How to recover data from an external hard drive

My external drive just bit the dust (it's a 2 TB WD My Passport Ultra with hardware encryption), probably because I dropped the damn thing on the floor... 🤦

So, when I plug it into my computer, the light comes on and the thing spins up, but Windows 8.1 won't detect it at all. It’s totally MIA—it doesn't show up in This PC and even Disk Management can't find a trace of it. The only sign of life is in Device Manager under Disk Drives, where it shows up as a WD My Passport USB Device.

The weird part is, back when it was actually working, whenever I plugged it in, the unlock software would pop up first in This PC—you know, the one where you have to enter the password or it just pulls the saved credentials for that Windows user—and only then would the actual drive volume finally appear in This PC.

I was thinking about maybe grabbing a new USB-micro cable first to see if that fixes it. But besides that, does anyone have any other ideas on what I could try?... 😁

Nothing. That’s my honest advice. Anything you try on your own might just trash your data even further and make it completely unrecoverable. Honestly, even just turning the drive on again is a risk. If the files on there are actually important to you, stop messing around and take it to a professional data recovery service immediately:

https://www.google.com/search?client...UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

For places like these, they usually offer free diagnostics, so at least you'll know if anything can be saved and what the damage to your wallet will look like:

http://www.drive-recovery-services.com/pricing/

Honestly, if it takes a tumble onto the floor, your only real hope lies in the hands of professionals working in a certified cleanroom environment. They might be able to scavenge some bits and pieces for you, but don't expect a perfect recovery. The whole process is incredibly pricey, and since the drive is encrypted, we might be looking at a total loss anyway—if my memory serves me right, that encryption is unique to the hardware itself, so even swapping out components or tinkering with the circuitry won't bypass those security layers.
The absolute worst-case scenario is that the read/write heads slammed against the platters during the impact, which usually means massive data loss and a whole lot of microscopic debris being kicked up inside the drive's sealed housing. That tiny bit of dust settles on the platters and sticks there, so the next time you try to spin it up, the heads could snag on that grit and scratch the surface even further, causing even more permanent damage.

tl;dr You’ll probably have to say a final goodbye to whatever was on that drive.

Pros can handle encryption stuff too—there are plenty of tools out there for that—but the real point is that it isn't some massive expense where you have to sell a kidney just to afford it. It’s gotten a hell of a lot cheaper over the last few years.

darkowl72 said:Pros can handle encryption stuff too—there are plenty of tools out there for that—but the real point is that it isn't some massive expense where you have to sell a kidney just to afford it. It’s gotten a hell of a lot cheaper over the last few years.

If the encryption was set up properly, there isn't much I can really do about the encryption itself, so I'm mostly just trying to salvage whatever data I can, though since everything is encrypted, it all looks like total gibberish right now. I guess I'll just have to cross my fingers and hope that the encryption on this drive doesn't rely strictly on the specific hardware built into the unit, meaning we might be able to use an identical drive with different hardware instead; after that, we'd just have to pray that the essential encryption structures haven't been corrupted on the disk, and then maybe, just maybe, we could get back to the original data using the key.

You're right, but the reality is that the people doing this aren't using consumer-grade gear like we are; they’ve got specialized manufacturer-level equipment at their disposal...

It feels like data recovery services have become a whole lot more affordable over the last few years. I think some places even offer free diagnostics now these days.