Recovery software hangs for wd my passport 1 tb (600$?)

[adamparkar]

Hello Gurus,
I have 1 TB wd my passport on which I set earlier password. This password works fine because it is not the case that i forgot password or something. I only want 10-20 gb of photos and some documents from all of its 900 gb data.
I took this to office and unsafely removed multiple times. After coming home after unlocking hard drive becomes visible however I can not double click and go in. It hangs. Also when I try to recover data , program or tool or software whenever I launch they hang however as soon as I take it out , those softwares gets launched.
I have given this to professional and he said that heads are gone bad. You need to replace it. Now that hard drive has Model number and serial number. When I put this serial number on wd website , this says other model number but professional guy says wd keeps on changing model numbers inside which is unique. He said you need to give us 300 $ to order that hard drive so that we can transplant good heads , later 300$ if the recovery possible so total 600$.
Now when I ask him what are the chances of recovery he says that 2 out of 3 gets recovery.

I have few questions on the same , please somebody try to answer ::
1) why the data recovery programme like seagate , easeus or wondershare hangs ?
2) is the professional guy speaking truth about bad heads or i can recovery data myself ?
3) Is it possible to image or clone this corrupt external hard drive to another external hard drive ?

Thanks in advance,
Adam

 

[spooky2th]

Recovery techs should be able to take the disk platter out and recover any data on it. Without replacing the read/write head.

If the WD Passport is out of warranty, I would take it apart and install the HD that is inside with a USB adapter or straight to the MB inside like a second HD and see if the drive works.

 

[D_Know_WD]

Hi there adamparkar,

Sorry that you are facing some issues with your WD drive. 🙁

I want to start with that most probably your safest bet of recovering your data is to contact one of WD's Data Recovery Partners.

Apart from that, you can try something simple as just changing the USB cable as well as the USB port you are connecting it to.
In case the issue persists, you can test it with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool. In case this hangs, then I guess the drive has some mechanical fault.

Short answers to your questions:
1- Most probably due to the mechanical fault.
2 - It is possible, though you can't really be sure that the heads are damaged. It could be something else. I would say that you will need to use the help of a professional and you shouldn't open the drive up or take it out of the enclosure(as it is hardware encrypted and you will not be able to access the data in case the drive is out of the enclosure).
3 - In case you can't access the drive with any other software, then I guess you will not be able to do that as well.

I guess you can try the Ubuntu Live CD approach. Yet again, in case the drive has some physical problem, this will not help as well. Check this out: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/267999-32-recover-data-mode

WD's DLG tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=epmCvc
WD's Data Recovery Partners: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=VcMMNd

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

 

[adamparkar]

Recovery techs should be able to take the disk platter out and recover any data on it. Without replacing the read/write head.

If the WD Passport is out of warranty, I would take it apart and install the HD that is inside with a USB adapter or straight to the MB inside like a second HD and see if the drive works.

thanks but how to do that ? because the professional is charging 300$ to buy another hd to replace bad head with good ones ? So it means he is fooling me or what 🙁
How to do the procedure which you said , what is full form of MB ? Could you please describe the procedure in detail if you can ?

 

[adamparkar]

Hi there adamparkar,

Sorry that you are facing some issues with your WD drive. 🙁

I want to start with that most probably your safest bet of recovering your data is to contact one of WD's Data Recovery Partners.

Apart from that, you can try something simple as just changing the USB cable as well as the USB port you are connecting it to.
In case the issue persists, you can test it with WD's Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool. In case this hangs, then I guess the drive has some mechanical fault.

Short answers to your questions:
1- Most probably due to the mechanical fault.
2 - It is possible, though you can't really be sure that the heads are damaged. It could be something else. I would say that you will need to use the help of a professional and you shouldn't open the drive up or take it out of the enclosure(as it is hardware encrypted and you will not be able to access the data in case the drive is out of the enclosure).
3 - In case you can't access the drive with any other software, then I guess you will not be able to do that as well.

I guess you can try the Ubuntu Live CD approach. Yet again, in case the drive has some physical problem, this will not help as well. Check this out: http://www.tomshardware.co.uk/forum/267999-32-recover-data-mode

WD's DLG tool: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=epmCvc
WD's Data Recovery Partners: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=VcMMNd

Let me know how this goes,
D_Know_WD

thanks for your reply in detail. I appreciate that.
When I launch seagate recovery software , it does not need me to unlock the drive because it shows me the drive however then it goes for block by block data recovery. I did not wait for that block by block because i did not believe whether it works so just after few block I removed my wd and saw the recovered data which shows only as "root".
If I unlock my drive and when drive is showed and then I launch my recovery programme , that time all types of recovery programme stops and unable to go next stage 🙁
Now I am thinking solution to avoid 600 $ if I can !!

 

[spooky2th]

Recovery techs should be able to take the disk platter out and recover any data on it. Without replacing the read/write head.

If the WD Passport is out of warranty, I would take it apart and install the HD that is inside with a USB adapter or straight to the MB inside like a second HD and see if the drive works.

thanks but how to do that ? because the professional is charging 300$ to buy another hd to replace bad head with good ones ? So it means he is fooling me or what 🙁
How to do the procedure which you said , what is full form of MB ? Could you please describe the procedure in detail if you can ?

The tech is overcharging you to say the least. Inside the inclosure is the hdd and you might be able to connect it to your comp like a regular HDD or you can get a USB adapter to plug into the sata port on the drive. If it is encrypted like the WD representative said, you might try the WD tools or you may be stuck with getting a professional.

 

[D_Know_WD]

I will just sum the things up:

- Do not take the drive out of the enclosure in case you need the data stored on it.
- Try using different USB cable.
- Try booting up Ubuntu from a USB stick or another drive and see whether you will be able to access the drive. In case there is some mechanical damage on the drive, no software approach will work.
- If nothing works, then I guess there is either something wrong with the enclosure or the HDD itself. In this case you will need to look for some professional help.

D_Know_WD

 

[adamparkar]

thanks a lot guys , i forgot to put the full stop to my thread. I have got free recovery from other company and now the problem is solved. They used some reverse mechanism to recover my data.

 

[hang-the-9]

You have said a few times that you were removing your drive in the middle of procedures like recovery and removing it without using the proper remove external device procedure. That can cause data corruption and at times can lead to hardware issues. Treat your data like you actually want to keep it, unplugging a drive in middle of it being used is bad.