Is it possible to use Sophos 6.0 encrypted hdd in another PC (start the operating system)?

Question

Hi,

Is there a way to get a computers hard drive working in another (identical) computer when the hdd is encrypted with Sophos SGN 6.0?

With SafeGuard Easy you can switch the hdd to another computer (in case of a computer brake down) and it works normally but with Sophos SGN you can´t even get to the POA login screen (the screen comes unreadable when loading POA).

Is the Sophos encryption somehow tied to the computers serial number or MAC address or something?

-Tomi S

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ChrisD · Accepted Answer

Hi Tomi, swapping the harddrive between identical machines shouldn't be an issue as long as you don't use a TPM chip to bind the disk to the machine. If the POA comes up unreadable, it is likely that the machine is not completely identical to to original one (even the same mainboard in another revision that brings a change in the graphics chips could cause an issue like that). I'd suggest you make sure that the BIOS settings on the new machine are identical to the old one first. If the POA still does not boot, I' suggest to check if booting in VGA mode instead of VESA mode re-solves the issue. Please see KBA 107781 ( http://www.sophos.com/en-us/support/knowledgebase/107781.aspx) for details on switching from VESA to VGA. Cheers, Chris :38287