Will reformatting WD MyBook without its USB adapter let it run without encryption?

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Gregg Eshelman

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Mar 25, 2014
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I had a 3TB MyBook drive on which the 12V protective shunt got shorted by accidentally plugging in a 24V Dymo Turbo 400 power supply.

Removing the shunt from the drive restored it to working. (Great job, WD, putting over voltage protection only on the 5V line for the USB adapter!)

While I had the thing apart, I connected the WD USB board to another drive and it worked fine.

That leads me to think that if a MyBook is taken apart, the drive repartitioned and formatted normally, then put back together, that should defeat the always on encryption that'll kill your data if the USB adapter board dies. Just don't repartition and reformat again.

Anyone tested this?
 
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photonboy
Seems certain it would function that way since just using the internal drive (SATA to SATA) would work the same as any other typical desktop drive.

There are workarounds to decrypt if you remove the drive (and don't format) but you need Linux and to Google the steps.

What's the point of the encryption anyway?
"Duh, it's security dude!"

So if somebody steals your entire USB drive it's going to work fine. This stops what, the thief's who steal defective drives?

Or is it just for a QUICK ERASE of the chip so you don't need to OVERWRITE all the data (i.e. clear zeros) to truly delete all your data?

OTHER:
1. I would create a backup either using SyncbackSE (I have it set to daily backup CHANGES to a folder) or setup RAID1 since the HDD...
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photonboy

photonboy

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Jun 20, 2006
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Seems certain it would function that way since just using the internal drive (SATA to SATA) would work the same as any other typical desktop drive.

There are workarounds to decrypt if you remove the drive (and don't format) but you need Linux and to Google the steps.

What's the point of the encryption anyway?
"Duh, it's security dude!"

So if somebody steals your entire USB drive it's going to work fine. This stops what, the thief's who steal defective drives?

Or is it just for a QUICK ERASE of the chip so you don't need to OVERWRITE all the data (i.e. clear zeros) to truly delete all your data?

OTHER:
1. I would create a backup either using SyncbackSE (I have it set to daily backup CHANGES to a folder) or setup RAID1 since the HDD main unit can still be the cause of failure and thus your data would be gone.

2. OVERVOLTAGE:
Overvoltage and Overcurrent protection would be in the AC adapter, and/or a surge protector you plug the AC adapter into. However due to cost they are pretty cheap units.

I'm not sure I'd blame WD for that really as again it's a cost thing plus protection can only do so much if the voltage is way over spec.

(Also a bit confused since it's either AC power or for 2.5" HDD's they get power through a 5V USB connection. How does the 12V power SOURCE apply?)
 
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