WD My passport 0748 unable to unlock after firmware upd. SOS

[m0l4r]

Good afternoon,

I have been reading the forums for about 4 days now, and this has been the most help full in regards of knowledge.
Brief recap of what happened and what have I tried.
I currently own a WD My passport external drive that I have been using for about a year with the same password from the begining and after I was transfering some documents into it and did the firmware update that WD made me do, other wise it didn't allow me to continue using the software of the drive, is not unlocking the drive with the same password I've always used, I have never changed it nor do I know how to even change it. To sum up, the info it's inside but it doesn't let me unlock.
I have been reading about the ATA unlocks you guys have performed in the forums and also about the bin42 and 22 extractions, but after semi-learning how to use Victoria, I realized my drive was not ATA, or so says Victoria for windows, so I don't know if the .bin solution can be used here.

I have tried, after contacting WT techsup (which was the same as not doing it), reinstall the firmware, reinstalled all operational software in different PC's to no end, tried to re-assign a letter to the drive by managing the drive, tried to run the WD diags on it but it won't allow me since it's not unlocked, tried to find a master password no-go,and drive savers and companies as such recover data that has been lost to a physical drive damage not a software lock (afaik), no one seems to know how to recover the data, but it seems to be a VERY COMMON issue with WD firmware updates, that and also the autolock issue, and the Data inside the drive is very valuable, I was passing it on the drive in order to transfer it to another pc and now I'm not even able to get in.

I downloaded MHDD, ZU and Victoria, and I'm learning how to use them (I have some PC knowledge, but I'm not literate on those bin extraction or hdd testing software (I realized I was not as literate as I thought with PC's)), to be able to download the bin22 file that seems to be the one showcasing the password after the hex conversion.
I have attached a Victoria screenshot about the drive. Any help is appreciated. I am willing to dissemble the hdd in order to boot from it or else, I just really want to recover the data. I am leaving the recovery companies as the last resort, for budget reasons.

Specs.

[Nesa]

I have been reading the forums for about 4 days now... I am leaving the recovery companies as the last resort

You have two solutions:
- Learn (much) more than 4 days
- Use your last resort

[m0l4r]

Very "helpful", thanks Nesa. -_-

[HaQue]

Very "helpful", thanks Nesa. -_-

Well sarcasm aside, it is exactly the only advice possible. I think many people are finding out that learning DR on Hard disks is a LOT different than almost any other thing you might wish to learn.

Remember you have a sealed disk, probably thousands of KM away from the people you are asking for help, with some issue. You are describing the symptom from pretty much no experience and hoping that hard disks all have a symptom=solution type deal.. It is akin to calling a doctor and saying "I have a cough, it is not all that bad but it sounds a little rough" ... "I have read forums and it sounds like it could be influenza, lung cancer, tonsillitis or I have swallowed a fly..what exactly is the solution ?, should I just try and hark up the fly"

[fzabkar]

The SmartWare password and the ATA password are two different things. That said, the drive may have a physical fault which makes it look like it needs a password when in reality the problem is somewhere else.

The Passport drive incorporates a USB-SATA bridge IC. The bridge firmware reserves a small amount of user area for SmartWare and presents this as a Virtual CD (VCD), at least in some models. The remainder of the user area is identified as a USB mass storage device, ie the HDD part. A WD 1TB usually has 1953525168 sectors. Victoria is reporting a capacity of 1953458176 sectors. That's a difference of 66992 sectors or 34MB.

Victoria appears to reporting the information from the bridge firmware, not the HDD behind the bridge. Can you retrieve the drive's Identify Device information using HD Sentinel or CrystalDiskInfo?

I suspect that a firmware update targets the SmartWare area of the drive. If this area has been corrupted, then I doubt that there is a DIY solution. AIUI there is a "key" sector that contains the security information.

[hhddrec]

Buenas m0l4r, bienvenido al foro.

Tal y como te comentan aquí, no es lo mismo "ATA Password" que "SmartWare password", no tiene nada que ver. Este tipo de discos agregan una complejidad importante a los procesos de recuperación de datos ya que enmascaran bajo un puerto USB un puerto que realmente es SATA, y la contraseña "SmartWare password" divide el disco en dos particiones, una para una unidad de CD y otra para la unidad de de disco duro, y normalmente cifra los datos.

mi consejo es que acudas a una empresa de recuperación de datos, ya que no es un trabajo que puedas hacer tu solo ni siquiera con la ayuda remota de profesionales del tema.

[hhddrec]

----------Translation-----------

Hi m0l4r, welcome to the forum.
As we discussed here is not the same "ATA Password" that "SmartWare password". This HDD adds great dificults to the recovery process because data is masked by USB port that really is SATA port, and the password "password SmartWare" divide the disk into two partitions, one for a CD and another one for the hard disk drive, and usually encrypts data.

my advice is that you go to a data recovery company because it is not a job DIY, even with the help of professional remotelly.