Executing security erase without setting a password
Some variations of this are spread on various Internet sources. It does not work because security is "not enabled" (see hdparm output below).
WARNING: DO NOT DO THIS! The Lenovo BIOS at least doesn't allow you to change the password if it's empty, and also freezes the drive so it can't be unlocked later, so your drive could be password-locked forever! If you just want to remove the security lock on your drive without secure-erasing it, use --security-disable instead.
hdparm --user-master u --security-erase NULL /dev/X
security_password=""
/dev/sdd:
Issuing SECURITY_ERASE command, password="", user=user
ERASE_PREPARE: Input/output error
Even if you freeze or lock your drive by running the above command from a Lenovo laptop with a blank password, it is still possible to unfreeze and unlock it. First, plug the drive into a different computer. Second, perform a power cycle of the drive while you are booted into a drive utility (like Gparted). Third, issue the following command which should disable the security on the drive.
sudo hdparm --security-disable PWD
