I have a 1TB WD passport, with drive WD10TMVW. This thing has been acting up for a while. I've gone through all kinds of steps to see what's wrong. Unfortunately, while I do believe I have a bad sector/RAW problem, I also have a faulty USB connector, and I have the happy fortune (ugh) of having one of the proprietary boards with no SATA option. I also realize I have on the fly encryption, so it's unlikely I have a way to recover anything. Here's where I would like to ask a few questions....

1: I would like to try to bypass/fix the USB connector. I believe, based on behavior from the unit, that I may be having a problem delivering power to the unit.

2: I was hoping someone here has seen/experiencing this drive/same problem, and could point out either how to repair the USB that's on the board, or how to bypass it (use pictures, and pretty colors: assume I am an idiot)

3: If you are kind enough to help, please explain, or use a picture, what adaption you are recommending: SATA or USB, and what cable/color needs to go where.

It's my understanding that trying to go SATA will cause me to get nothing but encrypted data... while I've heard rumors that folks have figured out how to decrypt, I have seen nothing substantial/standalone click-and-done. If I can repair the USB, great, but if not, is there a way to bypass just the USB connector, but still go through the encryption chip? I have a chip at U12, but seem to have no U14 that I can find, so doing a donor PCB is out of the question as far as I know.

I will try to load pictures of the front and back of my PCB and drive.

Also, some extra points:
1: No I didn't know this unit encrypted on the fly, or I would not have bought it. Simply put: it was cheap and did what I needed at the time.
2: No I will not "take it to a pro". If it was mission critical I would. This is for fun only.
3: Don't bother posting "no you're screwed, but a new drive". I refuse to accept that until this thing is literally sitting in bitty pieces and I am babbling like an idiot, covered in solder.
4: Yes I will test myself with a multi-meter, but only if no one's able to help. Because I have just as much of a chance of somehow combusting myself using one as I do getting results. Trust me.

Out of interest, how do you know its a bad USB connector?

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HDD, SSD, Flash and RAID Data Recovery
Founder of The Data Recovery Professionals Group

Okay, so I don't have irrefutable proof, but I'm pretty confidant. Wiggling the plug can cause power delivery issues (you can hear it trying to spin up and fail...and at one point it even stuck the heads). Also, I can intermittently get to it, but not 100%. An example of what I can get: In linux, it shows up, but tells me I can't mount fully because there's a command/process already in progress (can't remember the exact message, but essentialy "already in use"). I eventually get an NTFS state message. In WINPE I get a lot of talk about bad sectors doing a chkdsk.

The reason I feel it's a bad USB connector is that prior to utter failure, wiggling it was the only way to get it to actually talk via USB to a PC. Also, I feel like a lot of my bad sector and NTFS issues are tied to poor passthrough of data via the USB port. I'm not stupid enough to rule out bad sectors or NTFS issues, but I think I have a combination of that and a physical problem. Normally I would just go directly SATA and see what I can do, but with this damned PCB I feel helpless.

Eh, progress and a few steps back at the same time. I got the drive to actually show up in Linux mint, but I can't mount it. ntfsfix told me it's corrupt and needs a chkdsk. Attempting chkdsk from winPE hangs. I can't get to this thing in windows, or in a linux environment. I'm pretty sure all my data is still in place on the drive, but now I'm thinking I just have an incredibly fubar'd ntfs. Anyone have thoughts on a good low level, literally just needs to see the disk to work tool that can at least try to fix this?

I have tried the usual recuva, easeUS, etc. to no avail. I have access to Acronis but I don't have familiarity with using it outside of imaging and such.

I am still only doing this for fun, so sending it to a pro is still a no. Nearest "pro" charges around 600+, regardless of data being recovered.

great, chkdsk can make things worse
it can be bad/weak/degraded heads which will just kill it completely by hammering the drive using software, and if this is the case, most likely you wouldn't able to do it with software (you need hardware for that)

and since you dont care about the data, maybe check what RDT has to say about your drive

I honestly believe the heads are fine at this point, and the platters are perfect (no scoring). I really don't trust the pcb still, but given that it spins, but just hangs stuff I think I have a utterly broken NTFS volume. Linux can actually see MBR, or at least that it's supposed to be, and can see the volume. Again, accessing it to do anything is gone. I suspect if there is or are defunct sectors, it's either right at the MFT, or the MFT is junk.

Can you show us a SMART report? You could use CrystalDiskInfo (Windows) or smartctl (Linux).

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Sure, let me see what I can do. Based on its behavior, no guarantee I can in Windows. Linux may work....I have a sneaky suspicion the PCB is fouling up communication to the drive itself but I'll have a go at it.

yeouch. Thanks to an ancient dell laptop and parted magic, I can see the contents.... I was able to use testdisk to repair NTFS (shotgun approach to try to get to it 1 more time to copy off). Sadly, 'he's dead jim'. Parted magic's built in SMART reporting indicated the drive is failed. Whether this is due to poor connectivity through the PCB, or genuinely means the disk is failed, I do not know. I'm going to see if I can get into it with testdisk one more time, and perhaps I can copy off something. Odds are this is a done deal at this point, at which time this glorious WD unit shall get an introduction to .50 or .338 lapua.

We are a DR company based in the US and do both logical and cleanroom recoveries on hard drives. Our charges for a logical recovery (if possible) is $395. If that's of interest PM me (with a free evaluation first). If not.... enjoy the lupua.......

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HDD, SSD, Flash and RAID Data Recovery
Founder of The Data Recovery Professionals Group

Woah, spoke a wee bit too soon (maybe). I was able to copy some basic files off using testdisk. Interesting. Going to go for broke, find a large drive, slap it down next to it, and take what I can get!

On this model, the most likely scenario is that the drive has bad sectors in the MFT. If it's at all recognized in Linux, please just clone it using ddrescue (tutorial here) and stop doing everything that you're doing.

• Checkdisk on a failing drive = wrong
• Writing data to a failing drive with testdisk = wrong
• Trying to mount the file system of a failing drive in any OS = wrong

Step one after you have data access is always to image or clone it so you can work with the copy. You are making things worse! Why do you ask for advice then you ignore everything you're being told and doing whatever you want. If you were an intern here I'd fire you for being belligerently foolish.

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Data Medics - Hard Drive, SSD, and RAID Data Recovery Service Company

Talk about arrogant. Please re-read OP. Pay close attention to: "2: No I will not "take it to a pro". If it was mission critical I would. This is for fun only."

Anyways, ddrecovery, thanks for the offer, and I will keep you in mind if I need DR in the future, or if the company I work for needs any. fzabkar, thanks for the pointer for where to look (smartctl). Kudos to jermy for reading and recognizing that I don't care what happens to it. data-medics, take good notes here.


I am happy to report that I have been able to copy data off the drive using testdisk's built in copy functions. Also worth mentioning this was my only option, as I do not have any >1Tb drives available in order to be able to clone successfully.

Thanks again to everyone that offered useful information/help! I've been browsing here for a while and there's some nice tidbits of info on here.