Hi everyone.

I have a problem with a brand new WD My Passport Ultra Metal edition 1TB model WD10JMVW-59AJGS3.

I got it, connected it, copied some data from multiple computers, everything worked perfectly.
Then the next day when I connected it to my PC it's not being detected at all. I tried different PC, different cable, tried under linux, tried dmesg for any connection signs - nothing.

I always do safe remove, never dropped it, it's brand new...

Is there anything I can do before going to data recovery company?

P.S. looking closely at the PCB the L2 element is looking like the centre is melted?

Thanks

Well, does it spin up? Does it sound normal when it spins up?
If so, then there is huge chance your drive is suffering from 'Slow Responding' problem.
You can attempt to fix it yourself, but if data is important I STRONGLY suggest you to consult a DR pro. I suugest Andy at Databusters in Glasgow www.datarecovery.co.uk
If data not important you can try yourself.
Good luck!

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Agree.

Shouldn't be expensive AT THIS STAGE, so go and see Andy

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Sorry, I forgot to mention that.
It is spinning normally and constantly, the led is on but not blinking at all. No clicking, no other weird noise.

Still interesting for me is the egg-shaped mark on top of L2, L5 and L7 on the PCB.

I'll do some digging about 'Slow Responding' problem. Also I'm probably going to consult Andy next week

Thanks for the advice.

I did some quick research and it looks like with the 'slow response' the device is visible to the PC.
In my case it is not. Tried UVCView under windows and tried under linux. I cannot see any device being connected. It is looking like it is only getting power from the USB.

I think you need to check whether there is continuity between the usb connector on the drive and the + and - data lines to the usb bridge on the pcb.

First off I would try the drive with a standard usb 2 cable.....you might just get lucky!

If no luck then use a multimeter to trace the tracks from the usb 2 side of the socket to the bridge.

Ok,
I got a replacement PCB, transferred two BIOS chips to proper places checking the orientation.

Now: the HDD is spinning, PC is able to see WD USB HDD (yey!) but it is uninitialized and windows wants to convert it to MBR or GPT (I cancelled)... I can see it in devices manager and in Disk Management it is black space, but correct amount of disk space.

Just to add one detail: when it was working before the issue occurred, I used WD tools to protect it with password.

What can I do now?

Why two? U12 is the "ROM" chip you had to transfer. U14 is related to the USB bridge.

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Oh, when I got the board from HDDZone there were 2 BIOS labels, so I assumed I have to transfer both.

So I but the original one back and now I can see My Passport being connected (previously it was ATA Bridge), I cannot see the partition in Disk management and WD SmartWare is saying that there is no writeable partition found. The drive is spinning.

That is what I can see under linux using dmesg

[There should be previous post that is waiting for approval? explaining that I put the original U14 chip back, the drive is being recognised as WD Passport, but the partition is not detected] Drive is spinning

Yes.


No, cannot see the drive in victoria. [or any other tool]

I could see the drive when I swapped both chips, but when I tried testdisk or hddsupertool it was reporting that it couldn't read the drive.

Is there anything else I could try before visiting professionals? I had a chat with Andy but he quoted me £350 without looking at the drive and suggested that I dropped it or kicked it [and I really didn't!], so I thought about trying something else first.

Thanks for all the advices guys.

Another example where the initial advice of contact a pro in your area was the right advice...

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When you copied the data from the other computers, did you securely erase it from them afterwards? If not, why not copy/try to recover the data from them?

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I usually only say that if something is clicking, might not have been explained properly.

If it's just needing converted and cleared then it wouldn't be that costly. Im doing 2 like that now and they both need heads so it may be more complex than you think

https://www.dropbox.com/s/dh583lt4uh8hfdr/Photo%2001-02-2017%2C%2013%2045%2004.jpg?dl=0

Andy

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I cleared around 50% of the data from the original sources.

I tried everything that I could do myself, it didn't work - now I can happily visit local expert (Andy)

Thanks everyone

Please note that many of these drives use Western Digital's whole disk encryption. It needs the USB board in order to decrypt. This is probably why you can not see any partitions.
Give Andy at Databusters a call and explain what you have done already. I'm not sure how the software you used works, but if there are any 'undo files' send them to Andy too. There are other copies of these modules in the drive SA but as I mentioned, I don't know how the software works - e.g. if it 'repairs' both copies.

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They look like normal mould marks. Nothing to worry about.

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Here is a list of WD VIDs and PIDs:
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php? ... 404&p=9069

The Linux/dmesg screenshot is reporting a My Passport 07BA device, VID/PID = 1058/07BA. According to the data at the abovementioned URL, this corresponds to a My Passport Essential which uses a JMicron JMS569 bridge IC. AIUI, this information would be stored in U14.

The reported serial number is "575837314134353741433835" which decodes to WX71A457AC85. This matches the number on the label, so it would appear that the PCB is accessing the System Area (SA) on the platters (or the ROM, U12?).

What are the markings on the bridge IC (U11)?

The JMS569 IC does not handle encryption, so this would suggest that the drive is a SED. That is, encryption would be handled in the drive's firmware rather than by the bridge.

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The drive is a SED, so hddsupertool will not be able to access the firmware.

Testdisk will not see your data since the drive is password protected.

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