Hello, all.
I have an old MyBook World Edition 1 White Light (MyBook 1140).
8 years ago my Windows-XP PC’s processor was failing and shut down and restarted a number of times in quick succession, before I could park and remove the MyBook. The next time I connected the MyBook to a different Windows-XP PC, I received an error message stating that the device was going to fail and there was one chance to recover the data (or words to that effect – it was 8 years ago, so I may not be remembering it word for word). At that time my circumstances (I was living in the remote mountains) prevented me from buying a new 2 TB drive, so I carefully put the MyBook in storage, and have been carrying it around without doing anything to it ever since.
Someone recently asked me for some of the data that I had stored on that drive (which I was using to backup all of my files). So I took the MyBook out, but could not find the USB-3 cable. Therefore I removed the HDD from the case and put it into my cloner (essentially making it an external hard drive). The drive showed up in Windows DiskManagement (this PC is running Windows 7), but it said that the drive needs to be initialized. I do not believe that I did anything (though that was a month or more ago, at a time when many other issues were coming to a head, so I cannot be sure what I may have done – though attaching it to my Windows PC now, DiskManagement indicates that the drive is still uninitialized, so perhaps I did nothing).
I tested the drive (without the PCB), and there appear to be no issues with it (CrystalDiskInfo, as one test for example, rates it as good, with no errors or other issues; TestDisk also found no errors, though it was unable to identify the partition); and this past weekend I had a technician test the PCB, and there were no issues with it, either. He attached it to another hard drive, and that opened in his DiskManagement (apparently he was using a drive that had already been initialized on Windows). Unfortunately, I did not take the WesternDigital hard drive along, for fear that it might be damaged (the trip was potentially dangerous for devices). Last weekend I was also able to get the appropriate USB-3 cable and a new power plug (the person who tested the PCB suggested that the plug may have been the issue).
When I got back home, I reattached the PCB, and attached it to the PC via the USB-3 cable. Again, Windows DiskManagement recognizes the drive as 2 TB, but again it states that it must be initialized (which I did not do). It also recognizes the 30 MB WD Unlocker (I know my password, and inserted it into the WD Unlocker, but, though it says that the drive is unlocked, nothing happens). I also tried attaching it to my Windows 10 laptop, but the result is the same – WD Unlocker shows up as a 30 MB drive; the 2 TB WesternDigital drive is showing up as not initialized.
I also attached the HDD (through the PCB) to a Linux Mint PC (since I read somewhere that the MyBook uses a Linux-based file system), and the Disk Utility recognizes the drive, but does not recognize any partitions (there should be only one), and otherwise states that the contents of the drive are “unknown.” (It does not show up in the Linux File Manager, probably for the same reason – that the contents of the drive are “unknown.”)
I have pushed the reset button several times over the course of this experience, but that did nothing.
Might anyone have any suggestions regarding what I can try now? I have read a number of articles online (from here and elsewhere – indeed, that was how I found this WesternDigital Community just now), but none of them seem to be describing the same situation as I had. As I said, the device indicated that it was failing, and I had only one chance to recover the data; yet when I investigated the components, neither the hard drive, nor the PCB, have any issues. The drive works, and the data appears to be intact (the drive is not “empty”). But the functioning PCB is not able to read it.
Thank you all very much for any assistance that you might be able to provide. Please have a good day.
– DMB
