My WD book essential 1 tb must have had a power surge and the board fried. It was
less than a year old. The light turns on, but doesn’t read, it spins as well but the computer does not see it. Best buy said they
couldn’t read it, and that it would cost 800-1000 to send out for data recovery as I had like 800gb on there of stuff that I need, but not worth 1000$. Since it spins and all of that, can’t I just buy a new board (the same one) and put it on
there? If it is able to be recovered by an outside agency, then it is most likely possible on my end. Can I just buy a new board and swap it, if so, which borad? The one on top with the plug in ports, or the one below? Has anyone had this issue and been able to recover their data without spending an arm and a leg?
This board contains the encryption keys and algorithms specific to the data on your disk.
If you have skills and the knowledge that the outside agency has, then sure, why not? But if you don’t, then you will not be successful at the job. For example, the PCB seems fried. So, which component on the PCB is bad? And can that part be swapped out? Do you know the specific answers to questions like that?
I’m not trying to be a jerk, just pointing out the magnitude of the task and knowledge required. I’ll help you answer specific questions, but to conduct a lesson in data recovery, it ain’t gonna happen.
The board on the HDD housing contains information about the geometry of the disk layout and timings.
The bridgeboard in the MyBook housing contains encryption information, how the information is encoded.
The boards might be able to be repaired and made usable again *if* important information-bearing components have not been damaged.
Just going to ebay to get a replacement to swap isn’t going to work. You’ll need nearly exact date codes and revision numbers. Furthermore you will need to swap out the serial rom on the HDD’s board. And perhaps the encryption chip on the bridgeboard. Assuming those are not damaged in the first place.
BTW, swapping the flash memory chip on the bridge board isn’t always necessary, as long as the replacement board is from a compatible My Book of the same capacity.
If you connect the HDD directly to a SATA port on your motherboard, does your BIOS detect it with its correct model number and full capacity?
