Hi, I recently realized my 2TB My Book Essential USB 2.0 Drive’s USB connection is no longer working. The drive still works and powers up, but the connection isn’t working at all. I’ve done some research and I read that the USB connection has been a problem with these drives.
What I am wondering though is, is there any way to get all my data off the drive since it won’t work in the current enclosure? I’m not willing to solder things as I’ve read other people have done to get it fixed, but if the USB connection no longer works, can I take the drive out and pop it in as an internal drive to get it to work? I’ve read that the drive has used some sort of encryption, so it won’t mount properly, but is there any way to get the files recovered even if WD used some sort of encryption on the drive?
If you backup your data with Smartware then the data is encrypted and is not possible to retrieve the data connecting the drive to a computer. I’ll suggest you to contact a data recovery company for your case.
Unfortunately no the data will be encrypted anyway. Did you try different ports on the PC and a different cable to make sure one of them isn’t the problem. Also try moving the power plug to a different receptacle.
I tried different USB cords as well as different power outlets and power cords too actually, so I am fairly certain it’s the USB connection within the enclosure.
Let me ask this then, if I were to put the drive into another WD enclosure with a working USB connection, which enclosures would allow me to read and access the drive? I do realize this probably voids the warranty, but I’d still like the information anyway.
The WD My Book I have is the 2TB USB 2.0 version with white lights, before they made the version that’s USB 3 and USB 2 together.
I have other MyBook external HDDs, two 1TB drives that are older with the blue light fronts and the morse code type of air vents.
Opening the drive does void the warranty. Swapping boards works sometimes, WD frequently changes them. For the best chance you want an identical drive of about the same age. Probably the only person with a real understanding of these boards here is fzabkar. You can PM him and see if he has any other suggestion.
