Since yesterday the main power led is always on, even when the drive is not connected to anything - except power of course. Then when it’s connected to a PC with USB, the drive is not “starting” anymore : no rotation of the disk, like there’s no power, the led stays on and the PC (or my NAS, a Synology diskstation) does not detect the drive at all.
I opened the enclosure and put the hard disk in my PC directly in SATA. The HD was recognised by Windows XP and the drive was rotating, however in device manager the drive status is unknown and the partitioning of the disk not recognised, no drive letters are allocated to the drive by Windows. As such I cannot read the data on the disk.
Therefore I have some questions :
Is there a way to access to the data of the HD by connecting it directly in SATA to a PC, or is it mandatory to connect it using the Mybook USB-to-SATA internal circuitry (the “motherboard” of MyBook)? I read somewhere that all the data on a MyBook is crypted even if there’s no password defined…is that true?
Is my “motherboard” dead?
If the “motherboard” is dead and the HD cannot be read directly by a PC (if put as internal drive), can I buy a new MyBook, open it, replace the HD inside and have access to my data?
Is there a way to access to the data of the HD by connecting it directly in SATA to a PC, or is it mandatory to connect it using the Mybook USB-to-SATA internal circuitry (the “motherboard” of MyBook)? you can try that with a data recovery software like recuva.
I read somewhere that all the data on a MyBook is crypted even if there’s no password defined…is that true? if you backed up the information with the wd smartware, it will be in the unit but not like if you were seeing your computer. smartware will separate the files by category.
Is my “motherboard” dead? hard to tell, try with a new power adapter.
If the “motherboard” is dead and the HD cannot be read directly by a PC (if put as internal drive), can I buy a new MyBook, open it, replace the HD inside and have access to my data? that might not work, the information on avery enclosure that wd make is dedicated to the drive that comes in it.
@Bertrand, Essentials models incorporate 128-bit AES hardware encryption. Therefore you will need a functional USB-SATA bridge board.
That said, many users are reporting physical connection problems with the USB connector. If this is your problem, then the most expedient solution would be to find someone to reattach the connector for you.
If the USB-SATA bridge chip is identifying itself to UVCView, then the most likely culprit is an 8-pin dual MOSFET IC. This IC switches the +5V and +12V power to the HDD. If this chip is faulty, then the simple solution is to snip its pins (with flush cutters), remove it, and replace it with two wire links. This will effectively bypass the switches and cause the drive to be powered on continuously. If you get this far, I can show you exactly what to do. I’ll just need a detailed photo of the board.
BTW, your English is excellent. In fact it is much better than most native English speakers.
