Hi everyone – I’m hoping someone can offer some advice on this…
I have a Western Digital 500GB MyBook Essential external hard drive that I purchased about 5 years ago. The drive stopped working one day-- quite shocking because I used it sparingly. None the less, the data on it is irreplaceable.
I have sent it to both OnTrack and DriveSavers and they have both told me the same thing – the firmware located in the "negative" cylinders on the platter is corrupt – therefore they are unable to read anything off the drive. They exhausted all of their methods in trying to repair the firmware.
Other than that, there is no visible platter damage, the read/write heads work, and the logic board works as well. It’s a communication issue, they say.
In theory, the data is still there on the drive (assuming no media damage), they just can't get all the parts to talk to each other in the right way to get to it.
My question is this – am I at the end of the road here? I have seen other companies online that advertise that they can fix this particular firmware problem – but from what I have been told, if DriveSavers or OnTrack can’t fix it, no one can. Is this true, or has anyone else out there seen this problem and know where I can turn to for help? Do other companies really have different “methods” that work, or do they all essentially have the same technology?
Thanks for your help!
I have a Western Digital 500GB MyBook Essential external hard drive that I purchased about 5 years ago. The drive stopped working one day-- quite shocking because I used it sparingly. None the less, the data on it is irreplaceable.
I have sent it to both OnTrack and DriveSavers and they have both told me the same thing – the firmware located in the "negative" cylinders on the platter is corrupt – therefore they are unable to read anything off the drive. They exhausted all of their methods in trying to repair the firmware.
Other than that, there is no visible platter damage, the read/write heads work, and the logic board works as well. It’s a communication issue, they say.
In theory, the data is still there on the drive (assuming no media damage), they just can't get all the parts to talk to each other in the right way to get to it.
My question is this – am I at the end of the road here? I have seen other companies online that advertise that they can fix this particular firmware problem – but from what I have been told, if DriveSavers or OnTrack can’t fix it, no one can. Is this true, or has anyone else out there seen this problem and know where I can turn to for help? Do other companies really have different “methods” that work, or do they all essentially have the same technology?
Thanks for your help!