If one customer loses their password, the OEM could change the master password to unlock that user's drive, but the remaining customers with the same master password would experience drive lock. Therefore, in the event of a change to the master password, the OEM would need to notify all customers with the same master password. If the master password were set by a user's MIS department to ensure management access to all user systems, individual users may be able to modify the master password, making data access impossible for other users affected by the same master password. In today's realm of portable computing, many factors challenge people's ability to protect and preserve the ever-increasing amount of valuable, confidential data stored on hard disc drives. The physical environment is a challenge continually addressed by disc drive manufacturers, who have made great strides in ruggedizing disc drives against shock and vibration.
Unauthorized access poses yet another challenge to data protection.