WD My Passport (For MAC) un-readable, photos need recovered.

[Per Hansa]

macOS High Sierra 10.13.6. 2TB WD My Passport (for Mac), MacOS Extended (Journaled). This 4 year old external HD began acting up a few days ago as I was working my Photos program. When it began displaying other issues (longer than usual times to show up on my desktop, new noises as it tried to boot up) I quickly began dragging files to another backup HD. Worked successfully, except for my Photos library--75% of the (large) library transferred, then it quit and I received an error message (error code 36), and no photos transferred. Tried the option-CMD/"Repair Library" function with no luck. Soon after, the Hard Drive no longer appears on my desktop at all (or Finder/disk utility). Below is a list of attempted, and failed, fixes.

1) Photos "Repair Library" (when I was still able to see files).
2) Disk Utility "First Aid" command.
3) (after HD no longer shows on desk top, and is greyed out in Disk Utility) "Mount" command.
4) iBoysoft recovery software (ran through it's entire evolution a couple times, but no files recovered).

Now I'm worried that my decade's worth of photos/videos will be lost (I was an idiot, and didn't back up my library via icloud). At this point I'm looking for recommendations for a data-recovery company? Is it realistic to think a "professional" can retrieve my Photos Library? Or is there something else I could try? Thanks guys!
Tom

 

[chscag]

At this point I'm looking for recommendations for a data-recovery company? Is it realistic to think a "professional" can retrieve my Photos Library? Or is there something else I could try? Thanks guys!

Try this one. They're reasonably priced.

$300 Data Recovery

$300 Data Recovery provides Hard Drive, RAID, SSD, and Flash data recovery services in Los Angeles & Hollywood. BBB A+/5,300+ Reviews

www.300dollardatarecovery.com

 

[Cayenne1]

I have recovered files using a free utility called Testdisk. Might be worth a try if the disk still spins.

Attached is a YouTube link that covers its use.

How To Recover Files Using TestDisk on MacOS

Good luck.

(FYI: I backup my photo library using two mirrored external drives with seperate CCC and TM partitions. I use Carbon Copy Cloner nightly tasks to do daily backups to each drive and likewise Time Machine to backup hourly to the drives. TM can backup to more than one drive. Also, I have unmounted portable USB drives to hold copies of the photos/videos as well. Cloud is an option but I need TB for videos.)

(Note: If you are successful recovering with TestDisk, MP4/MOV headers will need to be repaired to view the video. Its in the TestDisk documentation)

 

[firedept]

Sounds like a failed drive. You are going to need a data recovery service. In the future consider having two external drives or one external and cloud coverage. Then there is also a NAS in a raid configuration that way if one drive fails the other drive will still be fine.

 

[Wando64]

The more you mess with it and the harder it will be for a recovery company.

Good luck.

 

[Fishrrman]

Can you get the drive mounted on the desktop AT ALL?
Or does it now fail to mount 100% of the time?

 

[Expos of 1969]

I feel sorry for Per but this may be a bit of a lesson for those who always say that no way would they use the cloud, it belongs to somebody else, it could disappear tomorrow, avoid at all costs etc.

 

[pmiles]

I feel sorry for Per but this may be a bit of a lesson for those who always say that no way would they use the cloud, it belongs to somebody else, it could disappear tomorrow, avoid at all costs etc.

The lesson is, keep at least two backups, stored in different locations from each other. That way when your house burns down, you have a copy of it at your Mother-In-Laws house for example. Drives fail. Fires happen.

This applies to more than just data... personal documents such as your birth certificate, mortgage, et al... you'd be surprised at how much we just hope that nothing is going to happen. In some cases, that is all that we can do.

 

[Per Hansa]

Everyone thanks for all the replies. All good advice. I agree, maybe should've just paid for the cloud service, but with such large amounts of storage needed I was drawn more to the external HD option. Still had several files on my Macbook's HD, but there are several GB of files on the external that I hope not to lose. Have definitely learned my lesson the hard way, and will have multiple backups from now on! It's still frustrating to know a relatively new hard drive, delicately handled and stored properly, can just stop working to the point where you can't get to anything on it.

I've taken your advice and sent it to a data recovery company (File Savers Data Recovery). Hopefully they have luck. I should have heeded "Wando64's" advice sooner, and stopped messing with it, as the company confirmed that the more you keep trying to open it, the more physical damage you can do (and it indeed was making strange noises each time I plugged it in). Fingers crossed.

 

[Per Hansa]

Can you get the drive mounted on the desktop AT ALL?
Or does it now fail to mount 100% of the time?

Started off being off-and-on, but now it's 100% of the time.

 

[Expos of 1969]

Everyone thanks for all the replies. All good advice. I agree, maybe should've just paid for the cloud service, but with such large amounts of storage needed I was drawn more to the external HD option. Still had several files on my Macbook's HD, but there are several GB of files on the external that I hope not to lose. Have definitely learned my lesson the hard way, and will have multiple backups from now on! It's still frustrating to know a relatively new hard drive, delicately handled and stored properly, can just stop working to the point where you can't get to anything on it.

I've taken your advice and sent it to a data recovery company (File Savers Data Recovery). Hopefully they have luck. I should have heeded "Wando64's" advice sooner, and stopped messing with it, as the company confirmed that the more you keep trying to open it, the more physical damage you can do (and it indeed was making strange noises each time I plugged it in). Fingers crossed.

Best of luck.

 

[Fishrrman]

Tip for the future:
Avoid WD external drives...!

(I realize this doesn't help now)

 

[saudor]

The problem with WD passports is not only is the USB soldered on (it's not possible to take the drive out of the enclosure and use it in your computer since it's not a USB-SATA bridge unlike Seagates), there is also drive encryption so even if you get the platters out via data recovery, you still need a matching donor board to actually get the data back.

Because of this expect your recovery costs to be far higher than a typical one (and typical ones are super expensive too)

So yeah, avoid WD PORTABLE external drives (aka Frankendrives) unless it's a WD My Book 8TB or higher

 

[KaliYoni]

OP: as you look forward from your awful situation, here are a few things you could consider:

• If you want to backup sensitive or irreplaceable files, the safest and most secure method is using physical drives as you were doing. You maintain complete control over access and storage. You don't have to worry about forgetting to renew a subscription. Large scale hacks or security breaches at cloud providers won't be a factor.
• I don't agree your HD was "relatively new". Four years is a long time, especially if your drive was used for many hours every day. A good reminder that it's time to start thinking about a replacement drive is when the warranty period expires. Note that it's pretty unusual for consumer-level drives to have more than a 2-year warranty.
• Personally, I maintain two backups. The first uses Time Machine. The second, Carbon Copy Cloner. The CCC drive is only connected to my computer when a weekly backup is taking place. Further, I have treasured photos and some music burned to optical discs as a further safeguard against file corruption or HD failure.
• You can mitigate "manufacturer risk" (as you've probably noticed, there is a lot of advice floating around about HD brands) by using different drives for each of your backups.
• If you do decide to buy cloud storage, you might want to want to create a physical copy, on HD, SSD, or optical, of anything that would be painful to lose. Then if a cloud company gets sold, is breached, or radically raises its prices, you won't be as affected as people who went 100% cloud backup.

 

[Wando64]

Tip for the future:
Avoid WD external drives...!

(I realize this doesn't help now)

Never had a problem with them, and I’ve used numerous over the years including 4 in current service.

 

[hallux]

OP: as you look forward from your awful situation, here are a few things you could consider:

• If you want to backup sensitive or irreplaceable files, the safest and most secure method is using physical drives as you were doing. You maintain complete control over access and storage. You don't have to worry about forgetting to renew a subscription. Large scale hacks or security breaches at cloud providers won't be a factor.
• I don't agree your HD was "relatively new". Four years is a long time, especially if your drive was used for many hours every day. A good reminder that it's time to start thinking about a replacement drive is when the warranty period expires. Note that it's pretty unusual for consumer-level drives to have more than a 2-year warranty.
• Personally, I maintain two backups. The first uses Time Machine. The second, Carbon Copy Cloner. The CCC drive is only connected to my computer when a weekly backup is taking place. Further, I have treasured photos and some music burned to optical discs as a further safeguard against file corruption or HD failure.
• You can mitigate "manufacturer risk" (as you've probably noticed, there is a lot of advice floating around about HD brands) by using different drives for each of your backups.
• If you do decide to buy cloud storage, you might want to want to create a physical copy, on HD, SSD, or optical, of anything that would be painful to lose. Then if a cloud company gets sold, is breached, or radically raises its prices, you won't be as affected as people who went 100% cloud backup.

All excellent information.

I'll add this little tidbit -
I used to work with someone that would get us rolling when he contacted a user to deliver the news that their drive failed. "oh, your data was critical? surely you can just recover it from your backup. Oh, you didn't have a backup? I guess your data wasn't 'critical' then". We wouldn't be laughing because the person lost their data, we'd be laughing at his very frank way of delivering that.

My data that can not be replaced is in at least 3 places - on my Mac, on my NAS (through Time Machine), in a cloud backup. My pictures from trips are in an additional place - an SD card that was used ON that trip.