Patent ID: 8266449

Claim:
An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one tangible storage device configured in a RAID array; wherein the at least one tangible storage device comprises at least one unencrypted section and at least one encrypted section; and wherein the at least one unencrypted section tangibly embodies a program of instructions that when executed by the at least one processor enable the apparatus to: obtain apparatus specific data; generate a password based on the apparatus specific data; encrypt the password for storage on the at least one unencrypted section; and decrypt a disk encryption key stored within the at least one tangible storage device and permit access to the at least one encrypted section responsive to receiving the password; wherein the at least one tangible storage device comprises a full-disk encryption (FDE) drive; the apparatus further comprising: at least one RAID controller; wherein a plurality of FDE drives are operatively connected to the at least one processor via the RAID controller; and wherein the program of instructions further enables the apparatus to communicate the password to the plurality of FDE drives at boot-up.