Encrypted drives can be opened without the password. Difficulty varies of course, but it can be done (e.g. iPhone).

> Encrypted drives can be opened without the password.

No, they can't. The way it's done is by trying many passwords until the right one is found. Once you have the right password, you can use it to decrypt the drive's contents, but then you are "opening it with the password".

(IIRC, there were some bad "hardware encryption" HDDs where the password wasn't actually used to encrypt the drive's contents, just verified against something in the drive's NVRAM; these can be bypassed. But that's not the case here.)

> IIRC, there were some bad "hardware encryption" HDDs

About those: http://www.h-online.com/security/features/Enclosed-but-not-e...

Sadly the images appear to be not working. But they were very clear: what should have been a point cloud had clear lines.

Yes they can. It's not my fault the government has access to shit hardware or that it'll take a really long time. Encryption is just a really big combination lock with a very long series of inputs.

I put you in a room with an encrypted drive and no password, and you will eventually be able to open the drive.

That you acquire the password in the process of opening it is immaterial.

That was only because they chose a weak password. With a 100+ bit password, it's impossible.

Improbable.

When the average time to unlock is equal or greater to the probably heat death of the universe this distinction ceases to matter.

You could also get it right on the first guess, so its improbable not impossible.

True, though 100 bit passwords are extremely uncommon. Even deadhorsebatterystaple claims to be less than 50.