There are good reasons for transparently encrypting your data:

http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?p=12048#p12048

That said, WD's hardware encryption has too many flaws to be trusted.

On the (in)security of a Self-Encrypting Drive series :
http://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1404

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A backup a day keeps DR away.

Thanks sin for chiming in! Unfortunately, I can't image the disk, it just won't mount, and if you check out the extended anayze of the disk from above, you'll find that hddsuperclone shows all sectors as "bad". I doubt a SATA conversion would help with that, or would it? If not, and if the drive "sounds right" (here it is spinning), I'm inclined to blame a problem with the PCB. Which is where the encryption story kicks in: would I then be able to decrypt the data if the drive was running off of a toast firmware?



I'm not convinced. I'm by no means a security expert, and I don't see how this would be preferable than, say, a LUKS encrypted partition, especially where those added hardware bits and pieces create as many new failure points potentially making data irrecoverable. As a user, I would want to be aware and in control of such "details", and "securely erasing in a split second" is not a common-enough use-case for the whole charade to carry its weight.

Leonale, how do you know the drive is encrypted ?

boot to win 10, real simple stuff:
- device manager -> check that both drivers are there: wd main and wd ses at the bottom
( good idea to uninstall and reinstall with drive unplug/replug to see what happens there )
- device manage -> usb section -> you should see your drive as usb mass storage, see if there is ! mark on it -> usb problem
- disk management -> check if disk is even visible there -> unallocated/raw ? or not detected at all ?

you mentioned led is blinking - meaning controller is engaged and ses drive is working as well.

wd smart tools bundle comes with unlock.exe, you run on the disk it will tell you "drive is not locked" if it's not encrypted,
also hhdclone -> vsc -> id disk script output will tell you if encryption is ON for the disk.
+ sometimes the disk gets stuck in write protect, to unstick it -> win 10 -> device manager -> uninstall WD SES driver ( at the bottom of all devices )
and then uninstall WD main driver, unplug the drive from usb, reconnect, both devices will get reinstalled and write protect will turn off ( verified ).

I would test the drive in its own high level tools first ( win os ) :
- wd dashboard ( newer ) - should recognize drive even if unallocated/raw
- wd data lifeguard diagnostics ( older ) - should recognize drive even if unallocated/raw
- wd smartware - probably won't recognize if drive is unallocated/raw
see if any of these 3 will even recognize the drive and do basic tests on it.

Then you can also test the drive in 3rd party high level tools - CrystalDiskInfo, Victoria, HDDsentinel,
these will see and work with your drive even if win 10 refuses to mount drive.

Then to more complicated - trying WDR ( wd repair ) v 5.3 or 6.0 pro tool ( it circulates on the web ) and looking at firmware modules, if they read ok then
you can assume pcb-to-disk is good. But don't play around in WDR with features unless you know what you are doing.

linux:
if the drive is visible under Disks ?
gparted won't see it if it's raw and will get stuck ...
if you are seeing it in hddclone tool, that's already a plus.

i/o errors - could be bad/lose connection from machine_usb <--> usb cable <--> usb port on drive <--> pcb port connector ( fairly common problem with those usb wd drives ) <--> back of drive ( heads and motor control ), you indicated you already cleaned the pcb connectors.
+ weak/cheap usb cable as well, make sure you used another brand.
- check/clean usb connector on machine
- check/replace usb cable
- check/clean usb connector on drive

on the pcb usb connector side what I have done on my wd passport ultra
I took a multimeter, put a thin wire around one of the probes
put on 3+ reader glasses
and measured for continuity between outer pins of usb and the pcb soldered connections, one by one
to make sure there is good continuity there.

The only solution then is pcb replacement, I ordered mine on ebay for $12 for wd passport ultra 1tb, there is table on the forums showing compatible boards. based on your revision.
2 solutions then
1. convert pcb to sata, pull data off, convert back to usb or discard drive ( ordering spare sata connector + soldering some wires + removing 4 capacitors, disables usb bridge )
2. replace pcb with sata pcb and move over rom chip - I went with this option, since 1 is messier ( wires and removing smt caps )

as detailed as I could get
when I get my sata pcb, should be within couple of weeks, I will post more on sata conversion.

If you have all sectors to be reported as bad (possibly DRD DSC ERR ABT if I am not wrong) then please check checksum for relo.
perhaps if you wish to convert it to SATA by the pinout, then do so and install wd marvell and give us a report here...

All sectors not accessible can also mean a password protected drive (salt)

I would still suggest you can buy WD Marvel and have this sorted. Once it is fixed you can use Sourceres help and get the drive imaged. I can help you fix it with marvel via TV (cost no cost up to you )

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THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE TILL YOU LOSE IT.

Hi sin!



what does that mean? How do I do that?



I didn't password-protect the disc, could this simply be the doing of the hardware encryption and that's an expected outcome for every drive of this type?



Looks to be Windows-only, and I'm on Linux so I'd like to go as far as I can with hddsuperclone.

To recap, if I understand correctly, my two options are:
- to perform a SATA conversion by the pinout on the same PCB → is that a sensible thing to do? If my problems come from a toast PCB, won't it be equally toast on the pinout? Or will this somehow give me more troubleshooting options?
- to buy a recipient PCB and transplant my BIOS chip on it → I don't like the prospect of soldering such a tiny chip, but if my chances are high going this route, I'm fine with that

Hmm...I would not be fussy about the OS if I wanted to learn and solve.

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THERE IS ALWAYS HOPE TILL YOU LOSE IT.