Question about 500GB My Book enclosure

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
#1

I have a 500GB My Book Essential external hard drive. The piece that connected the external to the USB extention broke about 2 years ago and I have not used it since then.

I asked around and I was told that I could get it back working again if I bought a new external enclosure and just hooked up my old hard drive to that. My question is, do I need to buy an external hard drive enclosure that’s the exact same size as the one I have now? Or can I buy one that’s any size and it won’t make a difference?

Thanks.

#2

If it’s a drive with Smartware it’s hardware encrypted and the data will be useless even if you manage to get it off. About the only thing to try is see if some electronics person can solder on a new port.

Joe

#3

How do I find out if it has Smartware?

Because I have no idea.