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:

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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