Bypassing a proprietary connection

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Acesn8s

Acesn8s

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Dec 2, 2013
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Hello mates, recently like 2 months ago before doing any research bought a WD Passport 2 TB External HDD. i had it hooked to my lappy one day, and the phone rang when i got up the unit very lightly swayed up against a plastic storage container and now no longer works, it lights up and thats it. i need the data from it pretty bad mate. Now i been searching for solutions for a couple of days and i think Phillip has my answer, so i hope he sees this, ok mate here goes, in this thread http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1859483/external-hdd-internal-showing-computer.html# u said
there is no matching cable for proprietary data connection interface to use internally. Your system is therefore unable to read the drive correctly. .
Click to expand...
.... now here--> http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/answers/id-1904558/external-hdd-encrypting-data.html u said
you've no need to worry about encryption, or proprietary compression, making data inaccessible, provided he didn't use the supplied automatic backup software.
Click to expand...
(i didn't) i binned it, its worthless. If there is no matching plugin for a proprietary connection to hook the drive up internaly, how would the data be retreived from the device ???
 
Solution
lp231
Most of the time, a external HDD is just a internal HDD put into a enclosure with a USB controller attached.
Some WD model still does it the old fashion way, but some of their new one, instead of having the USB controller being as a separated piece, they decided to solder directly to the drive. Why they do it this way? I really don't know.
Since grabbing the data out is slim, one possible way is to get another drive of the exact model, and swap the circuit board out.
But if that does not work, then you'll loose the warranty on the new drive.

I had a few ext drives, but never those pre-installed ones. I got a USB enclosure and install a internal HDD myself. Had a few of them through out the years and they all died, not the HDD, but the...
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Acesn8s

Acesn8s

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Dec 2, 2013
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10,510
Unfortunately yeah, just like that mate :( the USB/Sata converter sits directly on the HDD's PCB. I have some retail recovery software. Does the drive need to spin for the software to find it mate ?? coz it doesn't do anything but flash a blue light. :( i have DiskInternals Partition Recovery, and Remo Recover.
 
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Acesn8s

Acesn8s

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Dec 2, 2013
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10,510


Again unfortunate :( i can not believe with todays technology they don't make 1 single plugin to connect this drive
internally or to something we can use to retreive data. again in Phillips answer you've no need to worry. If the drive cannot be sorted, that makes it completely inaccessible, then why would there be no reason to worry ??

 
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Acesn8s

Acesn8s

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Dec 2, 2013
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10,510


i don't have it here atm mate, but when i checked yesterday it was dead silence. My step mums neices husband builds computers, i had her to drop the device off to him yesterday, to have a look at it. Given the results seen in this forum and others on this same subject, its quite obvious i'm not the only one with this issue, Until a suitable plugin is made for these drives, chances look pretty slim atm. On another note i did call WD Tech support and they have issued a replacment, but even with a new drive, considering no available options in emergency situations, and losing a terabyte and a half of data, how can i ever trust such a device again ?
 
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lp231

lp231

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Mar 24, 2006
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Most of the time, a external HDD is just a internal HDD put into a enclosure with a USB controller attached.
Some WD model still does it the old fashion way, but some of their new one, instead of having the USB controller being as a separated piece, they decided to solder directly to the drive. Why they do it this way? I really don't know.
Since grabbing the data out is slim, one possible way is to get another drive of the exact model, and swap the circuit board out.
But if that does not work, then you'll loose the warranty on the new drive.

I had a few ext drives, but never those pre-installed ones. I got a USB enclosure and install a internal HDD myself. Had a few of them through out the years and they all died, not the HDD, but the USB controller on the enclosure.
Now I use a SATA to USB adapter kit
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232002

It takes basically any internal drive and makes it external including optical drive and supports the old IDE.
This one is USB 2.0, which I find to be more reliable. I also have a USB 3 version (Rosewill) and that thing is picky. It will work on the USB 3 for my desktop, but not my laptop.
Here is a USB 3 version, maybe this will be better than the one I got.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812232035
The other option is to get a dock
http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&DEPA=0&Order=BESTMATCH&Description=usb+3+dock&N=-1&isNodeId=1



 
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Solution
Acesn8s

Acesn8s

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Dec 2, 2013
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Yes, thats how it used to be mate, and thats what i'm gonna get on from now on, times are changing and for the worse. Yesterday i went and had a look at office max and most externals now have 1 bloody plugin which means a proprietary connection interface and a total waste of time for me now. I found 1 seagate, A 1TB that is SATA and also has firewire plugins as well as the USB :) Now i'm still out my data, but when this new drive arrives, it will be brand new still n the box, i'm gonna take it back to where i got it. and trade it for the less expensive Seagate, at least if something happens, i will have a couple of options to retreive data. Thanks 4 all the help and links mate, now i know to stay clear from the likes of WD and there external drives.
 
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lp231

lp231

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Mar 24, 2006
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External HDD with 1 connector does not mean they're proprietary. Most of them uses standard interface, and the most common is USB.
USB 3.0 is a bit different than USB 2.0, but that connector is standard and really isn't proprietary.
Western Digital makes good drives, I use them on all my systems and internals ones don't have USB solder directly to the HDD.
 
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Acesn8s

Acesn8s

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Dec 2, 2013
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not anymore mate, i read through all the forums at WD, they switched to that interface on ALL external drives 2 years ago. and when i called about a replacment drive, the bloke on the phone said the same thing. he also said he gets 100s of calls daily, people mad coz there drives are not spinning up, he even said he thought they replaced more than they sold. i have the drive back atm, in laws said the drive was cactus, time for data recovery! i have this piece of junk in the freezer, gonna try this method b4 i send it back. at least after 30 mins in the freezer it was trying to spin up, which is more than what it has been doing, gonna leave it in there 12 hours, if it doesn't work i will still be in no worse shape than i was. A terminal flaw in a drive less than 3 months old is unacceptible.

 
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