Data loss following password failure

Hello WD,

Yesterday was a horrible day.  I tried to log in to my MyBook Studio for Mac and had a mental block about the password.  After typing it in incorrectly several times, the drive, with no final warning or prompt for a security question or anything like that, appears to have reformatted and erased all my data.  I called customer service and was told that you have nothing to do with data recovery and that I was basically out of luck.  I called a data recovery service who would charge upwards of $1000.  I get that I shouldn’t have forgotten my own password, but honestly, how do you not provide support for your own products?  How do you equip them to erase without a final “warning, this drive will erase if you click one more time” box or a security question or anything like that?  The drive is under warranty until May 2016, but I guess that doesn’t cover loss of data.  Is there really nothing you can do?  At this point I am a very frustrated customer and would certainly think twice about purchasing WD products again if this is the level of customer service I can expect.

Hi sdster, I’m sorry to hear you cannot access your files, I understand this must be frustating for you. Please note that in order for you to setup password protection you need to click on the “I Understand” check box, that states that it is not possible to access your files without the password. I’m sure tech support was willing to help but unfortunately there was nothing they could do on this case.

Also note that once you enter the incorrect password several times a pop-up window will appear giving you the option to delete the data so you can access your My Book Studio again, in order order to do this the “I understand” check box must also be clicked. 

Password - 3.jpg

You probably clicked reformat without thinking. If it should happen again simply disconnect the drive safely and plug back in then you will have 5 more tried at your passwrd.

Joe