WD Elements vs. My Book: disable PW protection?

WD External and Portable SSD External SSD for Windows
1

Hello, i just would like to confirm one statement on WD elements vs. WD myBook that I found in the forum:
The Password protection in the MyBook is hardware based and in case the enclosure is defective the data can not be recovered on a normal PC?
Would it be enough to buy a new MYBook to get the data recovered?
is it possible to switch OFF the PW protection to avoid this situation?

thanks for any Feedback!

Hermann

2

With WD My Books, you can disable password protection … but you can’t disable Hardware Encryption.

Which means if the enclosure becomes defective, you can not simply remove the hard drive and insert it into a different enclosure and recover your data because it’s encrypted. (you will be able to format the drive for use, but of course, you’ll lose your data).

It may be possible to break into the hardware encryption and unlock the encryption keys … which can be done using a “normal PC” running Linux.(or you may be able to do it with a Linux LIve CD ? dunno, have never had to do it)

And finally …

WD Elements do not have any password protection or hardware encryption. They are “Basic” no frills storage drives.

If the Enclosure fails … then simply remove the hard drive and put it in any other enclosure or SATA USB adaptor and you can easily recover and see your data.

3

Hi Joey,
thanks a lot, this was the kind of detail i hoped to get!
as I planned to use this at home for a backup driver the encryption is a NoGo for me.
the probability is much higher that the drive will fail, but still I would not take this risk.
If WD implemented the feature correctly it would not even be possible to use another MyBook to access the data (nevertheles this would be an interessting experiment).

thanks a lot!

Hermann

4

pretty sure the experiment will fail since the encryption keys will be different

5

Hello, I know this is a WD forum … anyhow:
Which alternatives from other vendors for an external USB backup drive would anybody propose?

I equipped my NAS with 5 WD Red 6TB … EAX drives … one failed after about 4 weeks, and during checking i found out, that these drives are SMR and not suitable for a raid … (different what WD advertises). OK, my defective drive will be exchanged based on warrenty, but I will kick out all WD drives from the NAS and also for the backup drive I will not use WD … I have had WD drives in my Storage and backup systems since 3 generations of Storage generations . .but now I’m going to change…

Hermann