So my WD 2TB external drive doesn't show up in OS X (or in Windows) when I plug it in. I only have MACs at home (blame my graphic design profession for it ), and I'd like to know what tools I can use to diagnose my drive before I take it to a DR place. The drive itself shows up in Disk Utility, but when I click on it, it shows it as being completely full (I only had about 500GB out of 2TB) and shows all the contents as 'other.'

Also, am I to assume correctly (based on my research) that this drive has 4 500GB platters, and 8 heads?

Thanks in advance!

With the USB only interface, there is little you can do yourself to diagnose the drive. Odds are, you will risk making it worse by powering it on further.

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Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

Thanks Luke. So there are no software (such as DiskWarrior) that I can use to test it?

What damage do I risk by keeping it plugged in if I decide to diagnose it (somehow)?

It is not uncommon for these drives to have failing heads, which could be causing media damage.

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Luke
Recovery Force Data Recovery

+1 - if your drive has one or more broken heads, every minute its connected you risk to damage data.

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Digitalsupport Data Recovery
https://digitalsupport.dk

Thanks Luke. That's what I've been seeing in my research over the last few weeks (ungodly amount of videos, data recovery websites, forums, etc..) but it's good to hear from people that know more about this than I do.

Can you see the drive's SMART data?

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

No, it said 'not supported' through Disk Utility on my iMac.

Any strange behavior leading to failure?

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Not that I noticed. It worked fine for a long time (as long as I can remember), then it sat unplugged for a few days, and after I plugged it in, it was really slow and the contents of the the folders took a long time to show up in OS. Then, it froze, so I had to do a hard shutdown of my iMac. When I rebooted, it wouldn't read at all. I tried plugging into 2 or 3 other computers to see if it would work and there's something wrong with my iMac, and same behavior on all computers, MAC or PC. :/

Maybe somebody drop it or something. Happens.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

Nope...it sits by my desktop and doesn't go anywhere except moving a few feet here and there when I clean. I haven't dropped it once...

Checking health of your hard drive is very important you can easily diagnose the cause through it. But if SMART is not supported then your drive is internally mounted.Check your SMART status in Disk utility's status area. If status say "verified" then disk is ok if not then your disk is dying.

Is the same drive from your other thread that you put a "P.S." that's it's clicking?

If so, then stop playing with it as you will cause more damage by letting it click.

Please seek pro assistance, it's not something you can do yourself. These beasts are tricky ones, even for a lot of data recovery places.

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

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Yes, it's the same drive.

If the drive clicks, that means the drive's mechanical component failed, therefore cannot read the firmware and so on. So, SMART cannot be read.

Need clean room type of service provided by a company specializing in data recovery.

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Hard Disk Drive (HDD), Solid State Drive (SSD, SATA, NVMe, etc), USB Flash Drive and RAID Data Recovery Specialist in Massachusetts

What if a friend just stands over my shoulder with a vacuum while I work on the drive?

Ai kid ai kid!!

Here's another question for everyone: if I have another working WD that I bought for parts, and the Dcm and Model #'s match, would any harm come from swapping the PCB from the donor drive to the drive that isn't working? I am aware that the issue my drive has is most likely bad heads, but will a PCB from a functioning drive eliminate any potential issues that a bad PCB can cause?

Any power-ons and subsequent clicking could potentially harm the media further.

You're wasting your time persevering with the PCB though, I have never seen a bad PCB cause clicking on this model.

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

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

If you are going to spend money on a replacement PCB, then purchase an equivalent SATA PCB and transfer the chip at U12 from patient to donor (assuming this chip exists). A straight PCB swap will most likely not work, even between two working drives. That's because each PCB contains unique, drive specific calibration data.

Contact hdd-parts.com and ask if they can help you. The cost will probably be US$50.

BTW, I believe that your drive's encryption is handled by the drive itself, not by the bridge IC. A photo of the PCB (component side) would help to verify this.

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A backup a day keeps DR away.