Obsolete WD My Book Essential 1.0 TB - Broken USB

[Jukebox]

Hi,

Can some one please tell me what to do with my external HDD - My book Essential 1.0 TB, USB 3.0 with the model no. WDBACW0010HBK-SESN

The Micro B USB socket has broken (regular plugging and unplugging), although, only the USB 3.0 part of it seems to have taken a hit. The USB 2.0 portion seems to be okay.



The weird part is, the darn thing still responds to plugging the USB cable in and out. With the power plugged in, it switches on as soon as you plug in the USB cable (both Micro B USB 3.0 and a regular Micro USB 2.0 cable, which is my Samsung Note data cable) and switches off as soon as any USB cable is removed. But, both windows XP and OS X snow Leopard wont detect it at all. The disk management tool in windows does not show this anywhere, not even as a logical drive. Read somewhere that registry changes might need to be made, so downloaded a program called TweakUI. I still couldnt find it, so I am guessing there is a problem with the connector.

Here's what the PCB looks like -



AFAIK, the PCB seems to be okay. But, I'm just a noob getting by on DIY videos, so do tell me if this thing seems fried.

After removing the external casing, I also connected the Hard Drive via SATA to a Windows Desktop. It was detected immediately upon restart, and disk management recognizes it as unallocated space now. I know this is because of the Hardware Encryption. I did NOT initialize the drive, or mess around with anything else.



It seems like the USB connector is at fault. But then, why would it still respond to plugging the USB cable in and out? I know soldering is my best option, but I don't know anyone here who would do such fine soldering. Professional data recovery seems out of the picture, because I can't muchly afford it.

Any other ideas, gentlemen ? Or is all hopelessly, hopelessly lost ?

Thanks in advance.

[Keatah]

Look closely, are there any shorts on the USB 3 side? Especially within the connector.

What happened with L5, the inductor near the USB 3 portion of the connector? It looks like it has excess solder from lack of flux while reflowing.

What is happening with pin 6 within the busted connector? I can't tell from the picture, but it is a data line and it might be shorting against the shield. Again, are any pins or anything else on the 3.0 side shorting to each other or the shield? If so, using a jewelers loupe and a safety pin might be all you need.

[loki]

That board has the symwave encryption chip.
Thats why you cant access your data directly when you connect the hdd via sata.
You need the hdd connected to the board or a matching\compatible replacement board to be able to decrypt it & read the data off.

I have this same board in my stock like many others here will do.

A quick search on ebay found this

http://www.ebay.com/itm/PCBA-4061-70508 ... 7709wt_689

Loki

[DrFaustus]

yeah, look on ebay for a Symwave USB 3.0 adapter & that should help you on that. i keep one for just in case decryption purposes

[cat1x]

In this cases only is required swapping pcb (Symwave) or also is needed a chip swap

[hawkinau]

Hi I have the same problem I have a 2tb Samsung Story external HDD and found the female USB port inside the case of the drive has disappeared, on dismantling the case I found that the 4 soldered points that attach the USB port to the adapter card had come adrift and it was rattling around inside, I successfully re soldered it back on but alas it doesn't work anymore.
The adapter card is similar to an Sata to IDE adapter, it plugs into the SATA port on the drive with a power and USB port which when assembled line up with the corresponding holes in the external case, it has on the back of the adapter card a small white 4 pin female power plug which obviously transfers power to the light on the outside of the case.
The pic that "Jukebox" posted is similar but it only has a single micro USB port and power port on the board and an on/off knob on the case at the opposite end to the USB and power port holes.
I checked eBay for a Symwave USB 3.0 adapter thinking that it might point me in the right direction but that turned up nothing.
Any ideas would be welcome.
Cheers

[fzabkar]

Hi I have the same problem I have a 2tb Samsung Story external HDD and found the female USB port inside the case of the drive has disappeared, on dismantling the case I found that the 4 soldered points that attach the USB port to the adapter card had come adrift and it was rattling around inside, I successfully re soldered it back on but alas it doesn't work anymore.

...

I checked eBay for a Symwave USB 3.0 adapter ...

USB 3.0 has more than 4 pins. Are you thinking of USB 2.0?

[hawkinau]

[/img]The female micro USB port that broke off the board has 5 pins inside it but I was referring to the way it is attached to the board it is soldered at the 4 corners, the other white plug I was referring to is the power plug on the back of the board that connects to the on/off switch on the case this has 4 pins.
I checked eBay for a Symwave USB 3.0 adapter hoping it would lead me to the right board as I had totally struck out up to that point but I didnt find anything on eBay remotely resembling the Samsung board so I have no clue as to where I might find one
check the pics.

Hi I have the same problem I have a 2tb Samsung Story external HDD and found the female USB port inside the case of the drive has disappeared, on dismantling the case I found that the 4 soldered points that attach the USB port to the adapter card had come adrift and it was rattling around inside, I successfully re soldered it back on but alas it doesn't work anymore.

...

I checked eBay for a Symwave USB 3.0 adapter ...

USB 3.0 has more than 4 pins. Are you thinking of USB 2.0?

Attachments

power plug

Micro USB port

[hawkinau]

[/img]The female micro USB port that broke off the board has 5 pins inside it but I was referring to the way it is attached to the board it is soldered at the 4 corners, the other white plug I was referring to is the power plug on the back of the board that connects to the on/off switch on the case this has 4 pins.
I checked eBay for a Symwave USB 3.0 adapter hoping it would lead me to the right board as I had totally struck out up to that point but I didnt find anything on eBay remotely resembling the Samsung board so I have no clue as to where I might find one
check the pics.

Hi I have the same problem I have a 2tb Samsung Story external HDD and found the female USB port inside the case of the drive has disappeared, on dismantling the case I found that the 4 soldered points that attach the USB port to the adapter card had come adrift and it was rattling around inside, I successfully re soldered it back on but alas it doesn't work anymore.

...

I checked eBay for a Symwave USB 3.0 adapter ...

USB 3.0 has more than 4 pins. Are you thinking of USB 2.0?

Attachments

this is a bit clearer

[fzabkar]

If I were doing this job, I would remove the USB 3.0 connector and solder individual wires (eg wirewrap wire) from the bridge board's USB 2.0 pins to a peripheral "B" connector.

http://pinoutsguide.com/Slots/USB_pinout.shtml

That's assuming that you don't have the skill/patience/eyesight/tools to properly reattach the existing connector.