WD My Passport Ultra failure

[sipkinphoto]

Hi,
I had a external drive fail yesterday and any advice would be greatly appreciated. Here are the details:

Make and model: wd my passport ultra
Failure occurred yesterday
The Operating System the device is used with is OS Tahoe 26.3.1
Drive holds an archive of photographs

Drive: WD My Passport Ultra WDBFTM0050BBL (5TB)
Symptoms:
- Previously made clicking sounds
- Now spins normally
- Appears under USB in macOS System Information
- No capacity shown
- Not visible in Disk Utility or diskutil

Used on: Mac (APFS / Mac formatted)

Thanks in advance,
Corey

[WebClaw]

If the drive shows no capacity, the issue is often firmware. The key question is why the firmware failed.

Based on your note that it previously clicked, a damaged firmware module caused by a head problem is likely. If the heads cannot read the service area, the firmware cannot fully load and the drive reports no capacity. We see this a lot with SMR drives (like yours).

If the data matters, do not power the drive on again. Continued spin attempts can worsen surface damage.

Either way, for a variety of reasons this is not a DIY case.

One odd detail is that the drive continues to spin. In most head failures the drive powers down quickly or in models like yours often never attempts to a spin.

[sipkinphoto]

Thanks for your reply WebClaw. I thought I might need to send it out. The cost seems daunting, can you reco any company in particular? I have some quotes up to 2k. I've heard maybe Rossman Group based in Austin, TX.

[WebClaw]

We operate a data recovery lab in Canada, so I may not be the best reference for U.S. pricing and I do not have any first-hand experience with the Rossmann Group.

Speaking generally, and not as a quote, in Canada a case like this would typically be around $1,800 CAD assuming a mechanical failure without significant surface damage. Larger labs (the "big guys") often price similar recoveries well above $2,000.

If you decide to proceed with recovery, one suggestion that may help reduce complexity is to include a note with the drive indicating:
1. whether Time Machine backups are required
2. the format of the photo archives (RAW, JPEG, Lightroom catalog, etc.)

Providing that information can help the lab understand the expected data structure after the mechanical repair and may simplify the recovery workflow.

Best of luck!

[sipkinphoto]

Thank you, very much appreciated.
Corey