I have a MyBook Studio 1.5GB. One beautiful day it just stopped working. It spins for one second when I try to boot it and then it switches itself back off.
I tried to rule out possible failure points:
I borrowed a power supply from a friend – the mybook did not boot with it either. So I guess the PS is ok.
I took the drive out, put it in a different (non-WD) enclosure. Good news, the drive works. The system (10.6.4) shows it as not initiated though, no data to be seen.
I combed it through with Data Rescue 3. In 14 hours it only found the WD partition and proprietary WD files. My partition wasn’t found.
My question is:
Is my data not visible with the disk inside a different enclosure likely because:
it needs MyBook Studio enclosure electronics to be read properly
my partition is completely bust
I am not sure whether I should look for better HFS+ recovery software, or buy another MyBook Studio set and swap the drives across so that I could read my data via the new enclosure.
Is this a dual or single drive? If dual, and in RAID 0, then you won’t be able to read any data, because RAID 0 writes pieces of data to each drive. Both drives are treated as one whole drive. Did you have Drive Manager installed on the Mac (this would be important for the Studio II drive)?
Is this a dual or single drive? If dual, and in RAID 0, then you won’t be able to read any data, because RAID 0 writes pieces of data to each drive. Both drives are treated as one whole drive. Did you have Drive Manager installed on the Mac (this would be important for the Studio II drive)?
This is a single drive, I guess the 1st edition (just checked for a “2” on the box). It has the lcd label on it. I never installed the software from the preset WD partition.
Is there any sense in putting the drive into an identical (but functional) MyBook Studio enclosure? Is there something in the enclosure hardware that is needed for the drive to be readable which a regular enclosure doesn’t provide?
This is a single drive, I guess the 1st edition (just checked for a “2” on the box). It has the lcd label on it. I never installed the software from the preset WD partition.
Is there any sense in putting the drive into an identical (but functional) MyBook Studio enclosure? Is there something in the enclosure hardware that is needed for the drive to be readable which a regular enclosure doesn’t provide?
Thanks.
Those drives are hardware encrypted. Which means that the data on the drive is always encrypted, whether you use password protection or not. Once you pulled it out of the external casing you both voided the warranty and rendered the drive unreadable. If you did anything to the drive to change it, even by one bit, you will have rendered the data unretrievable. If that’s the case, then I doubt data recovery will even help. I don’t have a suggestion for you. Are you sure that the external case is dead? Have you tried it on another computer to see if it’s just not your computer? Have you tried another cable, etc.?
Those drives are hardware encrypted. Which means that the data on the drive is always encrypted, whether you use password protection or not. Once you pulled it out of the external casing you both voided the warranty and rendered the drive unreadable. If you did anything to the drive to change it, even by one bit, you will have rendered the data unretrievable. If that’s the case, then I doubt data recovery will even help. I don’t have a suggestion for you. Are you sure that the external case is dead? Have you tried it on another computer to see if it’s just not your computer? Have you tried another cable, etc.?
I did not alter the drive in any way. OSX considers it uninitiated, Data Rescue 3 is – as far as I understand – non invasive recovery software.
I understand this disk is not going to work with an identical WD enclosure, it needs the hardware key of its original enclosure?
The problem with the drive was originally that it would only spin for about a second on boot, with or without being plugged into a computer.
I would put it back into its enclosure, and try plugging it directly into the wall outlet. There’s a chance it’s not getting enough power. Also, try it on another port and another computer. But it is sounding like a power issue. The thing is, if you get another external drive, it might work, but you may also damage that drive casing.
I would put it back into its enclosure, and try plugging it directly into the wall outlet. There’s a chance it’s not getting enough power. Also, try it on another port and another computer. But it is sounding like a power issue. The thing is, if you get another external drive, it might work, but you may also damage that drive casing.
Thank you. Just to make sure: you wrote that the drive theoretically should work with an identical enclosure. Does that mean the enclosure does not have a unique hardware key required for it to work with my drive?
By “damage drive casing” do you mean mechanically damage during opening, or was it pertaining to the electronics?
Actually, there’s not guarantee that it will. And, frankly, I wouldn’t know if it could. There may be a unique hardware key, but I wouldn’t know how that works.
By damage drive casing, I mean that you would void the warranty on the new drive by taking it apart. And it probably wouldn’t work anyway. You’re looking at data recovery.
Did you have any luck recovering your data? I have a 1TB Mybook Studio with the same issue. The enclosure failed and the data recovery company can access the data but it is all scrambled due to the encryption.
Can anyone confirm if swapping the drive into a new Mybook enclosure will work? I don’t mind voiding the warranty on the new drive if it will work.
If the encryption is unique to each enclosure, is a software/hardware decryption solution available through WD?
I read on an Australian forum that the enclosures can sometimes be repaired by replacing defective capacitors. Has anyone had success doing that?
I certainly would not have purchased a MyBook if I knew that the data was encrypted.
I bought an identical set but did not have the time to swap drives. Especially that I plan to back up the drive prior to starting it up in new enclosure, this will take some time.
I’ll post the results when I get to do the swap, hopefully sometime this week.
“We have worked on a lot of drives with this problem and success rate is very high. We will not permanently fix the drive but we will need to do a temporary fix on it in order to access the files. Recovery cost can range between $500.00 and $1,000.00 as long as that is the ONLY problem with the drive. If the drive has unreadable sectors or requires cleanroom work recovery cost is higher.”
I expect that this must be a very widespread issue, it seems to me that mandatory encryption via a flimsy enclosure is looking for trouble.
Magneto, I look forward to the results of your attempt to use a new enclosure.
I have received information from a data recovery service and from WD that the encryption is unique to each enclosure. So swapping the drive into a new enclosure is unlikely to work. If you have not opened the enclosure of your new MyBook it may be best to return it for a refund.
If you have not already done it, try connecting the drive to the original enclosure and powering it up using each of the ports (USB and FireWire). It is possible that one of the ports has failed, preventing the drive from communicating with the computer and halting the power up process.
If that does not work, and the data is really important, you may need to contact Data Mechanix in California (recommened to me by WD support).
I just assembled the original set back again, on a hunch. It powered up right away, without any data cord attached (it wouldn’t before, with or without usb or firewire cable attached, I had tried many times). I plugged the usb cord in and I can see all of my data is there.
I am copying the content now, somewhat relieved (but I’ll wait with happy screams until it’s all done). After that I’ll check if fw800 works.
It’s not the first time hardware started working again for me after I lost any hope and plugged it in just for a “desperate last check” months later.
