WD "my passport" just passed away

sobie wrote:

hard thing here is that I still have warranty on the drive, and I will lose that by screwing around. Are you sure the drive and thus the data are unharmed ?

Contact WD and explain that you have data that needs to be recovered prior to RMA. WD understands that, and is very supportive of this subject usually. Your data is intact and there since your drive is not spinning.