Last night I probably spent around 5 hours trying to unlock my Z1 HDD.

I'm pretty damm sure that I got everything connected correctly.

I used the 2.5" to 3.5" IDE Adapter from NewEgg.

I connected the adapter to the HDD, opened up my computer, disconnected the secondary IDE cable from both my CD/DVD drives, and connected it to this HDD. I also connected the power cable.

I turn on my computer, and start up HDD Unlock Wizard, and it searches for the drive, but doesn't list it, and only shows my desktop HDD.

I must've tried everything, even trying different jumper settings, but it still wouldn't be recognized.

I then tried what another member said on this board, and connected it to my primary IDE cable, and set the jumper as slave, and it was finally recognized by windows, but when I started up the HDD Unlock Wizard, it said that the drive was connected incorrectly.

I then tried something new out. I connected one of my CD drives back to the secondary IDE cable, and connected the Z1 HDD to that same cable, with the Z1 HDD being set as master, and CD drive being set as slave.

This time, it was recognized by windows, but HDD Unlock Wizard still wouldn't diagnos it cause there were other things connected to the IDE cable. So I then disconnected the CD drive right on the spot, and did the diagnostic again, and it said that I have to disable the bios from seeing the hdd.

I then restarted my comp, and this time the drive wasn't recognized at all again. So I went into my device manager, and the secondary IDE channel wasn't there, it was only the primary IDE channel being displayed.

So I think that this problem might be with my motherboard not supporting this locked drive or something?

I have an Intel Desktop Board D850GB with a P4 1.5 GHz processor.

Could somebody please advise me on what to do?

If I decide to get another HDD like the Toshiba MK6034GAX which many people have had sucess with, will I be able to disable the security on the drive without having to go through all this trouble?

The HDD unlocking software does not work with some HP, Dell, Compaq, and others PCs. You will not have this issue with the new 60gb Toshiba drive. You will only need to turn the security off, not unlock it. If you need help unlocking the drive, PM me.

My question about the HDD is that is it the same HDD that you can buy for a laptop? So if the drive goes bad, it can be replaced by me getting one form Newegg or do I hae to get it form pioneer? I want to get a Z2 and I want to make an image of the drive as shipped from pioneer to save in case of failure, I can get a new drive and burn the image onto the HD and it will be good as new. or just put a bigger HDD in ti from the start.

Gamezilla,

I had an issued with the software recognizing my new HDD. The problem was solved when I connected it to the Primary IDE and the master connection (the end) on the IDE ribbon cable. This was just to have MHDD recognize the drive.

Windows Vista recognized it when it was on the Secondary IDE.

Not sure why, don't know if that will help you..?

Eggsack,

The HDD is a Toshiba laptop HDD. Yep, if it goes bad you can replace it with a Toshiba drive purchased from Newegg, if that is who you prefer. Obviously you will have to obtain the Z1 or Z2 image to restore. Search the other posts to see which HDD will work...some have problems.

I upgraded to the Toshiba MK6034GAX 60gb HDD

Navyute

navyute,

Thanks for the update on that. I was told by a programmer friend of mine that there is a program out there that can burn and image of the factory HDD to another drive. That is why I was thinking of getting a faster access HDD and then take the brand new HDD out of the Z2 and buring the image on the new HDD before the power was turned on the first time, that way the unit could boot up initally with the new HDD and I would have the one that shipped with it as backup.

Yea you could do that. What I would do is download the Z2bypassed image from:

http://avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9446

and install it on the new HDD.

If you just copy the stock image you will have to go through the bypass process posted on this post after you transfer the image.

http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=8783

Your probably going to want to bypass your Z2 anyways so you might as well do it all in one shot. Also, you won't have to worry about accidentally doing anything to your stock drive, i.e. locking it up or damaging it trying to connect it to your computer

Just my opinion...

Once again, thanks navyute. I will do that. I already have a copy of that image file on a DVD, so when I get the Z2, I will go ahead nad do the new HDD like you said and leave the original alone.

Thanks again.