I have a WD USB drive model number listed above. It began taking a very long time to seek and WD Lifeguard reported a lot of bad sectors. I did an an advanced RMA and planned to open both drives and connect via SATA port to my linux pc and image the old one to the new one using ddrescue. When I opened it I realized the PCB is USB native and doesn't have SATA. Trying to use ddrescue via usb is prohibitively slow.

After little research I found the list of compatible SATA PCBs (https://forum.acelaboratory.com/viewtopic.php?f=155&t=8376) but aside from that info I am not sure what else I need.

I have read on this forum and in other place about the encryption and I am not sure how to proceed. Can i source a replacement SATA PCB and connect it and have it work correctly? What other precautions do i need to take? Can anyone point me in the right direction?

It appears to be an “Elements” drive, which doesn’t have encryption.

You’ll need a compatible PCB, transfer the ROM and then I’d suggest using hddsuperclone to fix up the likely “slow responding” issue and clone it.

ALL THE ABOVE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!

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