want to risk my Z1's HDD since I don't have a backup. I just thought since you had that locked drive maybe you could try it for us.

Unlocking Hard Drives

Many early-model TiVo DVRs contain a mechanism that "locks" a hard drive once it has been installed in the TiVo. When a locked drive is connected to a PC, the drive capacity will report 0MB to 10MB, rather than its full capacity.

If your hard drive is locked, then you will not be able to use or diagnose the drive in your PC.

If you have a locked Maxtor drive, the company's Powermax utility will not test the drive properly. It will test only some small percentage of the drive (0-10MB) and will likely not find any error that may actually be present. Thus, if you have a drive that is not functioning properly in your TiVo, you will want to "unlock" the drive so that a drive utility will see the entire drive.

To unlock a drive, you must download and run one of several DOS-based. One of those programs, DiskUtil, is available for download below.

Creating DOS Boot Disk to Unlock a Drive

1) Create a floppy disk that boots into DOS. Click here for links to software that will create a DOS boot disk.

2) Download DiskUtil, unzip the file and copy the diskutil.exe file to your boot floppy.

3) Boot your PC with your locked drive attached.

4) Enter the following command at the DOS prompt:

If your TiVo drive is connected to the primary master IDE bus, enter:
diskutil /PermUnlock 0

If your TiVo drive is connected to the primary slave IDE bus, enter:
diskutil /PermUnlock 1

If your TiVo drive is connected to the secondary master IDE bus, enter:
diskutil /PermUnlock 2

If your TiVo drive is connected to the secondary slave IDE bus, enter:
diskutil /PermUnlock 3

NOTE: This command is case sensitive. (You must use a capital P and a capital U.)

5) Completely power down your PC (do not use CTRL-ALT-DELETE).

6) Now remove your DOS boot disk and restart your PC and confirm that the drive recognizes the proper capacity.

Yes, after having those weird problem with connecting my drive to the USB, I decided to install it in the secondary IDE channel on a Vista machine. Although it showed that my drive was connected properly, it was not given a drive letter by Vista. I used the Disk Management Tool under Administrative tools and found that the drive is there, but I am not given the option to format it or add/change drive letters. I came to the conclusion that the drive was locked by the Z1 even though I tried to unplug the negative terminal while it was running.

Palacios' suggestion sounds promissing. Any chance you might be able to give it a shot, DucatiBoy? I would try it myself if I have any extra laptop hard drive sitting around. Does anyone else have other suggestions that we might be able to test out? Perhaps if someone else have an extra laptop hard drive sitting around, they would be willing to attempt the Hot Swap method described before, where you remove the hard drive while the Z1 is running. Or, if anyone is willing to sell me a cheap laptop hard drive, I'm willing to give the Hot Swap method a shot in my Z1.

Thanks for all your suggestions guys.

Sorry, I did read this but it was long and glossed over it and didn't answer. I already ruined a desktop hard drive doing this. This only works with Maxtor hard drives. I tried this on a tivo drive (years ago) which was not a stock maxtor and ended up having to throw it out. Nothing else would fix it. Different drives use different unlocking utilities. If you use the wrong one you can brick your drive. Stuff like that is why spending the $50 doesn't bother me.

You were right. I tried this on a locked 3.5" Western Digital drive and it didn't unlock it. At least it didn't fry it though. Thanks anyways!

if I had to guess your going to have to hot swap the drive like on the XBOX hacks where you use a adapter harness to feed power to the drive let the Z2 unlocks the drive boots up to a certain point , unplug the drive with it powered up! have your modded USB adapter plug it into your computer never loosing power to the drive as it locks if power is lost.

That sounds like the most logical step to a free unlocking procedure. I think someone have mentioned in another thread that the hard drive cover needs to be on in order for the avic to boot up. It might be just a small switch under that plastic cover that you can hold down and keep holding while you remove the hard drive. Although this procedure sounds simple enough, I don't think anyone is brave enough to risk doing it due to the possibility of frying the hard drive. Besides, there aren't that many hacks or modifications you can do with the hard drive just yet to risk using step. Perhaps once someone figured out a way to play divx files or backup their dvd's into the hard drive or even just copying compressed music files into the drive directly from the PC, then it may be worth the risk. Right now, the only thing you can do is just change various images.