Hi Guys,

Just got WD My Passport 320gb to recover data.
I opened it up to find out it has only mini USB interface while i need IDE interface for my Salvation Data tools.
Any idea how to solve this?

Cheers,
Oded

Find a correct adapter.

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www.datarecoveryne.com

There are instructions and case studies on the SD forum, on how to get around this one....

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East Anglian Data Recovery Services
http://www.eadr.co.uk

"If it's your only copy - then it's not a backup!"

Are you talking about the re-wiring solutions and removing capacitors?
Did you tried it out?
I was hoping to find another solution like a special cable or adapter to convert usb to IDE/SATA.
Are you familiar with any.
I couldn't see any case study regarding this issue, would love a pointer if you can.

Cheers Mate

There is no other solution available.

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www.datarecoveryne.com

I'll say that there is another solution, but offer no other details . . .

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

WD Essentials/Passport are encrypted need to bypass this 2nd. and 1st. is fixing the drive

i tried SD tools not doing so good (with me) on those cases btw.

good luck

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Kuwait Data Recovery - UNIX GTC
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. By: Albert Einstein

Agree, could be adopted another pcb and than ......talked a lot.

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Angel Data Recovery

Hi mate, which tools from SD did you try?
Did you done the re-wiring and then you manage to work with Data-Compass and WD HD Doctor?
In what stage you had problem with the encryption?

Did you manage to do it with other tools that you can recommend?

Cheers

Find a SATA-only board that fits your drive and then transfer U12.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks mate, but it would be good if you can clarify, you mean finding same mode of the drive with SATA pcb?
Whats is U12?

Thanks Mate

You will get encrypted data.

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Angel Data Recovery

Is there a method to uncrypt it?
It sound almost impossible to extract the data out of these drives!!!

Find a compitable SATA interface PCB and transfer the U12 or ( the whole MCU ) first then post the results.

Good luck.

Hi mate, and sorry for my ignorance as i am relatively new to the DR field.
The terms people are using in this post are unfamiliar to me:
Can you clarify the terms U12 and MCU for me.

Cheers Buddy,
Oded

Oded, This particular drive has proven to be a difficult one to recover data from even the seasoned pro's per the posts above and the pro's are not going to share their hard earned secrets that they make their living with openly to anyone on this board. Sorry not the news you want to hear but its how things work. Since you are new I strongly suggest you outsource this one to another firm with the experience to work on it. I am certain your client would rather get their data back than to loose it all due to a simple mistake.

No method to unencrypt the data is known at this time. That would kind of defeat the whole reason people use encryption in the first place. If it was "easy" to break why have it ! U12 is the common chip number on the hard drive controller board that contains the ROM chip for WD Drives MCU stands for Microprocessor Control Unit in most cases. A simple google would tell you this as well. DR field is a hard field to break into everything is reverse engineered for the most part and info is hard to find.

You might want to contact fellow Australian Terranova. I'm sure he do this work.

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

seems that you either never tried it OR never saw this OR you do not have the proper tools to diagnose the problem here

those drives are encrypted with Initio chip, just read about it in WD & Samsung also and you will figure out how people here are looking for such a solution for it.


thnx Ahmed for ur tips

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Kuwait Data Recovery - UNIX GTC
The only reason for time is so that everything doesn't happen at once. By: Albert Einstein

Thanks Guys, appreciate your help Ahmed.
Will post some more when i'll have more info.

Cheers

I worked with those drives several times and almost fixed them all already.
When I have the matched SATA PCB I can transfer the U12 if found or the entire MCU and decrypt the drive, otherwise I can work directly from the USB interface PCB and decrypt the drive with another method.
P.S Not a complicated drives to fix.

Best regards,