EHD / Every kind of external drive / Hardware-encrypted

WD My Passport · My Book · easystore · Seagate Secure · BitLocker To Go

Hardware-encrypted external drives. Every sector scrambled on the way in, whether or not you ever set a password.

Western Digital's My Passport, My Book and easystore drives have encrypted everything written to them, in hardware, on their own USB board, for more than a decade. It happens whether or not you ever opened WD Security or set a password: the password only locks the key, the encryption is always on. That is why a My Passport's drive plugged into a PC on its own shows a blank, unformatted disk, and why the single worst thing anyone can do with a dead one is throw the case away. The key lives on the board, nowhere else, and WD keeps no copy. Seagate's Secure drives, some LaCie models, and any drive locked with BitLocker To Go or FileVault add a software layer on top. One encrypted external drive is £300 + VAT after the free look, fixed in writing; the board work that recovers the key is explained before you agree.

Free first lookOne fixed figure in writingNo data, no bill on most jobsReturn postage paid

Rather talk it through? An engineer answers the bench line
0800 6890668

Encrypted drive symptoms, and what each means.

Not listed? Describe it on the form →

The drive reads as blank or RAW out of its caseThat is the encryption, not a fault. Put it back in its board.Everyday job

The USB board is dead and the drive is fineThe key is on the dead board. It is repaired, or the key extracted.Everyday job

WD Security asks for a password you have forgottenThe password locks the key. We do not break it; a hint helps.Everyday job

Windows asks for a BitLocker recovery keyThe 48-digit key from your Microsoft account.Everyday job

The drive clicks or beeps as wellTwo jobs in order: the mechanics first, then the key.Do not delay

Packing it and posting it: leave the drive in its own case, unopened, and do not take the drive out of a WD My Passport or My Book, because the board it is fixed to holds the encryption key. Wrap the whole unit in bubble wrap inside a box with nothing able to move, send the mains adapter with a desktop drive, insure it for what the files are worth rather than the price of the drive, and use a tracked service. The posting address is not printed anywhere on this site; it arrives by email in reply to the form, with a booking sheet to print; the sheet inside the parcel is what matches it to your enquiry when it is opened. Or hand the sealed parcel in at the nearest of ten drop-off points, your name on the outside and the sheet inside; say where you are on the form and it comes by email. We pay the postage home either way. The whole of it is written up on the guide to packing and posting.

Make by make, and where the key lives.

WD My Passport, My Book, easystoreAES encryption on the USB board's own chip, on by default. The board is repaired or its key material read out and applied during imaging. A donor board on its own gives ciphertext.

WD ElementsThe same drives without the encryption engine. A donor board with the ROM transferred reads the data plainly.

Seagate Secure and LaCieEncryption that is off until you turn it on with a password. Off, the drive reads plainly. On, the password is needed and we do not break it.

BitLocker To Go, FileVault, Time MachineSoftware encryption on a plain drive. Recovered as a drive first, then unlocked on the image with your key or password.

What you see, and what it actually means.

Describe yours to us →

What is going on	The usual reason for it	Where that leaves you
Out of its case, the drive shows as unformatted or asks to be initialised	WD hardware encryption; the key is on the board you removed	Put it back; send the unit whole; do not initialise
The board is dead, the drive spins fine	The key is on the dead board	Board repair, or key extraction and decryption during imaging
WD Security password forgotten	The password protects the key	We do not break it; a hint or a password manager may
A BitLocker prompt for 48 digits	BitLocker To Go	The key from the Microsoft account or your employer
Time Machine asks for a password and rejects it	Encrypted backup volume	The password is required; nothing else unlocks it

From the box arriving to your files going back.

Work we have closed →

Logged the day it lands, and the first look costs nothing Free

A case number goes on it the day the parcel is opened, and an engineer settles what has actually failed before anything else happens. A drive that clicks or beeps is not powered again; one that spins is read on our own imaging equipment, never in a computer that will retry and time out and retry. Back to you come two things together: a straight note of what is liftable and what is not, plus one figure, fixed and written down. Accept it, or decline and owe us nothing.

Nothing to pay for lookingA single figure, put in writingNo hopeful power-ons

The enclosure and its board

On an encrypted WD drive the USB board is treated as part of the data from the moment the case is opened. It is inspected and, where it has failed, repaired so that its own key can be used; where repair is not possible the key material is read from the board and applied while the drive is imaged.

Bridge, socket and power checked firstWD keys kept with their boards

The mechanics, in clean air

With the mechanics dealt with, the drive is imaged through its own board or through a donor board carrying the original's ROM and key, so that the image is plaintext. Software encryption on top is unlocked on the image afterwards with the password or recovery key you supply, never on the original.

Head and spindle work on a clean benchFirmware and service-area repair

A full image, then the volume

Nothing is worked on live. The whole drive is imaged once, head by head and weak areas last, with reads timed to what the platters can stand, and the file system is put back together on the image. Encrypted volumes are unlocked there too, with the original board's key or the password you supply, and never on the original.

One careful image, head by headThe volume verified end to end

You see the file list before you pay

What was recovered is listed for you first, and only then does a bill exist. Approve the list and it is invoiced; turn it down and it is not — and where nothing has come back, most jobs carry no charge at all. Recovered data travels home on fresh media bought in for your job, with the postage at our end. Your case is not closed until you have opened the files on a machine of your own.

No charge until you accept the figureFresh media, supplied with the job3–4 days at the bench

What arrives most often

Never throw the case away. On a WD My Passport or My Book the board inside it is the key. A drive without its board is a drive without its data.
A password you set is a password we need. We do not attempt to break WD Security, Seagate Secure, BitLocker or FileVault, and we decline devices that are not yours to open.
Elements is the exception in the WD range. No encryption engine, so a donor board with the ROM transferred reads plainly. The model number on the label says which you have: WDBU is Elements; WDBY, WDBP and WDBS are My Passport.
Two faults come in order. A clicking My Passport is a head job first and a key job second. Both are explained before you agree.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · EHD-2026-0489JOB LOGGED ✓

A My Passport whose owner had taken the drive out to test it, and kept the case in a drawer

The drive read as blank on a SATA dock, which is what a My Passport does without its board. The case had been kept, which mattered more than anything else. The board's regulator had failed; it was repaired, the drive imaged through it with its own key, and the volume mounted from the image. Nothing on the drive had ever been at risk except the case going in the bin.

100% of it recovered3 days here, and back by post

Illustrative example — replace with a genuine case

What helps, and what harms.

Do this much first

Send the whole unit, board and all
Find any password you set, or a hint
Tell us whether it is My Passport, My Book, easystore or Elements
Find your BitLocker key if Windows asked for one

What sets us back

Throwing the case away
Initialising the drive when it shows as blank
Swapping the board with one from another drive
Guessing passwords repeatedly against a Seagate Secure drive

Questions answered before you commit.

My WD drive shows as blank when I plug it into a PC without its case. Is the data gone?

No. That is WD's hardware encryption: the board you removed holds the key. Put the drive back in its case and send the whole unit.

The case is dead. Does that mean the data is lost?

Not usually. The board is repaired, or its key material read out and used while the drive is imaged. What makes it hard is a board that has been thrown away.

I forgot my WD Security password. Can you get past it?

No. We do not break encryption. If you have a hint, a password manager, or an old machine that unlocked it automatically, that may help; otherwise the data is out of reach, and we say so at the free look.

Does WD Elements encrypt?

No. Elements boards carry no encryption engine. The drive can be read through a donor board once the ROM is moved across.

What does it cost?

£300 + VAT for one drive after the free look. Board work that recovers the key is explained before you agree.

Begin here if yours is doing the same thing.

Encrypted or password-locked →Native USB drives →Broken port or bridge board →Western Digital →Seagate →Time Machine drives →

Keep the case. Send the whole thing.

On WD's drives the board is the key, and nothing else can stand in for it. The first look is free, and the figure is in writing before any chargeable work.

0800 6890668

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