I’m really hoping someone can help me out here - this drive has years of family photos and important files I never backed up elsewhere.
Here’s what happened:
I have a WD My Book 1TB external hard drive, pretty old. The USB port on the controller board was damaged, looked rusty, and stopped working properly.
So I took the drive apart, removed the controller board, and connected the bare SATA HDD directly to my PC using SATA cables.
When I opened File Explorer… it showed 930GB free out of 930GB total - like the drive was empty. But I know there was over 600GB of data on it before it stopped working.
I panicked, shut down my PC immediately, and haven’t touched the drive since - didn’t want to risk overwriting anything.
Now I’m stuck. Is the data gone? Or could this be a file system issue?
Should I:
Try resoldering the original controller board and plug the drive in normally?
Connect it again directly to the PC, but use recovery tools this time?
Or just take it to a pro and avoid messing it up more?
Main questions:
Is there still a chance the files are recoverable?
Will reconnecting the drive delete anything if I don’t write new data?
What should I try first?
Any advice would help - especially if you’ve been through something similar.
Since you saw the full 930GB free when connecting the SATA drive directly, it sounds like the original controller board may have been encrypting the data (WD My Book drives often do this, even without user-set passwords). So when you removed it and connected the drive as a regular SATA HDD, your computer couldn’t read the encrypted file system — hence it looked empty.
Here’s what I’d recommend:
Do not format or write anything to the drive.
Avoid resoldering unless you’re very experienced — it’s risky and might worsen the damage.
If the original controller board isn’t completely dead, reconnect the drive using that board. WD encryption is hardware-based, so the data might only be accessible through it.
If the board is dead or the port is too damaged, you’ll need a donor board from the exact same model — ideally with the same firmware version. But note: many My Book boards have encryption chips tied to that specific board, so even a matched board might not work unless it includes the encryption chip and/or ROM chip.
Once reconnected (through original or donor board), try accessing the drive. If it still shows empty, use free data recovery software to scan without writing anything.
If this feels overwhelming or too risky, consult a professional data recovery service — especially if the data is irreplaceable.
Hope this helps — you absolutely still have a chance to get your files back.
When a drive shows as completely empty despite previously being full, it usually means the file table or partition structure is damaged or unreadable, not that the files themselves are gone.
There’s no need to resolder the original controller board — in many older WD My Book models, the board includes hardware encryption, so removing the drive and connecting it directly can result in unreadable data. Reattaching the original board might allow access again, but if it’s physically damaged or corroded, that’s a risk. Connecting it directly again won’t delete anything as long as you don’t format or write new data — just make sure it’s in read-only mode if possible.
Your best first step is to scan the drive using reliable data recovery software that supports raw and encrypted WD drives. Tools like Stellar Data Recovery can often detect lost partitions and recover files even if the file system appears broken. It’s discreet and safe — just make sure you scan, not write.
Just take it slow, avoid DIY repairs now, and start with a proper scan. Your files are likely still recoverable
As @EstherEdward suggested,
Your files are most likely still there. WD My Book drives use encryption built into the USB board, so if you connect the hard drive directly with SATA, the computer can’t read it properly and shows it as empty. Don’t format the drive or write anything to it. Try fixing or replacing the original USB board with the exact same model to access the data again. If that doesn’t work, you can use professional data recovery software like Stellar, Recoverit, and PhotoRec. If the files are really important, it’s better to take it to a data recovery service. Before doing anything, make a full copy of the drive to stay safe.
