I recently needed to removed the drive from a Western Digital My Book External USB/eSATA drive enclosure. Unfortunately, this wasn’t an obvious process and this excellent article by Scott Cramer didn’t apply to the newer version (1 TB drive) enclosure I have. So here you go, the steps required to disassemble a new-style Western Digital My Book drive enclosure.
1. Locate the two rubber pads on the bottom of the enclosure near the front, curved surface. Remove these two pads. Depress the two tabs below using a small flat-head screwdriver.
1a. With a couple of credit cards, pry the back edge of the casing apart and hold them open with the credit cards. There are some locking mechanisms there that need to be held apart. You can now slide the plastic casings apart. Note that it is easier to lift the round corners of the case and pop it out of the retainers than it is to slide it off due to the very tight fit of the sliding components.
2. Slide the clear plastic LED front panel conduit forward and remove.
3. Rotate the hard drive/carrier assembly sideways and then lift away from the case
4. Remove the two screws holding the metal connector casing. Slide it upwards and remove it
5. Slide the circuit board upwards (away from the drive), just like you did for the metal casing.
6. Remove the 4 screws holding the hard drive to the metal carrier. You’ll see that it is a standard 3.5″ desktop SATA drive.
You’re done!
Repeat the steps in reverse order to re-assemble the enclosure.
Getting Your Data Off of the Drive
In most cases, the circuit board inside the enclosure is the cause of the failure and the drive itself is fine. The drive is a standard 3.5-inch SATA drive and easiest way to get your data off is to use a SATA-to-USB adapter dock, such as this Thermaltake Dock at Amazon.com.
Thermaltake BlacX eSATA USB Docking Station
In many cases, all you need to do is connect the drive to a computer using a new dock and your data is immediately available. If it’s not, here are some suggestions:
- Test the drive using the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool
- Use data recovery software:
- Use TestDisk to repair damaged partition tables.
- Purchase the Runtime.org GetDataBack data recovery software (free demo available)
- If you’re a Linux guru and have an empty spare drive on which to copy data, you can try using the SystemRescue bootable Linux CD and Antonio Diaz’s ddrescue command line program.
- Send the drive a professional data recovery specialist, such as DTI.
Video showing How to Opening the Case
Protect your data with offsite backups:
If you are looking for an even more robust backup solution, I highly recommend using an online backup service. If your hard drive fails, or in case of a catastrophic event (fire, theft), there is still a secure copy of your data. I’ve had great experiences with CrashPlan.com Offsite Backup, which allows you to backup files between your own computers for free, and gives unlimited unlimited offsite storage on their servers for $3.00/Month.
To Install a Different SATA Drive in the Original Western Digital Enclosure:
In many cases, the enclosure is probably what is failed. But if you’re sure it,s working, you can replace the original drive with a different drive. For example, I replaced the 1TB drive with a 200GB drive. I didn’t have to do anything special, I just put the new drive in the enclosure, plugged everything in, and it worked.
However, a few people have had with the enclosure recognizing the new drive. If you do, try this:
(thanks Fisslefink) The onboard chipset memory of the MyBook Studio needed to be reset. When you remove the metal shielding, you see the circuit board and all of the different components. One of them is two metal prongs, an empty jumper (J6, may be different on your board), sticking out of the circuit board, near the DC power input. By shorting those jumper pins together with a metal screwdriver for 2 seconds (with the drive OFF and the power cord REMOVED!), the board will reset so it can recognize the new drive.
For what it’s worth, if your drive supports slower SATA operation, you can use a traditional jumper shunt (those darn little black things that get lost all the time!) to connect the jumpers at OPT1 on the 250GB drive itself. This switches it from the faster “SATA 2” 3.0GB/s transfer rate to the slower 1.5GB/s rate, with which the enclosure chipset may be more compatible.
Can u provide the pic for the jumper? I am trying to upgrade the drive to 2TB. Using WD Green. Will it work?
Many thanks for ur guide. It helps preparing my HDD upgrade process.
The jumper is two short metal pins sticking straight up from the board, spaced a few millimeters from each other. But you probalby don’t need to mess that.
The 2TB WD Green should work, but I’m not positive.
Wow thanks for ur fast reply. Would try to stick a 2TB in. Hope it works. Cheers.
Here is the info I was trying to find, but couldn’t earlier. The newest Western Digital drives (with EARS in the model number) have 4k sector sizes instead of the normal 512 byte size. This might cause compatibility problems, or might not, but I’d recommend the EADS model instead just to be safe. Here is a full write-up:
http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/wd-4k-sector,2554.html
thanks so much for ur guide. i managed to swap 500GB to 2TB. i got one problem though. it seems that now the USB port doesnt work anymore. no prob connecting using Firewire port though. i did reset the jumper J6. does this have to do wif the reset?
any suggestions as to fix this? thanks alot again. now i got bigger storage. minus the USB part. hope it can be fixed.
If one port works, they should both work. No jumper reset or anything else required. It’s strange one would work but not the other; wish I had a recommendation on what would fix it but I’m not sure.
Ic. Maybe it is due to the jumper. Maybe not. I mean now it cant even recognize the old 500GB drive when using USB port. Firewire fine n working well.
Well i guess i can use this drive for awhile. Maybe wait for decent USB3.0 casing n move it to the new casing. Anyway thanks alot for the guide. It seems that any drive (green power) can be swapped. Perhaps later wif bigger capacity, it might still be compatible. Power consumption wise, 500GB consume more than 2TB. Well, since 2TB is a new drive. Provided the new bigger drive consumes more or less the same, i think no problem in upgrading. It has been more than a year since 2TB is the largest drive. The harddisk company must have hit rock bottom in expanding each platter density.
Thanks alot for the guide. Cheers!
i have a western digital my book 1tb it dropped off my desk now when i plug it in it doesnt do anything the blue light goes on i can hear it power up and stuff but when i click on my computer it dont show it there but does in control pannel i have tried everything i cant get my info what do i need to do?
I have the same problem with a 500 g.Did you get any advice on a fix.Mine was drop and it does same thing as yours.I open mine but didnt see any thing wrong.Thanks for any info
thanks man, worked great, took out the 1tb green drive, now internal sata
works well, carefull pushing the lower front tabs out. be bold folks, but not mr/mrs muscles.
similar problem as everyone else but the drive removed from the enclosure will not read in my thermaltake drive cady. Not sure what to do.
Yeah my 640GB My Book USB port has broken off. Oddly enough, it’s just the little black piece in the drive and somehow despite the fact that it has snapped off, I can connect the USB cable to it and into my laptop (which is now TAPED to the Ext. HD) and it still works, still reads, still deliver. I don’t however want to depend on this extremely unreliable method. Everyday I’m just waiting for it to stop reading. My data is still there, which is a HUGE relief but do I use this same method to fix the usb port? That seems to be my only problem.
You may be able to disassemble the case and glue the USB jack back to the circuit board. Or, you can purchase an Thermaltake dock and put the hard drive in it, and stop using the Western Digital enclosure.
Oh, I should also mention that my ext. HD only has ONE USB port. and it’s broken LOL
Hi There,
Wish I’d seen this earlier. The inner piece on the WD 500 I have that the USB fits into slipped out of place and was rattling around inside the cover, so I jimmied it open with a knife. The case is busted a little now. Meanwhile, I can’t seem to get the usb to sit in it’s “nest” the way it did before and therefore no connection is being made to transfer data. (sad horn noise) what do I do now??
You have a few options. The cheapest is to somehow tape the circuit board in place and then reassemble the enclosure. The second option is to purchase and external dock and replace the enclosure. You can get this Thermaltake Dock at Amazon.com or something similar.
Thanks Carlton – I’m a little on the poor side right now, so the homemade fix is definitely preferable. I’m a little baffled by the way the port is designed – obviously this can’t really be the case, but it’d seem as if the usb connecting piece was floating above the circuit board as opposed to actually touching it (this is just a visual assessment). Just to clarify – I can probably make this work w/o having to fit the drive back in the black plastic, no? After all, I’ll probably just move everything to a newer outboard drive and call it a day with this one. Also, is there anything to be achieved in removing the sliding metal case around the board?
Thanks again for your help – sincerely appreciated.
-Chris
I can’t remember exactly how the circuit board is assembled. There could be a second board or a flexible cable attached the USB connector, but I thought it was attached to the board by wires at the back.
You can operate everything outside of the case; it’s all low voltage (the transformer is in the cord, not the box.) The metal shielding is there to reduce electromagnetic interference; I’ve never experienced any ill effects from removing it.
Sorry to be a pest – I’m going to email a cpl jpegs to the webmail address to see if you have any wisdom. Unfortunately, the drive has some writing on it I need to try and access for a job intv…which is tomw. Just figures…
I may just have to use a different enclosure because I tried to glue it back and now my laptop will not read my ext. HD AT ALL. 🙁 I do believe my data is there. It’s just the USB is gone now for good. BTW I was able to open the case with ease. SO thank you for the video.
Hello my friend
great article and video…My only question is this:
are you 100% sure that thermaltake docking station supports this particular hard drive?because the 2,5 or 3,5 sata input in most hard drives is with pins(old version),while in the model of your video the sata input looks like a chipset(new version)
thank you for your time
Nick, SATA hard drives all have a standard pin arrangement, with a standard-sized SATA power connector and a separate SATA data connector. The location of these two connectors on the drive is also standardized for 2.5″ drives and for 3.5″ drives. No SATA drives use the old 4-pin Molex connectors, but there are adapter cables that convert 4-Pin Molex to SATA Power. See this article for details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_ATA#Power_supply
Thanks for this tutorial. Found it helpful as I got a very good deal on a 2 TB WD My Book Essential external USB drive at Costco today and bought it just to rip the 3.5 inch WD Green Caviar out of it to stick in my Thermaltake eSata HD dock. The drive works great in there and is, of course, so much faster than connecting via USB 2.0., it’s just wonderful. Also, these WD Green drives seem to be a nice compromise between speed and quiet efficiency. Great for backups. The Thermaltake HD dock is an awesome way to connect any 2.5 or 3.5 inch Sata drives you may have lying around, especially if you have a computer with an eSata port. Highly recommended.
Hi,
nice tutorial,but i have one question.My wd mybook premium edition II 1TB(2x500gb) refused to work yesterday and i want to take those two hdds out and put them in new case/connect them internally. Will those two hdds work together(as one hdd) in any other case..? Or is there any way how to connect them internally ane make them work together as they were working before..? Or can they work seperatly and the data on them will just “split” somehow..? Please help me,im really desperate(800 gigs of photos,movies,music etc. and no backup(how foolish i was!:( )) thanks very much for any help,suggestion.
My understanding is that is a hardware RAID 1 array, so both drives contain the exact same data. You’d have to have an identical RAID 1 external controller/enclosure to use the existing mirrored drives. You should be able to access the data from one drive independent of the other. But if you write to it, the 2 drives will become unsynced and you’ll not be able to use them in mirrored mode without deleting data and starting over. See if there is a jumper pin on the back of the drive to put it in read-only mode before connecting one of the drives to a different controller.
I HAVE A PROBLEM.
accidentally my harddisc fell 30 cm (when it was turned Off)
thank fully the drive can still be read and writen. but im afraid im going to lose everyting.
because it says it cant write on sector 0 (acronis disk director) i have 2 partitions but wanted to erase one of them an the error poped up..
its a wd my book 1tb
i think the problem is the Disk. so i want to replace the disk (with another hard disk)
can i Use diferent brands and bigger sizes?
for example 1.5 TB
Nice tutorial, but I’m on a different mission and came across this page. I am actually looking for a replacement power adapter for a 1 TB drive (WD10000H1CS). I’m hoping to find an owner that has a dead drive/enclosure that might still have the power cord laying about. I’m looking to recycle an old one vs. buying a new one from WD.
I went through the process of finding out my WD WorldBook .5T blue rings drive model WD5000G032 was not working. Here are my findings:
1. I usually mount this drive from windoze box or linux no problem until today
2. Had followed numerous post on the web on how to dismantle this but nothing available for this specific model though the only difference is that there are no screws on the chassis. Just patiently and slowly remove the rubber band on the side by pinching on the edge and pulling it out. Press the two plastic tabs and carefully and slowly pull the chassis apart. Follow all other procedures to get to the drive.
3. Using a USB/SATA adapter I was able to see the drive from Debian.
4. Commands in order, execute all as root:
# fdisk -l
Disk /dev/sdb: 500.1 GB, 500107862016 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 60801 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x00007c00
Device Boot Start End Blocks Id System
/dev/sdb1 4 369 2939895 fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb2 370 382 104422+ fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb3 383 505 987997+ fd Linux raid autodetect
/dev/sdb4 506 60801 484327620 fd Linux raid autodetect
%%% Follow this procedure %%%
# apt-get install mdadm – Install the RAID admin tool
# modprobe md – Get the RAID module in the kernel
# mkdir /rr1 /rr2 /rr3 /rr4 – New dir for each part. to mount on
# mdadm -E /dev/sdb1 – To pick the Major and Minor # for dev
…..some output….
# mknod /dev/md1 b Major Minor – Major,minor taken from last cmdout 1-4
# mdadm –assemble /dev/md1 /dev/sdb1 – Again four times 1-4
Here’s a difference from other procedures on which I realized that my HD had problems with filesystem corruption… You can mount to access the data or you can check the fs as usual, say:
# fsck /dev/md1 – four times again md1-4
fsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
e2fsck 1.41.3 (12-Oct-2008)
Adding dirhash hint to filesystem.
/dev/md1 primary superblock features different from backup, check forced.
Pass 1: Checking inodes, blocks, and sizes
Pass 2: Checking directory structure
Pass 3: Checking directory connectivity
Pass 4: Checking reference counts
Pass 5: Checking group summary information
/dev/md1: ***** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED *****
/dev/md1: 8399/368000 files (0.1% non-contiguous), 82071/734944 blocks
// Yep, corrupt like a politician, repeat the dose for the other three
From this point on you can try to mount into the WD chassis and fire away. Good luck. Thanks to all others for helping me figure this out. RAID helps you to save data on disk failure but not on power failure, I experienced recently constant power outages and that might explain my loss. You can see that there is no fsck on the enclosure’s OS. I will add some and repost if successful.
This got me outta deep hole. Thx.
A quick report that I managed to swap a WD20EARS (2TByte) into a 500G MyBook Studio Edition (USB+eSATA+Firewire), it formatted fine under Win7 (so its “aligned”) using USB and then accessible from WinXP with no problems. Just in case, I ran the Acronis alignment program provided on WD website in XP and it says the drive is correctly aligned, as it should.
Thanks very much for your guide – I wouldnt have bought the 2TByte drive if not for your guide and confirmation that the shell is open-able without breaking it 🙂
Carlton-
Holy cow!!!!! I can’t believe I just lucked up on finding this site!!! I was about to pay hundreds of bucks to recover my MyBook drive information. I just ordered the product from Amazon and hope that works!!! Awesome!!!!!!!!! Now, how about Lacie drives? I have a 500GB Porshe drive that’s dead. Any ideas? That’ll cost me $1300 to recover. Thank you a thousand times!!!!!!!!
Jason, not sure specifically about the other drives, but in general, it’s either the drive or the enclosure that has failed, not both. So you may be able to remove the drive and it work normally when connected via a different dock/enclosure. Or the drive itself may have failed (motor/head/platter failure), in which case you may be able to recover some files yourself or you may need to send it to a drive recovery service. The cheapest way to find out which type of failure you have is to open the case, remove the drive, and see if it works with another dock/enclosure.
IT WORKED!!!! Thanks so much for your site Carlton. The Amazon product worked on my older Western Digital perfectlyNow, what about the newer WD brands. I have 500M that’s same brand and everything, but of the newer type =
you mentioned on the blog (EARS, I think). I did read the link you provided however, I’m not sure I understood how you recover information from thatone? Can you clarify what should be done for that one. Again Thanks ton.
JASON
If the drive is already formatted, then you have nothing to worry about. If it’s not a 2TB drive, then you don’t have anything to worry about. If you have Windows 7, you don’t have anything to worry about.
But if you have a new/blank Western Digital 2TB EARS drive and Windows XP, you’ll need to format the drive and use the Western Digital alignment utility. If you don’t use the utility, the drive will perform more slowly but will otherwise be OK.
Thank you. So, the drive was formatted before and had information on it. Now, when I insert it in the dock, it reads as a new blank drive and asks if I want to reformat. Does that mean all the previous uinfo is lost? If so, I’ll guess I’ll have to consider it lost then, right?
Either the drive has failed or the controller in the enclosure caused data loss. If you really need the data, your best bet is to try the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic or purchase the Runtime.org GetDataBack data recovery software. You could also try professional data recovery. If you don’t want to mess with any of these options, go ahead and format it to see if it may sill be usable.
My question is I had a Western Digital 250GB My Book and I want to attempt to recover its files because I lost everything such as my poems which I can never get back I was heart broken.
Anyway, I think the 250GB version may be an IDE hard drive. Will this work : http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=14291559 ?
Yes, that is the type of dock you need for an IDE drive. If it is the drive itself that has failed and not the enclosure, here are your options: try the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool, purchase the Runtime.org GetDataBack data recovery software, try professional data recovery.
Hi Carlton.
I have a 2TB WD My Book Studio (model:WDBAAJ0020HSL) (USB FW) and after a failed firmware update become unusuable (Windows XP don’t know that exist) due a firmware corruption.
I am searching the way to upload a the previous firmware.
I find this link (http://do0g.blogspot.com/2008/03/how-to-recover-from-failed-mybook.html) with extensive comments but I did not have success doing the step by step instructions that recomend.
WD fix this issue sending it the disk but I have sensitive information on it and I want to try before return the drive.
I hope you can help to find a way to fix this issue.
Thank you
I have no knowledge of the firmware updates, but you can follow the instructions on this page to remove the drive, attach it to your computer, and see if you can recover and erase data from it. You can then put it back in the original enclosure and return it to Western Digital.
Hi Carlton. This thread seems to be extremely helpful so I would love to pitch my own question:
I have an older model 500GB WD MyBook Essential (Model #WD5000C032). I was in the middle of transferring data to it from my laptop when all of a sudden the power in my apartment failed. Since this external drive runs off external power supply, it naturally shut off too while my laptop stayed on (battery power).
Now when I connect my drive to the computer, the green ring glows (indicates drive is on) but it is not recognized by the computer anymore. I have tried switching USB ports as well as unplugged and replugged the external drive. Strangely enough, once out of every 10-15 times I try it, the drive will be recognized with all of the previous data stored on it intact.
What should I do to solve my problem?
Thank you!
-Edmond
Unfortunately, it’s a trial-and-error process. Buy the external dock, remove the drive from the Western Digital enclosure, and put it in the dock and see if it works. If so, the enclosure was bad (most likely.) If not, the drive is bad. Good luck.
Hi, Carlton! I took the My Book Essential 2TB HDD out of the enclosure and connected it directly to the motherboard via SATA cable. The BIOS shows the drive but, unfortunately, it isn’t being detected by my OS (Windows 7). Do I need to start shopping for a new enclosure? Any ideas? Thanks!
Reddy, connecting directly to the motherboard should yield the same results as an enclosure. I think your drive has failed. The only exception is if you have an older motherboard (maybe 3+ years) and the bios is incompatible with a drive of that large of a capacity. Check for a BIOS update, and if you have the latest version, it’s highly probably that the drive is at fault and not the motherboard. If you are desperate to recover data, you can try an external enclosure, but I’d expect the same result.
I have a 2 year old My Book World Edition 1TB drive connected to my office network of 3 PCs. Last week the drive began to work intermittently and this week it has failed completely. It is not accessible on the network or plugged directly into my PC. I have tried unplugging and restarting it several times but it does not work. The drive has all my backups, which I can afford to lose, but also some original files which I need. The drive is a WD 10EACS. Is this an eSATA drive which I can connect to the Thermaltake Docking Station? I would give that a try if this drive is compatible. Thanks.
D Harris: It’s a standard SATA (not eSATA) drive, it is compatible with the external docking station. But my guess is that it’s the drive that is failing and not the enclosure, so you may not be able to recover by simply connecting to your computer. If that’s the case then you options are: try the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool, purchase the Runtime.org GetDataBack data recovery software, try professional data recovery.
Hi
I have 2 TB WD MyBook green essential drive. I lost it from my desk to the floor and the usb connector broke. I tried connecting directly to computers sata and also tried using another external enclosure (replaced with essential 1.5 older external drive).
The problem is that it comes up as unknown device in Windows. Its detected in BIOS. Do I need the WD SES driver? I cant hear any physical damage.
No special drivers should be required unless your computer is more than 2 years old and isn’t compatible with large (1 TB+) drives. But the second enclosure should have eliminated that incompatibility. So it sounds to me like the drive itself is damaged. If that’s the case then you options are: try the Western Digital Data Lifeguard Diagnostic tool, purchase the Runtime.org GetDataBack data recovery software, try professional data recovery.
Hi Carlton,
Need your help!!
I have a 1TB My Book Essential which was not powering ON. WD Call center told that no guarantee on Data. So I follwed your instructions here, even though it is different, i got an idea to open it. Now I have managed to get my 1TB SATA drive out and connected to My desktop Windows 7 with SATA cables. My Windows 7 recognised the hard drive and installed the necessary drivers, but hard disk was not showing up in My computer. When I opened computer management, it was showing DISK 1 Unknown, not initialized and a window comes up saying initialize disk with MBR and GPT option.
I am afraid of losing my data if I do anthing. I have not done anything so far. There is around 600GB of data on the drive which I was collecting since when I bought my 1st computer in 1999. Pray you help me here to do this without losing any data.
Pleeeeeeeeeese…
Thanks,
Sarat U
Try connecting the drive to the internal s-ata motherboard on your computer. Before you do ANYTHING get WD LifeGuard Diagnostics and test the drive. If it shows physical errors, dont do anything but send it to a data recovery service. Google it in your local area.
If there are no physical errors, download getdataback software or testdisk. Be VERY carefull with testdisk. and try to scan for partition or raw data.
Hi,
Thanks for so quick reply.
I did the quick test and it gave PASSED result. Please see blow.
Please tell what to do next, do i need to run extended test?
Test Option: QUICK TEST
Model Number: WDC WD10EADS-11M2B1
Unit Serial Number: WD-WCAV54216791
Firmware Number: 80.00A80
Capacity: 1000.20 GB
SMART Status: PASS
Test Result: PASS
Test Time: 05:34:27, August 14, 2010
I have had several drives that would pass the quick test but after a couple of the long tests the drive would finally fail with an error code.
Try torturing it overnight if you want to be sure. 🙂
Hi,
I have started Get Databack software and it is scanning my hard drive now… shows files identified 7900 till now…3 hours more to go for scanning to finish…keeping fingers crossed…
thanks,
Sarat U
Hi
You must do a an extended test to find hardware problems such as bad sectors/read write failure.
Regards
Thanks man ,, that really helped ! i did exactly what you say and it worked out well
Sincerely many thanks for this video. This helped me a lot …
Seems that my disk after being extracted from is not recognized … Being checked by WD Digital LifeGuard Diagnostics. Quick question: In the case I’ve to replace the hard-drive, can I put a 2T (WD CAVIAR BLACK for example) into the WD10000H1CS1 ? As soon as it is SATA this should be OK no ? The PCB controller should be compatible ? Anyway thanks a million again ! 🙂
Yes, the enclosure should accept any 3.5″ SATA drive.
Wenas a todos, tengo un book de 1Tb y hace unas semanas se desconecta y pierde la conexion usb, he cambiado de cable, de puerto de usb, y sigue haciendolo incluso en otros ordenadores, ¿sabeis que puede ser?, habia pensado sacarlo y meterlo en otra carcasa o en el pc pero en el ordenador ya no me cabe.
Sabeis que puede estar pasando, siempre me ha funcionado perfectamente, no se que le puede estar pasando.
Gracias y un saludo.
thanks a million!
excellent HTD tutorial!!!
best regards, Sepp