Reduced hard-drive-capacity detection device

1. A device for detecting reduced capacity of a stand-alone hard drive having a host protected area or hard-drive-device-configuration-overlay table that has been modified to reduce the hard-drive accessible capacity, the device comprising:

a bridge including a controller having a processor and memory, the memory storing instructions executable by the processor;

a hard-drive-connection mechanism coupled to the bridge and configured to be connected to the hard drive to provide data communication between the bridge and the hard drive when the hard-drive-connection mechanism is connected to the hard drive;

an indicator for providing sensory output;

wherein the bridge is configured to obtain information from the hard drive when the hard-drive-connection mechanism is connected to the hard drive and the bridge is not connected to a host computer, and the controller is configured to parse the information obtained from the hard drive by the bridge to detect reduced accessible capacity in the hard drive and activate the indicator to provide sensory output indicating detection of reduced accessible capacity.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein the indicator is a multi-function light-emitting diode.

3. The device of claim 1 further comprising a computer connection mechanism coupled to the bridge and configured to connect via a communication link to an independent computer for communication between the bridge and the computer.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein the bridge is configured to transfer data stored on the hard drive when coupled to the device to the independent computer when the independent computer is connected to the bridge via the communication link.

5. The device of claim 1 wherein the controller is programmed to prevent the bridge from writing data onto the hard drive.

6. A reduced hard-drive-capacity detection device comprising:

a bridge including memory, a processor, and one or more programs stored on the memory and configured to be executed by the processor;

a hard-drive-connection mechanism configured to couple the bridge to an external hard drive to transmit and receive data between the bridge and the hard drive; and

a computer-connection mechanism configured to couple the bridge to an independent computer via a connected communication link to communicate data stored on the hard drive to the independent computer;

wherein, when the one or more instructions stored on the memory are executed by the processor and the bridge is not coupled to the independent computer, the bridge parses information stored on the hard drive to detect reduced accessible capacity in the hard drive.

7. The reduced hard-drive-capacity detection device of claim 6 further comprising an indicator configured to provide sensory output, wherein the bridge activates the indicator to provide sensory output indicating detection of reduced accessible capacity.

8. The reduced hard-drive-capacity detection device of claim 6 wherein the computer-connection mechanism includes a communication port to couple the bridge to the computer via the communication link.

9. The reduced hard-drive-capacity detection device of claim 8 wherein the bridge is configured to selectively transmit data on the hard drive to the computer when the hard drive is coupled to the bridge by the hard-drive-connection mechanism and the computer is coupled to the bridge by the communication port.

10. The reduced hard-drive-capacity detection device of claim 6 wherein the memory includes programmed instructions that when executed by the processor prevent the bridge from writing data to the hard drive while detecting reduced accessible capacity on the hard drive.

11. A method of detecting reduced accessible capacity in a stand-alone hard drive comprising:

initializing the hard drive while the hard drive is not part of a stand-alone computer;

determining whether the hard drive supports host-protected-area or device-configuration-overlay reduced hard-drive accessible capacity;

interrogating the hard drive to determine the full capacity of the hard drive from hard drive data;

interrogating the hard drive to determine the accessible capacity of the hard drive;

comparing the available accessible capacity to the full capacity to determine whether the accessible capacity of the hard drive has been reduced; and

providing sensory output indicating detection of reduced accessible capacity when reduced accessible capacity on the hard drive is detected

wherein initializing, determining, interrogating, comparing, and providing are performed by a reduced-hard-drive-capacity detection device while the detection device is not connected to a host computer.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein determining whether the hard drive supports reduced hard-drive accessible capacity includes determining whether the hard drive supports host-protected-area and device-configuration-overlay reduced hard-drive accessible capacity.