WD portable external drives do not lend themselves for any Do-It-Yourself Data Recovery for the following reasons.
1. The externals are hardware encrypted by the electronics ( SATA to USB bridge)inside the enclosure. If the electronics fails there is no way you can recover the data since the encryption/decryption is performed by a chip in it.
2. The SATA to USB bridge is integrated into the HDD inside - the HDD does not have a conventional Standard SATA connector - and therefore an ordinary user cannot separate the HDD and try the HDD alone by connecting it as an internal drive. ( Even if it is possible, the user will recover only the encrypted data in the absence of decryption electronics in the enclosure)
Please download and run Western Digital Datalifeguard Diagnostic for Windows and check your drive's health
Software and Firmware Downloads | WD Support Try to run the Quick Test and Extended Test as per the instructions therein. If the drive is not recognised or the drive having been recognised it tests only 0 sectors and gives a false Positive Pass result, your drive is bad.( Please note the time taken for the Extended Test. it should normally take a few hours. If it completes within seconds and gives a PASS, it has done so testing 0GB or nothing and the Pass result is invalid.)
If you want to recover the data you have to contact the Western Digital Data Recovery partners in your region (APAC).
https://support.wdc.com/Warranty/dataRecovery.aspx?lang=en Only they can do the decryption and recover any data if recoverable. They have toll-free lines and telephonic consultation is free.
