WD MyBook essential data recovery (round 2)

[driverDave2]

So it was nice to see this thread with so much activity...unfortunately it appears my problem is logical, not physical...

I've got a My Book Essential that won't let me access the data. I've been all over the net looking at forums and such, like this. With this drive the problem is, there's nothing wrong with the components (like the common "broken USB pcb adapter" problem). Ironically I kind of wish that were my problem because then all I'd need to do is get ahold of a new chip with the same numbers on it.

But...

Because I didn't realize this hardware encrypted drive was such a common problem, a long time ago I used the Smartware to engage the password lock on the drive. So before the OS even recognizes any logical drives, a password has to be entered.

Here's how it works:

1) You plug in the power and USB for the drive, and it powers up.

2) A (virtual) CD drive pops up in the "Drives with removable storage" section. It's called "WD Unlocker".

3) You initialize the unlocker, and it asks for a password. Enter the password and the message says the drive is unlocked.

4) At this point, your drive is supposed to show up in the drives section on My Computer...but mine does not. After about a minute or so, a drive does show up and is assigned a letter, but no space allocation is shown (as it normally would be). In Disk Management the drive shows as all unallocated space.

5) Running the extended scan on WD Data Lifeguard Tools immediately pops up with "Too many bad sectors".

So it appears the drive just has bad sectors that are preventing it from fully initializing even after it says it is "unlocked".

This appears to mean that even after the correct password is entered, the drive still seems encrypted to the OS...meaning that even after "unlocking" the drive, any software still won't be able to do anything as far as repairing or even copying/imaging the data. (I've tried at least half a dozen different backup/imaging software apps, and they all basically hang while Windows continues trying to finish initializing the drive.)

Does anyone have this issue? And more importantly, have you found a fix?? I've spoken to a decent number of computer shop/data recovery guys, and they are all pretty much out of their league on this one. Some didn't even know the MyBookEssential uses hardware encryption, and none really seem to understand how it works and what that means for their normal recovery techniques. It's kind of depressing. I need someone who knows what's up.

This is a pretty important set of data, and yes, for the first (and last) time in my life, I was caught without a backup.

Has anyone been able to work this? Any ideas at all??

[lcoughey]

Step 1 would be to get a full sector-by-sector clone of the drive. Step 2 is then to recover the data from the clone.

[ShaneWard]

If the drive has been scanned and bad sectors have shown up, chances are that there would be a bad sector in a critical part of the drive, probably a partition table or something that is loaded with all your data. You might have to use some recovery program after the drive has been unlocked. However my knowledge in this is limited. But I think there is a bad sector preventing the operating system from loading the important partition.

It is recommended that you take the drive to a professional data recovery company as messing around with it further could erase more files and such. They should have the tools and experience to recover your files. After that is done, keep backups and if the problem happens again, then you can experiment. I would not experiment unless you have a backup.

[driverDave2]

Step 1 would be to get a full sector-by-sector clone of the drive. Step 2 is then to recover the data from the clone.

Yeah I considered that. Here's what happened:

Software cloning

First, I tried at least half a dozen cloning software apps. They all won't allow a clone, because the drive looks not initialized and unallocated (raw). This is the case whether I remove the drive from the enclosure and connect via SATA, or through the enclosure's USB adapter chip.

If I go through USB and don't type in the password (or if I go through SATA):

Mecrium Reflect - can't select the drive ("raw", "unformatted", "need to format")
EaseUS ToDo - can't select
Acronis True Image - can't select
Active@ Disk Image - can't select ("disk empty")
O&O DiskImage - can't select
Paragon Hard Disk Manager- I/O error

If I go through the adapter and enter the password and get it to say "drive is unlocked", as I described before, it just keeps searching and will recognize a drive and assign a letter, but never recognize any allocated space...so all the programs mentioned just hang during their drive-finding phase, waiting to figure out if there's a logical drive available.

The only software that would even allow an attempt was Stellar Phoenix Windows Data Recovery. The problem there was both the "clone" and the "image" functions would take too long. I'm talking literally years. When the process begins you see a block display of sectors. It appeared about 50 blocks wide, and maybe 200 blocks long. I let the clone function run for a full 24 hours...and there were 7 blocks complete. Pretty much the same story with the image function.

So I moved to hardware...

Hardware cloning

I got a Dyconn Dubbler Dock, which does a sector by sector clone from one drive to another via SATA without the need for a computer. The problem there is, with my problem drive, the dock doesn't behave as it should...

As you can see on the dock, there are 6 lights...one for each drive bay, and four to indicate progress during a cloning process. When I use two drives (same model as my problem drive), the light display seems like you might expect:

You insert each drive, and power on the dock. A blue light next to each drive bay is illuminated to indicate a good connection. When you press and hold the clone button, the lights go off, and you release. Then, as the instructions say, a cyclical lighting sequence begins. Basically, the two drive bay lights flash simultaneously and continuously, and the progress LED lights snake back and forth. This is how you know the process is working. Once it is 25% complete, the first LED stays illuminated, and the snake pattern continues among the final 3...and so on. Once the process is complete, all lights are solid illuminated.

However...

With "the problem drive" in HDD bay 1...and any other drive in the destination by HDD2...the light process starts like normal, and then the HDD2 light shuts off, and the progress lights stop flashing. The dock is left with only HDD1 light illuminated. And that's how it stays, seemingly forever. I let it run for at least 12 hours, with two different destination drives. (When the process worked like normal between the two good drives (all the same 3TB size as the bad drive), it took about 8.75hrs to complete).

The problem is, I have no way of knowing if the clone of the bad drive worked...because I have no feasible way to inspect the data. Although the clone did behave as the bad drive does: showing in disk manager as not initialized, unallocated space. But that doesn't mean all the sectors are the same, it could just be the destination drive was simply wiped.

Trying anyway
Given that the process was allowed to go for more than the needed time, I went ahead as if the clone was accurate...

I attached the USB adapter from the enclosure (where the encryption/decryption takes place) to one of the clone drives and attached to the computer. The virtual CD for the WD Unlocker software appeared...but when I try to initialize it, it immediately says "too many failed attempts" for the password. (This normally happens if you enter an incorrect password 5 times.) But in this case, I can't enter a password at all.

The same thing happens if I try to go through the Smartware software and attempt to enter the password there...I don't get a chance to enter anything.

When you get the "too many failed attempts" error, it says you can either disconnect and reconnect the drive and try again, or format the drive. So since this was a clone, I went ahead and formatted it. Of course it then showed up fine. I could see the drive like normal.

Data Recovery
I went ahead and started an Advanced Recovery process with Stellar Phoenix WDR Pro. According to the software, you can "recover data from a formatted volume or removable media by using 'Advanced Recovery' option of Windows Data Recovery. If a volume or removable media is formatted and all data is lost from that drive, you can recover that data performing this type of recovery."

I let that scan for about 15 hours and at that point it appeared to start over, searching for metadata in each cluster again. So I stopped the process, and the "files" it recovered were all system/drive junk. I didn't expect anything from this anyway though, as the data was all encrypted anyway, so it's not as if simply formatting the drive should make that go away and the files recoverable from a data recovery program. (That wouldn't be very good encryption, now would it?)

So what I'm going to do now is use the Smartware and set up a password lock on this newly formatted drive, and then try to use it as I was using the other one. At least this way, I can confirm there isn't any problem with the adapter chip (as, if I get any of the same behavior/error on this newly formatted drive, then I'll know there's a problem there too, at least.)

Any more ideas for ways to attack this?

[mr_spokk]

Hi, you can try Mediatools Pro...it allows you to clone sector by sector from a live cd or floppy.
After that you need to deal with the encrytion.
If that don't work contact a pro near you.

[jono-ats]

Here's the clue: "Too many bad sectors"

This probably means that a head is failing. When you continue to operate the drive, its own internal programs will try to "lock out" sectors that it determines are "bad" and add each sector to the G-List (grown defect list). Eventually it'll corrupt the Relo Block or other firmware modules and you'll lose access to your data.

The hardware cloner is designed to work with nominally functional drives. It's not working right because the drive is -- big surprise -- defective.

Trying to get data from a drive with a failing head is like trying to get water from a well with a broken pump.
Want water? Fix the pump!

[BlackST]

It is difficult to clone a drive that is failing with pro gear, so what people do expect with toys and software only is always a mystery to me...

A Hw cloning equipment like DDI , with some added tweaking of parameters, can override a lot of problems, same for DE in PC3000, the bad news is that such instruments do cost a lot, just because they work.

And yes, continue playing with the drive can make it unresponsive at the end.

[fzabkar]

Try ddrescue. It understands how to work around bad sectors. It keeps a log, so it can resume after an interruption.

[driverDave2]

Here's the clue: "Too many bad sectors"

This probably means that a head is failing. When you continue to operate the drive, its own internal programs will try to "lock out" sectors that it determines are "bad" and add each sector to the G-List (grown defect list). Eventually it'll corrupt the Relo Block or other firmware modules and you'll lose access to your data."

Interesting. I realize anything is possible, but would it be expected to have a hardware issue like that without any other sort of symptoms? The drive itself doesn't exhibit any signs of problems...no clicking or odd physical behavior. In fact it powers up and sounds exactly as it always has for the last 2 years. I mean exactly. Literally everything operates and behaves exactly as always...The only difference is that after that password gets entered and it just can't fully initialize.

So you think the seeming logical problem could really be just physical?

Try ddrescue. It understands how to work around bad sectors. It keeps a log, so it can resume after an interruption.

My only issue with that is the hardware encryption and the password lock. I've never tried to go through Linux before, but I doubt it would be possible because WD Smartware is needed to set up the lock on the drive...and of course it isn't supported in Linux/UNIX.

With the way the drive lock works though, it is designed to use a virtual cd for the WD Unlocker, meaning Smartware does not have to be installed on a system to unlock the drive, but I still have doubts as to how a Linux system would respond...or if I would even get the option to enter the password.

[jono-ats]

Although a weak head often causes a WD drive to fail during the POST process, we often see weak heads in otherwise functional drives. For practical purposes (i.e. without good diagnostic gear) "too many bad sectors" and a weak head (that can't read sectors properly) may be the same thing, i.e. a bad head.

[driverDave2]

Hmmm. So if this were a case you were working on, what would your steps be?

Would it be possible to confirm the heads are the problem without the encryption key/password?

[driverDave2]

I definitely appreciate all the response so far...but I think the last questions may be the most important. Anyone able to offer some experienced insight?...

1) As a professional, if this were a case you were working on, what would your steps be?

2) Would it be possible to confirm the heads are the problem without the encryption key/password? (I'd like to regain access to the data without allowing anyone else access.)

[jono-ats]

If I were a "pro", I'd perform a differential diagnosis to determine if it is a heads or media issue.

[hdd_sand]

(I'd like to regain access to the data without allowing anyone else access.)

Most reputable companies have a privacy policy and secure facilities, unless you have child porn (By Law FBI must be notify) you shouldn't worry about your privacy......

[labtech]

2) Would it be possible to confirm the heads are the problem without the encryption key/password? (I'd like to regain access to the data without allowing anyone else access.)

Yes. Testing the drive's hardware has nothing to do with the data the encryption protects.

[msm]

hi driverDave2

I also had same problem a while ago.
my question:
after connect all connections (USB + Power) , do you realize your external hdd spin up and head work normally ?
(do you sense some vibration after turn it on?)