Hello, I have an older WD My Passport external drive that is no longer recognized by any machine. I have researched several forums but have been unable to determine if it's possible to remove the PCB and plug the drive into my Sabrent docking station to extract the data from the drive. Or, is my only option to replace the PCB? I'm fairly new to all this as I have several old laptops, drives, etc., and a new computer and I'm attempting to compile all of my historical data. I have uploaded pics of the external drive and appreciate any and all direction/suggestions/instructions on what is the best/most user friendly/and safest way to pull the data from this drive. Thanks!

Product Info


PCB Info


PCB Screw (should I buy a tool kit?)

You need to provide more information regarding the drive's behavior.
Does it spin up? If so, then replacing the PCB is useless, you'd be throwing away your money.
Does it produce clicking sounds? If yes, then it's definitely NOT a DIY case, you must consult a pro (if data is of any value). If not, then most likely drive's suffering from internal issues (most likely some problem with its SA).

This drive has USB port embedded to its PCB (which holds unique info), so plugging it to a docking station/SATA port is not feasible.

Firstly provide this info and then we'll guide you accordingly.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners

Hello Northwind,

Thanks very much for the response. At this point, I feel a bit silly as this is the first time I've plugged the drive into my new laptop. In the older laptops, the drive would spin up and, as you mentioned, make the clicking noises, but not very loud ones, then I would get a message indicating the drive was not recognizable.

In the new laptop, I just plugged the drive in, it spun up, made the same quiet clicking noises, but the drive was recognized and I am able to access data. However, I did get a notice saying there was a a problem with the drive and a dialog box popped up with the option to Scan and Fix. I am about to run that and see what happens.

The good news is, at least, the drive is being recognized and I'm able to access the data. At a minimum, I should be able to pull the data off.

Thanks!

I know it's probably too late, but DON'T DO THIS.

_________________
http://www.northwind.gr
SandForce SSD Recovery
Ransomware Reverse Engineering - NoMoreRansom! partners