Wd passport 300gb, USB doesn't recognise the device any more

[ursus47]

My Passport, with more than 100 GB of data in it has let me down.
USB doesn't recognise the device any more.
I would like to recover all the data.
Is there anybody with some positive answer out ther?
Please HELP. Thanks

 

[fzabkar]

WD users are reporting physical connection problems with the micro-USB connector.

Does the drive make any sound or vibration? Did you drop it?

If your drive is trying to spin up but cannot, then try a USB Y-cable.

A standard USB port is current limited to 500mA. A Seagate ST9500325AS drive, for example, requires about 850mA during spinup, and about 400mA thereafter. A Y-cable is therefore sometimes necessary to pick up power from two USB ports.

Is your drive an Elements or an Essentials? The latter incorporates AES hardware encryption.

How does Microsoft's UVCView utility see the external drive?
http://www.users.on.net/~fzabkar/USB_IDs/UVCView.x86.exe

 

[Posesso]

Hi there,

The web gave me tons of options butI have decided to post here because this USB device viewer gave surprisingly high amount of info. See it pasted at the end.

My history. I have this WD: http://support.wdc.com/product/install.asp?groupid=203&lang=en

I used it for 3 years on my HP (Pavillion dv6500), when it had XP installed. Suddenly (no hit) one day stopped being recognized by the explorer, nor by the Administration tool. I could still heard the sound of "USB connected/disconnected" from Windows. At that point I accepted I had to go to specialized company to get my data out from the external HDD.

Funnily enough, I recently updated to Windows 7 and now the computer manager can see it but is asks to initialize it. Didn't do that since it can imply loss of all the data.

I tried several tools: Find and Mount (cannot see it), iCare data recovery, Handy recovery, Minitool power data (none of the last three helped, they see the drive but give 0B in the size). I tried a bit Test dysk but the interface is weird so I have to dig further. I am also going to try UBCD but first I need to buy CDs.

I haven't tried the Y-cable thing since it was working before without problems.

Any suggestion?

Thanks in advance,
Luis


OUTPUT from USB device viewer:
============================================================
---===>Device Information<===---
English product name: "External HDD "

ConnectionStatus:
Current Config Value: 0x01 -> Device Bus Speed: High
Device Address: 0x02
Open Pipes: 2

===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x07
bDescriptorType: 0x05
bEndpointAddress: 0x81 -> Direction: IN - EndpointID: 1
bmAttributes: 0x02 -> Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval: 0x00

===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x07
bDescriptorType: 0x05
bEndpointAddress: 0x02 -> Direction: OUT - EndpointID: 2
bmAttributes: 0x02 -> Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval: 0x00

===>Device Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x12
bDescriptorType: 0x01
bcdUSB: 0x0200
bDeviceClass: 0x00 -> This is an Interface Class Defined Device
bDeviceSubClass: 0x00
bDeviceProtocol: 0x00
bMaxPacketSize0: 0x40 = (64) Bytes
idVendor: 0x1058 = Western Digital Technologies, Inc.
idProduct: 0x0704
bcdDevice: 0x0105
iManufacturer: 0x01
English (United States) "Western Digital "
iProduct: 0x02
English (United States) "External HDD "
iSerialNumber: 0x03
English (United States) "202020202020202020202020"
bNumConfigurations: 0x01

===>Configuration Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x09
bDescriptorType: 0x02
wTotalLength: 0x0020 -> Validated
bNumInterfaces: 0x01
bConfigurationValue: 0x01
iConfiguration: 0x00
bmAttributes: 0xC0 -> Bus Powered
MaxPower: 0x01 = 2 mA

===>Interface Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x09
bDescriptorType: 0x04
bInterfaceNumber: 0x00
bAlternateSetting: 0x00
bNumEndpoints: 0x02
bInterfaceClass: 0x08 -> This is a Mass Storage USB Device Interface Class
bInterfaceSubClass: 0x06
bInterfaceProtocol: 0x50
iInterface: 0x00

===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x07
bDescriptorType: 0x05
bEndpointAddress: 0x81 -> Direction: IN - EndpointID: 1
bmAttributes: 0x02 -> Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval: 0x00

===>Endpoint Descriptor<===
bLength: 0x07
bDescriptorType: 0x05
bEndpointAddress: 0x02 -> Direction: OUT - EndpointID: 2
bmAttributes: 0x02 -> Bulk Transfer Type
wMaxPacketSize: 0x0200 = 0x200 max bytes
bInterval: 0x00

 

[Posesso]

Tried to edit my last reply but it didn't work. Partition Find and Moount does actually see the drive and indicates 0B, but no visible partitions on it.

 

[fzabkar]

A reported capacity of 0 bytes normally indicates that the drive has an internal fault rather than a board fault. I'm assuming that it is spinning up.

The serial number ("2020...20") consists of 12 ASCII spaces whereas normally it would be an ASCII-hexadecimal string corresponding to the serial number on the drive's label.

Are HD Sentinel or HDDScan able to see the drive's SMART attributes?

 

[Posesso]

It does spin although it sounds different than earlier, slightly louder and more acute I believe.
I will try later at home HD Sentinel and HDDScan.

 

[Posesso]

This is the output from HD sentinel. Should I bother any more or take it to the technical service directly.

-- Physical Disk Information - Disk: #1: WD --

Hard Disk Summary
-------------------
Hard Disk Number . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1
Interface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : SCSI
Hard Disk Model ID . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : WD
Firmware Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1.05
Hard Disk Serial Number . . . . . . . . . . . . : 704
Total Size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 MB
Power State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Active
Current Temperature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ?
Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? (Unknown)
Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ? (Unknown)

Properties
------------
Vendor Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ?
Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : OK
Version . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 4
Device Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Disk
ASC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : ?
ASCQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0

SCSI Information
------------------
Removable . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Failure Prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Not supported
Failure Prediction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : Disabled

Transfer Rate Information
---------------------------
Total Data Read . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 MB, 0 MB since installation (12/5/2012)
Total Data Write . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 MB, 0 MB since installation
Average Reads Per Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.00 MB
Average Writes Per Day . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0.00 MB
Current Transfer Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Maximum Transfer Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Current Read Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Current Write Rate . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 KB/s
Current Disk Activity . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 0 %

 

[Posesso]

So well, the answer seems to be that no, it cannot see the S.M.A.R.T. attributes. The label of SMART in the application's interface is clear as well.

 

[fzabkar]

HD Sentinel can't see the actual drive. Instead it is getting its [bogus] information from the USB-SATA bridge IC.

bcdDevice: 0x0105
idProduct: 0x0704

Firmware Revision . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . : 1.05
Hard Disk Serial Number . . . . . . . . . . . . : 704

I can't see any DIY solution. Sorry. :-(

 

[Posesso]

Don't worry mate. Thanks for your help. I hope this thread will somehow help somebody else. And you know, now I can be sure that I did all that was in my hand