WD USB adapter replacement or other suggestions for a fried USB adapter?

After some testing, I think the USB adapter in my WD 3TB Elements drive (WD30EZRX) has been fried.

The drive symptoms are that when I connect it to my computer via USB the light comes on and the disk seems to spin but it’s not recognised by the PC (Windows 8.1).  I took a look under Disk Management and it doesn’t appear there and also ran Diskpart from a Command Prompt, also without it being recognised.

As I couldn’t help playing around with the drive a bit more, I’ve since removed the WD external case, removed the USB and power connecting board and connected it up to my PC via a SATA cable. You can see pics here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/129404453@N02/sets/72157650245608421/

When I then turn on my computer, the drive is found and shown as the E drive, however it’s shown as RAW and I can’t access it without formatting it. I was thinking of formatting it while it’s connected via SATA then attempting to get some of the files back using a recovery tool but was advised against this as I was told the USB adapter encrypts the drive.

That’s a long way of getting to my question: if I get another USB adapter and replace the current one on my WD drive, will the content still be encrypted or will I be able to access it?

If I will be able to access the content using this method, does anyone know where to get replacement WD USB adapters? I tried eBay, PCBsolution.com and hddzone.com, but nobody had the right parts.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

Hi zuzuspetalsDAB, sorry to hear you had problems with your drive. Note that openning the Elements case voids the warranty. I can inform you that the WD Elements doesn’t encrypt the data inside the drive. You should be able to scan your drive using a data recovery program. I also advice you to contact any of the data recovery partners on the WD Support page. Some of them offer a free evaluation of your drive. 

http://support.wdc.com/recovery/index.asp?wdc_lang=en

Thanks for your advice. In the end I purchased an identical WD drive, took that apart and removed the USB adapter from the new drive and put it onto the drive with all my content on it. I then re-assembled the drive, plugged it in via USB and - hey presto - it lives again and all my content is there.

Of course now I have a new, blank drive which has no USB adapter so I can’t use it. Anyone know where I can buy USB adapters for a WD 3TB Elements drive (WD30EZRX)?