Undeleting files from WD My Passport 4TB

WD External Drives External Drives for PC
1

OS windows 10 Home 64 bit
Brand new, working WD My passport 4 TB external USB 3.0

I got this drive today, it works fine but I did some undelete tests and found out that I am unable to undelete any files once deleted and recycle bin was emptied.
This is completely unacceptable !!!
I got this drive for protecting my data and I need to be able to recover deleted files if needed.

Here is how I did the test:
1.Copied a folder with 2 sub directories full of files to the WD my passport drive.
2. Immediately deleted that folder and all its content
3. Immediately Emptied the Recycle bin.
4. Immediately Started Recuva Free utility, it scan the drive, found the files but all files has 00 bytes.

Just for reference, using exact same test sequence, I am able to undelete from my PC internal HDD with no problem !
I can also undelete from 2 other older WD My Passport (2TB and 3TB MP Ultra) that are connected to my PC along with the new drive !

So something is definitely not OK with the way this new WD my passport 4TB is house-keeping the files.
Is it due to the encryption chip ? If so I would like to disable it as I will never use any encryption.
Is that some kind of a TRIM command same as for SSD drive ? If so I would like to disable it if possible.

Please note that I did not install any WD utlity, I am using the windows native drivers, file explorer etc…

Please advise
Thank you

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2

I would advice you to buy something else that does not support TRIM command.
Or try to use disable TRIM command from Windows

1 Like
3

Thankd for the info

Are you sure it is actually using a Trim or similar protocol ?
I thought is it’s used only for SSD drives and the MyPassport drive I got is not an SSD
.
As I mentioned in the OP, I have 2 other older MyPassport drives that do not have any issues with un-deleting files.

4

Well, you can test it out by issuing that fsutil command line.

5

I believe that Fsutil will show if Trim is enabled system-wide and not per HDD
Since I have another SSD drive, Trim is enabled system wide.

6

then there is no luck. I believe when computer enable TRIM in their product. They will not give consumer option to disable it.

1 Like
7

It has to do with the 4TB WD My Passport using SMR (Shingled magnetic recording)

And not PMR (Perpendicular Recording) … which all hard drive manufacturers are discontinuing as hard drives get larger and larger capacity.

I highly recommend reading the link below …

2 Likes
8

Good info, Joey. I’d never heard of such a thing.

9

Good info Thanks so much
I ran CrystalDisk Info utility and it is showing that the drive has Trim.
I though that was am SSD only function.
Maybe it meant SMR ?
My older MP drives do not show support for Trim

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1 Like
10

YES! TRIM command is used by SMR disks :\

YES… WD confirms that SMR disks have TRIM: Windows & macOS: TRIM Command Support for SSD

YES… 40NMZW is SMR! The HDD Platter Capacity Database: Western Digital - 2.5" (AV-25/Red/Green/Blue 12~15mm/USB)

11

Another excellent reason NOT TO BUY SMR disks…