Recovering Data

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

Hi,

I Own a WD My Book 1TB External Hardisk, it is many years Old.

The Mini USB Port near the DC pin came out as it was Old and had rust.

so, I chucked the Hardisk out of the casing and removed the controller board.

And plugged in the Hard Disk directly to the computer.

when opening my file explorer to check the hard disk. to my shock it said 900 something GB Free of 900 Something GB.

But I had some 600 GB Full of pictures and data, I then immediately turned Off the PC and removed the Hard disk, and Now I don’t know how to recover the files. If any of you have faced this Issue, please help me out here.

Now What should I do, Resolder the pin to the controller Board and connect the Hard disk to it and then connect it to the PC to see if I can recover the files or,

Just Plug the hard disk directly to the pc and try to recover it or, go to a professional?

First, is it possible to recover my data? No new data has been written to it, just plugged in to the PC as soon as I saw empty disk, removed the Hard Disk and kept it aside.

So, this is what happened, Hardisk working fine, using it to back up my files, one day the USB pin broke off from the controller board, tried to connect the hard disk directly to the computer…no data shown, removed Hard Disk and kept it aside to prevent further damage.

2

Hi @ponenock ,

Have you opened a Support Case? If not opened, for more information, please contact the WD Technical Support team for the best assistance and troubleshooting:

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3

Current My Books are encrypted. IIRC, in earlier times there were Essentials models (encrypted) and Elements models (not encrypted).

Can you show us the Partitions tab in DMDE?

https://dmde.com/

Don’t panic. There is probably an inexpensive solution.

4

As you said you have immediately stopped using the drive and there is no chance of overwriting then there are high chance that your data is recoverable. You can try a few steps for you to take in this issue.

  1. Resolder the USB Port: If you have the means to resolder the USB port onto the controller board and believe you can do it safely without causing further damage, this could be a good option. Once you’ve reattached the USB port, you can connect the hard drive to your computer and attempt to access your files.

  2. Use Data Recovery Software: If resoldering the USB port isn’t an option or doesn’t work, you can try using data recovery software. There are many reputable data recovery tools available online that can scan your hard drive for lost or deleted files. Some popular options include Stellar Data Recovery software, EaseUS Data Recovery Wizard, Recuva, and TestDisk.

Connect your hard drive to your computer and run the data recovery software. Follow the prompts to scan the drive for lost files.
Once the scan is complete, the software will display a list of recoverable files. Select the files you want to recover and follow the instructions to save them to a different storage device. It’s advisable to first try the free version to know whether the software can recover the software or not.

  1. Seek Professional Help: If you’re not comfortable attempting data recovery on your own or if the DIY methods don’t work, you can consider taking your hard drive to a professional data recovery service. They have specialized equipment and expertise to recover data from damaged or inaccessible drives. Keep in mind that professional data recovery services are usually expensive, so weigh the cost against the value of your lost data.

Before attempting any data recovery, ensure that you handle the hard drive with care to avoid further damage. If the data on the drive is valuable to you, it’s worth taking the time to explore these options to try to recover it.

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5

Since your WD My Book drive might use hardware encryption, re-solder the mini USB port to the original controller board and reconnect the drive as it originally was to try accessing your data. If this isn’t possible, create a disk image of the drive to avoid data loss, then use Professional data recovery software. If these steps fail, consult a professional data recovery service like DriveSavers or Secure Data Recovery. Avoid using the drive to prevent overwriting your data.

6

It’s concerning when data appears to be lost, but there are several steps you can take to try and recover your files from the WD My Book external hard drive. Given that you haven’t written any new data to the drive, your chances of recovery are relatively high. Since the drive could be hardware-encrypted, it’s best to first try connecting the drive through the original controller board. Otherwise, use a recovery tool like Stellar to recover your lost data.

7

Yes, it’s very concerning, @ Ellinor_william, but don’t despair.

These are the tools that data recovery professionals use:

https://www.hddoracle.com/viewtopic.php?f=36&t=3208

Most are less expensive than the high visibility software that Google puts at the top of its search rankings.

BTW, no DR pro uses Stellar, at least none that I know of.

9

Hard drive recovery depends on whether your device is physically damaged. If the hard drive can work well, a data recovery tool can help you recover lost photos and data.

You can follow the guide of this page(from PCWorld): How to recover data from a hard drive: 3 top methods | PCWorld

Data recovery software is an affordable method to recover lost data, and the price ranges from $30 to 100$

But if your external hard drive is physically damaged, a data recovery service might help. You can contact the hard drive manufacturer and send the drive to them for help, or you can find a data recovery store on Google Maps.

It is costly to recover data with data recovery services（It is tough to recover data from a damaged device). I would suggest comparing multiple data recovery stores and requesting the price.

10

I own a WD My Book 1TB external hard disk that’s several years old. Recently, the mini USB port near the DC pin came loose due to rust, so I removed the hard disk from the casing and connected it directly to my computer. To my shock, File Explorer showed the disk as having 900 GB free out of 900 GB, even though it previously had about 600 GB of pictures and data. I immediately turned off the PC and disconnected the hard disk, unsure how to recover the lost files.

In this situation, there are a few steps you can take. First, you could try resoldering the broken USB pin to the controller board and reconnecting the hard disk to your PC. This might restore access to your files if the data is intact and the issue was purely physical. Alternatively, you could connect the hard disk directly to the PC again and use data recovery software.

If these methods don’t work, consider using a dedicated data recovery tool like BLR Hard Drive Data Recovery Tool. This software is designed to recover lost data from damaged or corrupted drives, offering a user-friendly way to retrieve your files without needing professional assistance. If the disk still shows as empty or inaccessible, professional data recovery services might be your best option to recover the important files.

11

Since WD My Book drives often use hardware encryption via the controller, your data might only be accessible through that board. No worries at all, there are various powerful data recovery tools that can help. Such as DMDE Free Edition, TestDisk, UFS explorer, etc. They work well if the drive’s file system is corrupted but data is still physically there.

On the other hand, if these software options don’t work for you, taking it to a data recovery professional is the safest option. However, recovering a 1TB hard drive is quite expensive, costing around $800 to $1,000. I recommend making a few more calls to get the best quote. Trusted data recovery services in North America include:

  • DriveSavers Data Recovery
  • Secure Data Recovery Services
  • Gillware Data Recovery
  • Ontrack Data Recovery