DDRescue on a WD Elements SE 500gb

Hello, Im new here and quite ignorant in the subject at hand, so bear with me please. :)

Im trying to recover the data using DDrescue (with Ubuntu Remix LIVE CD via USB pen) from a friend's disk that was dropped and now wont open. The disk is a WD Elements SE 500gb (almost full). I'm trying to image the failed drive into a new one of 1TB, using the command sudo ddrescue -r 1 /dev/sdc image log (the new 1TB drive was already mounted)

1) First of all Im almost certain its one of those disk with USB-SATA bridge integrated, and AFAIK it's impossible to do anything with the image that ddrescue eventually produces. If this is the case is my only option something like Photorec? I already tried it and got some files but the time is took was incredible. Something like 2.7MB took 6m45s; 1MB took 3m20s; and in a really bad part a little image of 40Kb took 6m30s

2) To open the casing of the bad drive and to rest the disks and PC, can I stop the process and resume it safely? Ive notice that everytime I unplug and plug back-on the drives, the assigned letters change, for example: Bad Disk is C: and New Disk is D: but if I unplug them and restart the computer the next time they will have changed the letters like Bad Disk is now D: and New Disk is now C:
So Im afraid that running the same command sudo ddrescue -r 1 /dev/sdc image log will conflict with something and in a worst case scenario write on the bad disk overwritting the very same data in trying to recover.

3) Im running DDrescue for a couple of weeks now and it states that 240GB were rescue and errsize: 259GB, it hasn't read in over 20 hours and in that time it has passed from trimming to splitting phase (whatever that means) and is currently has shown bellow:



NOTE: I've done this before with success but the drives were connect via SATA in a much faster pc than the laptop I'm using this time (and in no more than 3 days), does that makes such a big difference?

Was this WD Elements used via its encryption software [?SmartWare?] and Drive Unlock on the original computer? If yes, I think one has to recreate on any successive computer -- using the same SmartWare/Drive Unlock sequence [and same password if one was set on the original computer -- the same exact environs that existed when the folders and files were copied or created on this WD Elements HD.

Hi @totenhead!

I am sorry to say that, but it seems that there is a serious issue with the external since no data recovery program is able to get the data stored on it.

With that said IMO it will be best if your friend consult with a data recovery company and see if they will be able retrieve the information stored on the drive. Here's a link with few of our data recovery partners if you want to take a look:
Support Answers

Best of luck!

MightyMiro, I hope thread-starter will at least attempt to recreate the normal Smartware/DriveUnlock operations. It doesn't matter if a password was set or not -- onboard/circuit-level encryption could have still gone on. Jumanji is one of the finest most thorough tech here concerning such matters -- he can correct me if I am wrong in this post and my earlier post.

totenhead said:

Thank all for the replies

Ive pause the procedure with CTRL-C and disconnected the drive with the intent of letting it cool down and resume later, but it seems the drive is gone, its doing a clicking sound similar to the one that says " Western Digital laptop drive with bad heads making clicking sound." here Failing hard drive sounds - Datacent.com - Datacent

Looks like I cant do anything with the drive anymore...

What I got now is a image.dd in the backup drive but Im not sure what to do with it.. Ill either mount it (via the live cd) and use Photorec to transfer the files to another drive or try to "fix" the image another way that Im unware off but from what ive seen around the web its possible, right? :S

The "recreate the normal Smartware/DriveUnlock operations" situation is no longer possible since the drive is, judging by the noises its making, gone, am I right?

Either way, I think the owner is not spending that much money in a data recovery company, so my hope is now trying to save the files from that 240GB image I got out of it.

Sorry to say that, but of there is a click of death that the external is making then the issue is mechanical and the best shot will be a data recovery company.

The worst part if this is the case is that the more you use the drive and try to repair it, the worse the damage and the extraction of files may become.

RolandJS said:

MightyMiro, I hope thread-starter will at least attempt to recreate the normal Smartware/DriveUnlock operations. It doesn't matter if a password was set or not -- onboard/circuit-level encryption could have still gone on. Jumanji is one of the finest most thorough tech here concerning such matters -- he can correct me if I am wrong in this post and my earlier post.

If the drive is making such clicks then even recreating the Smartware operations shouldn't be of much help because of the mechanical issue. Also, WD Elements doesn't have a hardware encryption, only WD My Passport and My Book external drives have such.