hi,
i have a Western Digital My Passport drive WD20NMVW-11AV3S0 with pcb 2060-771961-001 REV A.

I have replaced the PCB and two ROM chips. The drive clicks thrice and spins down. Learnt from forums that its likely a head/ preamp issue.

I want to be sure before getting the case opened.

I am looking for a compatible SATA PCB for the model.

Also, I had not enabled any encryption at the time of saving data using WD utilities and simply copy-pasted the files. Would it still be encrypted?

Thank you for the information resource on this forum and reading through the post.

https://www.data-medics.com/forum/threads/wd-usb-to-sata-conversion-compatible-pcb-guide.13/
771959 or 771960 but you're going to need a new HSA - 3 clicks and off is pretty definitive .

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Thank you.

The two board only have one ROM whereas the 771961 has two ROMs. Does it mean the firmwares/ contents off both chips are to be copied over to a single (larger capacity) ROM?

One chip is for SATA ROM, the other is for USB ROM.
I can't remember if this HDD is SED encrypted drive and needs to be read by USB if you don't have DR tools like PC3000.

It's a Shrek drive, it shouldn't be a problem.


No.
You need to find a compatible PCB and transfer the "ROM" chip (located at U12) to the SATA board. The other one (U14) doesn't need to be transferred.
However, the data will be probably encrypted (unless it's from an Elements drive) and you'll have to decrypt them afterwards.

To get to that point, you'll have to swap the heads, though, as Lardman pointed out.
Of course, assuming you've done everything right, because if you didn't swap the ROM on your first attempt, the drive would still click.

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So If I swap the HSA, and use the replacement USB board (771961, swapped ROM) I have, the files could be read as-is, without encryption? just like usual operation.

But if I use the SATA board, I'd need to clone the drive and decrypt afterwards? Is the encryption in USB interface i.e., the USB ROM chip? I read somewhere the key resided on the hdd platters.

There is most likely encryption unless as Northwind said it's an Elements drive.
I think your model will have a JMicron USB to SATA bridge which does encryption on the fly.

Your best bet would be to image using the SATA PCB to another drive and then decrypt with a free tool like this:
https://github.com/andlabs/reallymine

That said, without firmware tools you will most likely have secondary issues which may leave the drive inoperable - even if you do a heads swap perfectly.

Hi, thank you for replying.
So is the key inside the JMicron chip? Why not swap it as well?
I am still a bit lost as to why I need to consider decryption.

Any hint towards secondary issues?

A copy of the key is stored on platters. It's near the end of the user area and it's also stored inside the modules (mod25).

Swapping the JM chip is also possible, however it's not very easy to swap such chips, unless you're a soldering wizard.

The check-list for such a job is:

1. Swap heads
2. Convert to SATA/use compatible SATA PCB
3. Make a full sector-by-sector image to an identical drive
4a. Use original patient pcb to decrypt the image, or
4b. Use software like Reallymine as suggested by WebClaw above
5. Copy data.

Your main challenge will be to handle a drive with swapped heads without professional equipment. You will need to address several issues before you start imaging or during the imaging process.
Swapping heads doesn't make a failed drive behave like a new or repaired drive per se and it needs to be taken care of.

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@northwind;



What do you mean by this?