WD My Book Essential - Drive not recognized - PCB issue?

[unwound]

Hi all,

Really need some help here. I have a WDBACW0020HBK-NESN 2 TB My Book Essential. The drive powers on (light comes on) and spins but is not recognized by my MacBook Pro any longer (connecting via USB). Was working fine for a couple years. The PCB number is 4061-705089-001 Rev AG. I read about the PCB being a culprit so purchased a new one off eBay, however the Rev is different (07P instead of AG). Replacing the PCB did not solve the problem -- the drive is still not recognized. I have also tried a new USB cable.

Was wondering if the Rev has to be IDENTICAL or should that not matter? If it doesn't have to be identical, any ideas as to what I might be able to do, short of data recovery, to get the data off the drive? Would appreciate any suggestions.

Thanks

[Samo]

Replacing hard drive PCB will not help. Modern hard drive PCB are holding too much unique data for the hard disk assembly they are supposed to work on. This information had to be moved with swapping the PCB.
I doubt its PCB issue in your case, which does not mean its impossible to be the PCB itself the reason. You need specialized tools that can give you access to service area for inspection and finding out the exact problem.
Something more in your case. More likely this drive to be using a hardware encryption through USB bridge that make thing even more complicated for a people without needed knowledge.
My friendly advice is to look for some near Data Recovery center instead of spending more money for buying parts you do not need actually!

[unwound]

Samo:
Thanks for taking the time to reply

All:
Maybe I have the terminology wrong. Maybe it's the "bridge board" that I'm replacing, either way below is an image of what's being replaced and what I've seen discussed in threads on this msg board as a common cause for these drives not being recognized. Does anyone know if the Rev on this board makes a difference as long as the number is the same? Would appreciate it if anyone knows for sure...

Thanks

Attachments

board.jpg (84.16 KiB) Viewed 7056 times

[jono-ats]

The rev shouldn't matter for this purpose.

However, we rarely see these boards go bad unless they are physically abused. It' most likely a firmware or hardware issue with the drive itself.

Jono

[msm]

do you really sure that hdd spins up after all cables are connected?
how about heads of hdd? do you sense any vibration or noise effect from hdd after turn it on?
does LED start to blinking? or no ,keeps only solid light?
I suggest you test these , one more time closely and by using original pcb.

[streetskater]

The rev shouldn't matter for this purpose.

However, we rarely see these boards go bad unless they are physically abused. It' most likely a firmware or hardware issue with the drive itself.

Jono

Just had a powered USB3 HUB fry and take ALL four attached MYbook PCB controller cards out. I have one good PCB that was not connected. Plugging it into the four "dead" Mybooks brings them back 100%. Obviously no problem with the HDD's or the HDD Controllers. The dead External PCB light doesn't come on unless you hit the on-off switch and then it's solid on, without blinking as per normal. They are never recognized by XP, 7, 8, LINUX, GPart or anything else.

Could be U4 8pin as has been suggested but my days of trouble shooting circuit boards with jeweler's glasses & tweezers are behind me. ALSO worth noting that even though the drives aren't recognized with the dead PCB controllers they spin up and sound completely fine. They can be seen via direct SATA hookup but you HAVE to have those %$# compatible external PCB's to decrypt.

Thanks to WD--they warrantied all four, even though 1 was out of warranty AND they are allowing me to disassemble them all to recover the data and will accept them as returns in whatever shape they get 'em. I asked them to sell me the PCB's and level 4 techy (they're all level 1!) said they just trash returns and don't sell any parts. He did go up the chain of command to make exceptions for me. Now I just have to clone them all using my one good PCB card.

I was very emphatic: "I don't care about your warranty, I don't care about getting replacement drives, I care about my 12TBytes of data!"--that was before I realized i had one PCB to "rule them all". I wasn't in a very good mood during that conversation. "I've got 7 of these Mybooks, 5 that are 3TB's, others that I've had for years. Y'all should give some regard to your long time good customers" and they did.

Not sure, in retrospect that I much like this whole encryption thing Mybook has going on here. Completely unnecessary from an end user perspective.

[fzabkar]

@streetskater, ISTM that that the firmware chip (U4) might indeed need to be transplanted. However, rather than desoldering it, it might be easier and safer if you could read and write it in-circuit. You could use an SOIC IC clip and EEPROM programmer. I would practice on the donor PCB before working on the patients.

BTW, if you connect the working PCB to a USB port and power it up without the HDD attached, does it appear in Device Manager? Can UVCView or USBDeview see it?

http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_ID ... ew.x86.exe
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html