A multimedia storage device such as a hard disk drive has an unrestricted area that is accessible to client devices outside the device such that digital multimedia stored on the unrestricted area may be accessed by the client devices. Also, the device has a restricted area containing digital multimedia that is at all times inaccessible to the client devices. However, the digital multimedia in the restricted area is accessible only by a controller in the device that always and under all circumstances converts the digital multimedia in the restricted area to analog format prior to permitting a client device to access content embodied by the multimedia.