WDBAAU7500EBK is busted

[slayer3608]

Hi there,

After using my external WD 750gb Hard drive in a Sharp Aqous TV, it does not show up in explorer.
I have tried uninstalling and reinstalling drivers for it, disabling and enabling, also trying to initialise it in disk management, no actions in disk management will let me continue because of a write error: "Media write is protected".That error is generated when I try to initialize the disk with either GPT or MBR, there is no other actions availiable like assigning drive letter, format ect, which i would like to avoid formatting as much as possible. I've tried solutions for this problem like diskpart in cmd and been told by a few tech's to run several data loss/ partition recovery software, which usually has taken a whole day each scan which finds that the hard drive is full (it should be) but has found no partition or data to recover. I'm pretty desperate to get all this data back as I have no backups of it and would really appreciate it if someone knew what has gone wrong, could it be something to do with the partition table? but I cant find many answers on any of this. I used the WD diagnostic tool on it and it passed the quick test, but failed the extended test 3 seconds in with the error - "too many bad sectors detected".

I really hope there is a solution to this so I can recover my files as the drive was full and I would like to avoid this happening again.

Any help is much appreciated,
Cheers

[northwind]

Looks like your drive is locked. That explains the 'too many bad sectors' message from WD utility, since it fails to read ANY sector (due to lock).

What I'd do, is remove the drive from the case and try to work with it through SATA port. Remember, these drives carry encryption on their usb bridge, therefore, even if it works normally as SATA, you wouldn't see any data.
If the drive reads sectors through SATA, I'd image it immediately to another drive and then work with the clone.

As a second step, I'd connect drive again to that TV and see if there is something I could do from there. Maybe there is an option you've missed, that locked the drive.

[BlackST]

As far as I remember many system DO lock the drives as part of their DRM scheme so no wonder the drive IS locked. Takes 2 min. to check.
Unless for a coincidence (coincidence?) the drive has failed while connected / removed to/from the TV.

One thing is sure... drives that use ENCRYPTION as protection, that cost less than 100$ for 1 TB (seems so ) and are used to store important stuff and they are recklessly moved here and there and connected EVERYWHERE is a lethal combination.

[fzabkar]

I really hope there is a solution to this so I can recover my files as the drive was full and I would like to avoid this happening again.

If it's a DRM issue, then you may be able to avoid it in future by using an HD STB costing around AU$30 - AU$40.

See http://groups.google.com/group/aus.elec ... 0c14590911

[BlackST]

This "MAYBE" for the future... and for the present ?

[fzabkar]

This "MAYBE" for the future... and for the present ? :mrgreen:

Answered in another forum.

[slayer3608]

1 - standard sata cable
2 - USB cable
3 - unknown 12pin connection
4 - usb connection
5 - 2pin unknown connection.

WD support is having trouble giving me support for the right drive and theyre also saying to plug it in internally, but the instructions theyre giving me to do so are for the wrong drive.
the sata cable obviously doesnt fit a 12pin or 2pin so this has been a wall atm.

any help appreciated,
I thought I knew my way around computers enough to plug in a hard drive...

Attachments

[fzabkar]

The WDBAAU7500EBK appears to be an Elements model which would mean that it is not encrypted.

Do you have a cheap USB flash drive that you could experiment with? If so, does the TV also lock this drive?

You say that you "would like to avoid formatting" and that you are "desperate to get all this data back", so why are you attempting to write to your drive? Are you not aware that initialising your drive is data destructive?

How do HDDScan or HD Sentinel detect your drive? Do they show the drive's Security status, and is it locked?

Here are service manuals for Sharp LCD TVs sold on the Australian market, and probably NZ, too:
http://www.jordansmanuals.com/default.a ... uct=TV-LCD

Perhaps there will be some mention of how the TV handles external drives.

If it turns out that your TV has locked your drive for DRM reasons, and if the user manual does not warn you that this may happen, I would suggest that you pursue a remedy via your local consumer protection body.

AIUI, the 12-pin header provides access to the drive's serial diagnostic console, and also provides switch inputs and LED outputs for the bridge IC. It does not provide SATA access.

If you wish to access your drive via SATA, then you would need to intercept the SATA Tx/Rx signal pairs.

See http://www.datarecoverytools.co.uk/2010 ... nt-page-1/

[slayer3608]

How do HDDScan or HD Sentinel detect your drive? Do they show the drive's Security status, and is it locked?

I used both programs, and theyre not even detecting it. Then I checked disk manage and its not there anymore either.
When i plug it in I get two flashes from the LED and there is spooling.

[northwind]

OK, my bad, I thought we were talking about a 3.5" drive here.

On the other hand, WDBAAU7500EBK refers to a 3.5" Elements Desktop drive ( http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/det ... a_id/3776# ) and not a 2.5" as shown in OP's picture. I'm a little confused.

[slayer3608]

OK, my bad, I thought we were talking about a 3.5" drive here.

On the other hand, WDBAAU7500EBK refers to a 3.5" Elements Desktop drive ( http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/det ... a_id/3776# ) and not a 2.5" as shown in OP's picture. I'm a little confused.

My one is the SE, not the one with the AC power cable ect. this is the usb powered one. WD support had trouble understanding which drive it was.

[slayer3608]

Oh Dang,

That was my bad as well, I may have screwed that up.
Sorry all, its the WD7500KMVV-11TK7S1
thats from looking on it physically

Sorry

[northwind]

So it is a USB-embedded 2.5" drive, which IS encrypted (99%).

This complicates things even more, since there aren't many things YOU can do.

Sorry.

[slayer3608]

Do I lack equipment or expertise?

Are there any solutions I can carry out, no matter how long shot they are?

Cheers

[slayer3608]

Well if thats my dead end, thanks all for all your help,
Alot more help than I've had from any other forum and even WD support.

Cheers,
Im gona investigate into some local tech's but if the price is too high, ill venture to a format.