I recently bought a new computer and have installed the WD Smartware. Every time I try entering the password it says it’s Invalid. I know for 100% certainty that the password i am entering is correct. I have 1TB of video and pictures on there that I cannot afford to lose. If my drive is corrupt, is there a way to be able to recover the data? When I still had my old computer I had this problem a couple of times, but I just kept entering the password and eventually it would accept. Please help!
If you’ve corrupted the drive, you’re mostly out of luck if you can’t uncorrupt it.
I think a couple of users have had success with repair tools, a couple have had success logging in to the PC with the guest account, and one had success with updating frimware.
But, if none of those work, even if you paid for data recovery, the data is encrypted and unusable to you.
It’s a bit harsh, but if you “can’t afford” to lose something, it should never be the only copy you have – all drives (and DVD-Rs) will fail sooner or later.
The two most commonest reasons (aside from dropping) appear to be inssuficient power to the drive, and unsafe removal (whether deliberate or due to a bad/loose cable).
The USB-powered drives seem to have it the worst, because many USB ports simply don’t provide enough power, but even externally powered drives seem to rely on being plugged in to the correct voltage, which isn’t present on many power bars – often plugging the drive directly into the wall has made a difference.
