Windows 7 External HDD to SATA fail

[bullinc]

Hello guys.


So this is what happened:


I had a new external HDD WD My Book Essential USB 3.0 (2TB) 6 month ago. All was good until two days ago. I rebooted my computer and I won't boot up. After disconnecting WD HDD it work perfectly But after I turned my PC off, and tried to turn it on, again it won't boot up with the HDD connected AND some weird ticking noise started in HDD itself. I sounds like it's trying to boot but failing and trying again. So I disconnected, boot up the system and then plugged it in. Nothing.... Not in explorer, not in disk management not in Acronis program, nothing.... I rebooted and it showed and Local Disk R, but I can't even start disk management or open it with explorer, or even open any program to be able to see/fix it. In the end, HDD wasn't even turning on.


So the next day I called tech support of WD. They told me standard stuff, like "Disconnect, Reconnect Try another port,...etc ". Nothing. By warranty they can replace it, BUT I don't care about the drive itself, I need data. In this case they can't help me. All they told me is to contact special company for that, and it's gonna cost me up to 1000$.


After that call, I noticed a burning smell from HDD. It was connected to power and USB. I disconnected and I opened the case of my HDD. SATA HDD itself seams to be fine, but the connection board (with USB and power) burned.


So, I connected directly via SATA to my PC. And that's when the fun starts:
BIOS did not recognized it. I switched the SATA port. BIOS showed the model and everything but it gives me "Ultra DMA Mode-5 S.M.A.R.T Capable but Command Failed."
Reboot.... All good. In Windows... NOTHING. In different software... NOTHING. Reboot again: and again "Ultra DMA Mode-5 S.M.A.R.T Capable but Command Failed". Reboot. S.M.A.R.T. Command Failed... Reboot 5 times, all good. Started LiveBoot CD by Wondershare. It found my HDD and UNKNOWN. Was trying to recover data from it, program freeze. Reboot again. Was trying to fix mbr with Win 7 Boot Cd, nothing cuz it can't see were to fix mbr. Reboot. Started HDAT2. Nothing. Reboot 10 times, and HDAT2 finally can see my HDD. Before I start any test I shows me read error from UNKNOWN DEVICE. Started "hdat2 most powerful test". Nothing. No errors was found. .


Also I try Read MBR with the same HDAT2. Everything 0/0/0/0.


So what else I can possibly try?? Oh yeah, when I connected my HDD via SATA, that "boot or not to boot" sound was still there.


My PC:
> Mainboard : Asus M4A785TD-V EVO
> Chipset : AMD 785G
> Processor : AMD Athlon II X4 620 @ 2600MHz
> Physical Memory : 8GB DDR3-SDRAM
> Video Card : NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
> Hard Disk : Western Digital WD10EADS-00M2B0 ATA Device (1000GB) <-- this HDD is fine.
> DVD-Rom Drive : HL-DT-ST DVD-RAM GSA-H50N
> DVD-Rom Drive : XIJWX ZKDABO96J
> Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8168/8111 PCIe Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
> Network Card : Atheros Communications AR5212 802.11a/b/g Wireless Network Adapter
> Operating System : Windows 7 Professional / Service Pack 1 (64-bit)




Thank you guys

 

[Joe S]

Probably some bad news here but if the drive came with Smartware the data is hardware encrypted by the bridge board with USB port. The board may be repairable. GO to the WD forums and look for posts by fzabkar or PM him. He understands the boards and may be able to help.
Joe

 

[bullinc]

Hey Joe,
Thanks for your reply. Do mean enclosure board or the board on the HDD itself? If it's all about the enclosure board, can I swap it with the board of the same drive. My friend have the same My Book Essential, he got it like week ago. Maybe I can just take his board, copy files, and put it back. You think it might work?

 

[Joe S]

The enclosure board is the one. Swapping the board might work is all I can say no guarantee. The down side is opening his drive will also void his warranty. Did you use the wrong power adapter by chance? It's a common problem and fzabkar has explained what component to bypass on the board to make it usable again.
Joe

 

[bullinc]

yeah there was a wrong adapter So if I gonna open my friends hdd, his warranty will be void. Gonna check with him. But if it's gonna work, damn, i'll buy him a new one

 

[Joe S]

Your board may be able to be repaired. Over at WD fzabkar has guided several people how to test and bypass something on the board so it still works. Yeah is sucks losing data so never trust to just one drive again.
Joe