Harddrive recovery solution (recently Mybook)

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Grimwood

Reputable
Sep 28, 2014
4
0
4,510
Hi,
I have my WD My Book now for 5 years and it worked fine (Wasn't much in use).
From yesterday to today suddenly it doesn't work anymore and I can't find a reasonable solution.
Anyone can help with a suggestion?

When plugging it in, the LED just flashed, and after a while an "empty" partition is shown in Windows. If you click on it you are prompted to format it.

I opened the external box and plugged it internally to SATA cable.
Basically the same thing. It is shown in the "Disk Management", but as "Not Initialized".

Soo, do I have to send it to some professional recovery company, or "initialize" it and try to recover the files with a tool like Recuva??

Thanks so much in advance.
 
Solution
D_Know_WD
Hi there Grimwood,

Your WD My Book device is most probably hardware encrypted. This means that you will not be able to recover your data if you connect the device internally without the enclosure. I would advise you to try to put back the drive in the enclosure and try to repair it with the DLG tool, as it will not do any harm to the data.
You could also try the following: Click on the hard drive -> Properties -> Tools -> Error Cheking Check Now -> Click on both options. This may take a while.

You can try using some software recovery tools, though keep in mind that this may further damage the data. Your safest bet is to contact of the the WD's Data Recovery Partners.

WD Data Recovery Partners...
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M

mbarnes86

Splendid
Sep 16, 2010
3,839
7
26,965
HI

I would use western digital data life guard for windows to test the hard disk for physical damage before proceeding further
If not damaged you could try chkdsk on drive
But it may put all files in recovered folder.

Testdisk/ PhotoRec can fix corrupted partition and format data

If data is critical, clone hard disk to another disk which is of similar or larger size and run recovery procedures on clone not original disk

Working on sata or eSata hard drives is much faster than usb 2.0 hard drives

Regards
Mike Barnes
 
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G

Grimwood

Reputable
Sep 28, 2014
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4,510


How can I clone the disk? If I use a program like Macrium Reflect it shows the disk, but there's no option for it. I would have to "format" it first...

I also used the Life Guard program. It gave me the option to "repair" but I'm not sure if I will "destroy" more with it (to be able to recover 500 gb data). Or should I do that in any case?
 
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D_Know_WD

D_Know_WD

Judicious
Jul 30, 2014
6,633
3
35,960
Hi there Grimwood,

Your WD My Book device is most probably hardware encrypted. This means that you will not be able to recover your data if you connect the device internally without the enclosure. I would advise you to try to put back the drive in the enclosure and try to repair it with the DLG tool, as it will not do any harm to the data.
You could also try the following: Click on the hard drive -> Properties -> Tools -> Error Cheking Check Now -> Click on both options. This may take a while.

You can try using some software recovery tools, though keep in mind that this may further damage the data. Your safest bet is to contact of the the WD's Data Recovery Partners.

WD Data Recovery Partners: http://support.wdc.com/recovery/index.asp?lang=en

Cheers,
D_Know_WD
 
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Solution
G

Grimwood

Reputable
Sep 28, 2014
4
0
4,510


Thanks for your useful answer.
So when I put the harddrive back into the box and use the Life Guard software and it prompts me to "repair". Should I do that or rather not?
 
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F

fzabkar

Judicious
Sep 22, 2010
9,376
745
36,390
"Life Guard" is incapable of repairing anything. At best it will write zeros to a bad sector, thereby destroying the data in that particular sector.

I would start by obtaining a SMART report using a tool (not Life Guard) that shows the raw attribute values. CrystalDiskInfo (freeware) is one such tool.

Next I would use a disc editor (eg DMDE freeware) to view sector 0. This will tell us why the partition is "empty".

Please don't initialise, format, or write anything to your drive, especially not when it is connected via SATA. Doing so would be data destructive.
 
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G

Grimwood

Reputable
Sep 28, 2014
4
0
4,510
I didn't think it would be that easy because I really thought my data was gone this time. Buuut, the problem just was that I removed the drive from the box and put it internally (like someone suggested on a forum). Now that I put it back into the enclosure, I was able to use a recovery software to recover all the data.
Thanks for the answers!
 
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