MyBook Essentials - 2 reasons not to buy

  1. Very poor USB2/3 connector. There are numerous reports on how unreliable this connector is. The drive can easily drop out.

  2. The (Unwanted) hardware encryption makes data recovery virtually impossible. Without encryption you could remove the sata drive and recover data using an internal PC sata port or an external docking station. An argument that suggests it provides security is ridiculous. If the drive interface/connector was working you’d just plug it in to anyones PC.This hardware encryption is dopey beyond belief.

For security you use software encryption if required.

I have bought quite a number of these before I realized their unacceptable shortcomings.Backing up critical data on these devices is risky.

The solution is to buy a raw HDD and use a third party enclosure or docking station.

I agree. I ran into the same issue awhile back and lost all of my data with no hope of recovery. The event made me lose faith in WD’s products in general. 

I have had the same problem with my MyBook Essentials 2TB disk which was almost full. I’ve thoroughly wandering different forums and communities trying to find a solution and I have discovered many many people have had the same problem. I will never buy again a hardware encrypted disk. WD does not sell the internal PCB alone, which would have made all of us able to recover our data. It’s a big mistake to buy one of these disks which fail after 3 years or so of discontinous use. Also the plastic encasing is the worst idea regarding heat dissipation from circuitry which in the end fails because of that.

You can try finding a circuit board on Ebay. This might help a little in matching them up  http://community.wd.com/t5/Off-Topic-Discussions/Bridge-Boards/td-p/353839 The only person who knows much about these boards is fzabkar. You can try searching his posts. I won’t buy an excrypted drive either unless it was for something that needed that security level. 

Joe