Patent ID: 8694800

Claim:
A method for accessing a secure user area of a physical storage device, the method comprising: performing by a physical storage device that has a physical storage medium including a clear user area and a secure user area, wherein the clear user area is in a first range of physical addresses in the storage medium, wherein the secure user area is in a second range of physical addresses in the storage medium, wherein the clear user area and the secure user area are physically separate areas in the storage medium, and wherein the physical storage device is operative to allow access to the clear user area without requiring a user password and to allow access to the secure user area only upon receiving the user password: receiving the user password from a host device in communication with the physical storage device; and performing at least one of (a) and (b): (a) receiving data from the host device, performing on-the-fly encryption of the data, and storing the encrypted data in the secure user area; and (b) reading encrypted data from the secure user area, performing on-the-fly decryption of the encrypted data, and sending the decrypted data to the host device.