I will try to make it short so that I don’t loose your interest halfway.
USB stopped working
Tested different PCs, USBs, OS-no dice
Took out the HD from enclosure-As I can hear/feel it spinning
Connected to PC (Win7), Showed up in disk management but not accessible
Against my better judgment, I figured it’s just a file structure issue. I can “quick format” and use recovery software to retrieve data back
Quick formatted HD, HD shows up in win7…applied recovery software and BAM! it’s just bunch of .flv files and none of my data. Which I am assuming points towards encryption.
Kind Sirs, what are my options?
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If I find a working/matched PCB and get it to show up OS. After quick format, will I still be able retrieve data?
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Can I retrieve decryption key?
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Does WD provide any support for customers like myself?
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Sit back, pour green tea and play violin?
So far, I am rooting for option 4 because I see little hope. At the same time, I am not so happy with the sneaky hardware encryption method implemented by WD. I did not want it to be encrypted and that is why I never installed the proprietary software for backup or encryption and no password. Yet it still ended up being encrypted.
PS: in HD world what is the best practice, create a backup of a backup of a backup?