Western Digital Passport Repair

[thecomputerdewd]

Hello everybody! New to the forums here.
So, I've got a Western Digital My Passport 2TB (The older, thicker version of the drive)
I have a lot of pictures of my grandparents on the drive that I would like to recover..

When I plug the drive into the computer:
-HDD sounds like it's spinning just fine
-HDD Light turns on and flashes
-Computer makes the "beep" sound when the device is plugged in
-Drive does NOT show on My Computer
-Drive shows up in Device Manager
-When opening "Disk Management", it won't load. Just says "Connection to Virtual Disk Service.." in the bottom corner
-Device shows up for "Safe to Remove Hardware"

(I have tried on two Windows 7 computers and a Windows 8.1 computer, results same on both)


So, I found a PCB for this HDD.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/WD20NMVW-2060-7 ... 35eb196197

Is it possible that replacing the PCB could fix this?



Thanks a ton to anyone that helps out,

[chinopk]

replacing the pcb will not change anything.

drive is failing due to bad sector, FW problem or partial head problem or combination of all.
am afraid there is no easy DIY on this case, you should send the disk to a DR company.

sorry for the bearer of bad news.

[pcn]

chinopk is right, pcb is not the problem if drive spins.

Passport drives are always encrypted & that makes recovery on damaged drives nearly impossible without the proper tools.

So call a professional DR service to get your data back.

[Touchclarity]

Relatively straight forward case, if approached correctly..... Seek the help of a DR Pro in your area, and they should have no problem with it.

[data-medics]

We handle a lot of My Passport drives here in Providence. I don't know what state you're in, but if you tell me I might be able to recommend someone closer to you too.

[thecomputerdewd]

Oh, thanks for all of the replies!
I called a local HDD Repair place I found off of Yelp and explained the problem with the drive.
They estimated $300-$800 to fix it.. That's a bit out of my price range.

Are there any tutorials online that would help me in fixing this?
So there are no hardware problems?

Thanks everyone!

[jono-ats]

There are many tutorials online that will help you to lose your data for good. If you make a mistake (which you invariably will), there may be no second chances.

You have to be able to diagnose the problem first, before you do anything else. If there is a heads / media issue, continuing to operate the drive may lessen chances for recovery. It takes 1) equipment, 2) knowledge and 3) experience to make an accurate diagnosis; fix the underlying problem(s), and recover the files and folders. How many of those three do you have?

If you want the photos back, save and plan accordingly. Unfortunately, it's not a DIY recovery.

[fzabkar]

Oh, thanks for all of the replies!
I called a local HDD Repair place I found off of Yelp and explained the problem with the drive.
They estimated $300-$800 to fix it.. That's a bit out of my price range.

Are you willing to spend US$50 on a long shot?

If so, then convert your drive to SATA and see whether it identifies itself to your computer's BIOS. To this end you could use a compatible SATA PCB such as 2060-771960-000.

http://search.store.yahoo.net/yhst-1443 ... rts.com%2F

Ask HDD-Parts to leave your original PCB untouched and simply ask them to transfer the U12 "BIOS" IC's contents from your USB PCB to the SATA PCB. You will need the original PCB to decrypt your data, so make sure they return it.

Converting the drive to SATA mode opens up more options for DIY data recovery.

[thecomputerdewd]

Ahh :/ I'm really not sure what to do at this point.
Is that price of $300-$800 a normal price for a drive that spins up just fine?

[thatdellguy]

$300 will get you a guy with an imager who went to the school of YouTube...

[Alexii]

You have a passport drive with on the fly encryption and native USB PCB. USB seems a lot less tolerant to slow sectors then SATA. In many cases where i had to deal with dropped Passports with bad heads to retrieve the data on top of swapping the heads id have to ether convert the PCB to SATA or find a compatible SATA PCB to image the drive proper. However i use PC3K to deal with encryption and in both situations and thats not a move available during DIY. If Device manager hangs when the HDD is connected and never shows partition info - same hanging can be expected when using logical recovery software. Or easy to acquire imaging software / hardware.
IMO ur only option is a decent data recovery lab.

As for the price - drive that spins up just fine is not a valid symptom to base the pricing on. To put it in perspective - spinning up for hdd is like breathing for a sick human.
He breathes but has cancer stage 4 , or he breathes but has common cold , or breathes but has a face a face full of candy and missing a kidney...

Gl.

I am not 100% sure , but if u planing to go with Fzabkars idea and get the compatible SATA PCB - u MIGHT ( not sure ) be able to use the sata to usb bridge from WD MY Book to decrypt the data. I heard ppl saying thats possible.

[samick]

"To put it in perspective - spinning up for hdd is like breathing for a sick human.
He breathes but has cancer stage 4 , or he breathes but has common cold , or breathes but has a face a face full of candy and missing a kidney... "

Love it--very good analogy my friend--I'm going to start using it if you don't mind!

Sam

[grig85]

most likely one of the heads had started to die, dumping mad amount of candidate bad sectors into Relo list. Clear R-list and start imaging with headmap. Anyone who works with passports knows that its the most common issue with any WD nowadays. And I am sure that someone who works on 10 of these a day would love to help you out for $300. Just make sure they have data extractor

[chinopk]

Ahh :/ I'm really not sure what to do at this point.
Is that price of $300-$800 a normal price for a drive that spins up just fine?

spinning fine does not mean it can not have physical problem specially these passport drives. it seems 8 head drive if am not wrong, there could be a 1/2 culprit heads but all this need diagnosis first.