Retrieving data

i have a legacy 2TB wd caviar green drive, model wd20ears. The usb port snapped off and i want to export all my data. the drive will power on ok but i cant access the files without the usb connector. I tried a SATA to usb directly but the drive came up as needing formatting which i want to avoid. Is there anything i can do? Thanks

Where did the drive come from ?

If it came out of a WD MyBook enclosure, the data is encrypted and why windows does not see the files and wants to format it.

Resolder a replacement USB connector or attempt to decrypt it using Linux

also from that link … If you discover that your drive is not encrypted, but it will not mount, see issue #70 (in the “Issues” tab of this project) for a tip on bypassing the partition table to reach your file system.

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Thanks so much for the advice! i took it to ubreakifix to see if they could solder for me but they said its beyond their scope. i have a chromebook with linux but i dont even know where to begin. Do you have the patience to simplify the steps or commands for a beginner? Thanks

Sorry, but i have limited Linux experience also.

But, there are step-by-step instructions in the Github link i posted.

You need to click on Code and select Download Zip … here’s the direct link below

https://github.com/themaddoctor/linux-mybook-tools/archive/refs/heads/master.zip

Unzip it and you’ll find a 22 Page PDF Document named … Mounting encrypted WD disks in linux.pdf

The instructions look a bit daunting, so I would advise setting aside some time with no outside interruptions and slowly and methodically working through it.