The HD works fine, I was just an idiot and took it out of it's case and threw the case away without thinking about it. Alright, well I'm just going to have to destroy it then.

1) There are multiple revisions for this model's controller board. So, DIY won't work unless I'm willing to spend $500-$1,000 for each revision.

2) Unless a data recovery company has all the different revisions on the controller board, they are not going to be able to recover the data either.

Well, I learned some valuable lessons, wish I didn't have to lose a decade's worth of files but I need to let it go so I stop making myself sick over it.

I will 100% never buy an external HD again unless it's for my laptop & is one of those passport HDs. I will backup my files twice and I will only use internal HDs for my desktop (no clue why I even used an external HD to begin with as it never moved).

Thanks to those who tried to help. I really appreciate it.

The closest thing I recommend is to find the controller board near the year the drive was made, but also with a hard drive with more less the same SN as the one you have, that controller board might work, otherwise just buy several different boards and try them out. One of them is bound to work and it should not damage your drive or cost that much on ebay.

I believe that WD external drives are all encrypted, so its best to stay way clear of that manufacture for hard drives. I have no idea why they encrypt data like that. I never touch WD.