Can someone diagnose this problem.
Its a WD Passport 3.0. 1 TB drive.

When i connect the drive to the laptop ( its directly converted to USB on PCB, so cant attach to SATA port), it spins up. As it reach its maximum spin speed (as i feel) , the drive gives a slight screeching sound and then gets normal to its maximum speed as all drives spin.

BUT, there is NO DETECTION in windows. neither the drive, nor the controller is detected.

What could be the cause? and any solution, experts?

Thank you.

From "remote diagnose" or better, guess, seems heads / servo or can't read what it needs for startup

No do-it-yourself solution, unfortunately.

I hate these new drives

Sounds like a heads problem. Was the drive dropped?

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http://www.datasaversllc.com

The person who gave me didnt said it was dropped. but i somehow feel it was.

Is there a way to convert the "onboard 3.0 USB port" to SATA, so that i can attach it to MHDD?

It is completely useless as you have physical issues THEN may have encryption problems.

Honestly, if it is beyond your possibilities, outsource.

Otherwise, your friend has to face reality and either send to a professional or live without data. Sorry.

It isnt about the data. Data is not that important , it movies etc stuff.. that can be downloaded again.
basically i want to know about the problem? as this is the 2nd drive i got with the same problem.

another thing is that i want to know how can we convert this NEW Sata 3.0 port to attach it to SATA. I read a post here of WD Smarware encryption bypass, on some pics i saw a hack to convert it to SATA. Some cables were connected to PCB points and the other end was SATA jack.

i feel its not hard to do that conversion, though the post was very much of knowledge.

I saw few converters, one from Salvation too. but i want to build my own :p

any help in that?

Soldering a sata connector to convert the USB PCB will allow you to use MHDD to run a surface scan, see if the drive comes ready etc or to image the drive using software or hardware as long as the heads, system area are ok & that there are no other issues with the drive. If the drive is a WD My Passport Essential then the USB PCB has a Symwave, JM or Initio encryption chip near the USB. By converting it to a sata connection this bypasses the encryption chip & any image or clone of the drive using the sata port will only show encrypted data ie not readable.

Loki

@loki,

this drive has serious issues so even if you manage to connect it "directly" (let alone the encryption) it will NOT be recognised or -at best - will have a lot of bad areas AND if it was dropped it will crash sooner (according to the symptom).

I totally agree that is why I said "as long as the heads, system area are ok & that there are no other issues with the drive"
I was just giving the OP more info to help them better understand.

Loki

i dont care about the drive itself anymore. Its a waste for me and my friend.
Right now my target is to attach it to MHDD through SATA port by converting its original usb 3.0 port.


@loki, thank you for the motivation. at least it can be done in my home lab, i knw :p
i have few questions

1) at what PCB points i have to attach the cables, any tutorial or help/documentation ?
2) if there was no password set, would the encryption chip interfere?
3) is it possible to make a universal USB to SATA card, that can handle all the encryptions ?

@ BlackST
Thank you too. i understand the encryption part. but WHY the bad areas? (if heads are good) and isn't SATA configuration more stronger in detection than USB? MHDD must help in this.

its the drive port.

If its just for fun you can try but there is no guaranty the drive will be recognised.
Firstly you would need to unscrew the PCB from the drive & then take hi quality photos of both sides of the PCB.
Then upload the pictures here so we can see.
Will probably need to remove the C90, C91, C92, C93 components then solder wires to the test points (these will be the tx rx etc) on the other side of the pcb. Then you will need to solder a sata connector to the correct tx+, tx-, rx+, rx- + you will need an earth & 5v power. A bit of research, time & a multimeter you can work out the connections.

What is meant by bad areas is that the platters that store the data are organised in to tracks & sectors. basically bads areas/sectors are bad areas (damage) on the platter surface which then cant be read or written too. Bad sectors in the system area for example would stop the drive from working.


Loki

Got it. here are the PCB pics.

one more pic..

As said by loki remove the capicitors et connect to sata...
(At your own risk)

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Lemmy

Will spend this weekend on this project :p I hope i will be able to do that else "Ba Bye" to the drive i guess.
can you describe me the jumpers of the drive? and what are the 2 pins on left of the USB port?

one more question, HOW you guys point out that tx rx, is there any specific way to find that, or its just your experience with several drives.

To find out which are the tx+, tx-, rx+, rx- you need to know the pinout for the usb3 micro-b (hence the R&D) http://pinoutsguide.com/PortableDevices ... nout.shtml



Basically you would need to cut a usb3 micro-b cable in half to get access to the wires.
Plug the cable in to the usb pcb & then use a multi meter & do a continuity test to work out which it tx+ etc.


Loki