Data Recovery

magicroundabout · 30 Sep 2016 at 11:30

i've an old WD My passport USB HDD which has stopped working.

I can hear it spin etc but is not recognised by the PC etc. Maybe the laser isn't aligned? I'm guessing here!!

Does anyone from here provide such a recovery service or can anyone recommend one?

I've just spoken to Kroll Ontrack who's prices start at 299 + VAT. :eek:

Which is a lot more than i was hoping to pay.

thanks in advance

Boogieman_WD · 30 Sep 2016 at 14:57

Hey there.

It really sounds like a unfortunate situation :\
HDDs don't have lasers in them. I guess you imagine it reading from the platters as if an optical drive would read a CD/DVD. With HDDs there are platter indeed but there's a mechanical arm with something like a needle at the end called a "head". It communicated (reads/writes) with the platters via magnetism. So it really sounds like there's some sort of issue with your drive, but in order to determine what could it be, I'd recommend that you give it a try with a different computer as well and with a different USB cable, to see if you get the same result. I'd also recommend that you check if the drive is recognized by Device Manager or Disk Management:
How to access Disk Management in Windows to manage hard drives
How to access Device Manager in Windows.

If the drive is recognized, posting a screenshot of what you see about it, could prove useful.

If you're set on data recovery, unfortunately date recovery companies are not the most budget friendly option, however they are the most reliable one, so you could give a go if you want: WD Data Recovery Partners.

Hope that helps. Please let me know how everything goes.
Boogieman_WD

Disco_P · 30 Sep 2016 at 19:51

Have you attempted removing the HDD from the enclosure and connecting directly with a a sata cable?

ScottyJKB · 2 Oct 2016 at 17:35

Disco_P said:
Have you attempted removing the HDD from the enclosure and connecting directly with a a sata cable?

+1 This removes the SATA connector being the issue.

Boogieman_WD · 3 Oct 2016 at 11:05

Unfortunately taking the drive out of its enclosure is not recommended.
I don't know how old is the HDD and if it's still under warranty, but besides voiding it, there are other things, which could prevent you from getting to your data. If the drive has hardware encryption, you won't be able to read the data without the original enclosure and another thing is that the drive might have a proprietary connector, which would mean that you won't be able to connect it internally, or via a different external enclosure.