I have a 3TB MyBook Essential that recently died. It would not power on. I tried a different power adapter (12V DC, same as the one the drive game with) and still no luck. It appears the enclosure is truly dead. I removed the drive from the enclosure and plugged it directly into a computer, but the partition that was on it does not show up. Instead, a smaller partition of “unknown” (in Windows) type shows up.
If anyone has thoughts on how I can get my data off this drive, I’d love to hear them!
P.S. I have a linux box I’ll plug this drive in to tomorrow to see if it can read the “unknown” parition.
It turns out that this drive is encrypted. That’s why it looks like gibberish when plugged directly into another computer (even linux). WD made a really bizarre decision here. If you don’t enable encryption on this drive, it is, by default, still encrypted with a key that’s stored on the controller. So, if the controller dies, your data is basically lost (unless WD did something even more dumb by using the same key for all drives). So, zero security added with the cost of another rather huge point of failure. Good job WD!
Fortunately for me, it appears the problem with the controller is just a loose power connection. A little wiggling and some solder and it’s good for now. I’m transferring all my data off this drive. Once that’s done, I’ll toss the controller in the garbage and format the drive for use as an internal drive without encryption. I’ll be doing the same with my other WD external drive and won’t be buying them in the future.
This was a seriously bone-headed design decision on the part of WD. I’m surprised. People should be warned not to put any data they want to keep on these things.
I could certianly have saved myself some grief by reading up on this purchase more thoroughly. I didn’t realize a feature I wasn’t using was implemented in such a way as to compromise the reliability of the device in such a severe manner.
look at the positive … you managed to backup your data, you’re more the wiser now and spread the word to friends, family and work colleges so they can make an informed purchase decision
Another problem with the encrypted drives occurs when the user uses the wrong power supply and damages the board. That’s far more difficult to get around and recover data.
