Hello,

can anyone identify whether this 2.5" drive is a passport elite, elements, essentials, etc.?
I'm trying to determine if this drive has encryption or not. I consider the data on this drive
"disposable" so it is not a big deal for me if it gets trashed, it was just a backup of a backup.
But I would like to learn more about recovering from WD passport drives.

I took the drive out of the enclosure and this is what is on the label:

=======================================
Scoprio Blue 500GB WD50000BEVT

P/N: XXXXXX-XXX [yes, just a bunch of "X"]
CT: XXXXXXXXXXXXXX

MDL: WD5000BEVT-11A03T0

WWN: 50014EE2586227F5
Date: 10 Jul 2009 [several years old but used VERY little]
DCM: HHCVJBBB
LBA: 976773168

R/N: 701609

Product of Thailand
====================================


There is a detachable board containing a USB-to-SATA converter.
The drive itself has a standard SATA interface. If the drive is hooked
up directly to an internal SATA port on a PC, without the detachable board,
will I be seeing straight data or encrypted data?

Probably NOT encrypted. But just to be sure, what's the USB chip on the bridge board?

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

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Try entering the serial number into WD's warranty checker:
http://websupport.wdc.com/warranty/warr ... sttype=end

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

The IC on the bridge card says:

Initio
INIC-1606L [or maybe 1608L? hard to read it]
A37S
EPO145473
0922

Okay, found it! Per the warranty checker:

WDMLC5000CN
500 GB My Passport Elite

Not encrypted

_________________
PC Image Data Recovery
http://www.pcimage.co.uk

New!! HDD-PCB.COM for all your PCB and donor HDD requirements!

http://www.initio.com/Html/Doc/INIC-160 ... 0Brief.pdf
http://www.initio.com/Html/Doc/INIC-160 ... 0Brief.pdf

Initio's 2009 road map mentions an INIC-1608E (encrypted version), but the "L" version is not encrypted, as pcimage has already indicated.

http://semisolution.koreasme.com/fsbCli ... oadmap.pdf

_________________
A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thank you pcimage and fzabkar, your information has been most helpful.