EHD / Whatever it is doing now / Encrypted or password-locked

WD Security · BitLocker To Go · FileVault · Seagate Secure · LaCie

Encrypted, or locked with a password. We recover the drive. You hold the key.

Encryption on an external drive comes in two kinds, and they need different things from you. WD's My Passport, My Book and easystore encrypt in hardware on their own USB board whether or not you ever set a password; the board is the key, and we need the board. Everything else is a password you set: WD Security on top of that hardware layer, Seagate Secure, LaCie's password tools, BitLocker To Go on Windows, FileVault or an encrypted Time Machine on a Mac. Those need the password or the recovery key, and nothing else unlocks them. We never attempt to break encryption and do not accept a drive that is not yours to open. Where the drive has also failed, it is recovered as a drive first and unlocked on the image afterwards. One drive is £300 + VAT after the free look, fixed in writing.

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

Where the key lives, and why that decides the job.

On a WD My Passport or My Book the key lives on the USB board inside the case, generated when the drive was made and kept nowhere else. Without a password the board hands the key over to anyone who plugs the drive in, which is why the encryption is invisible day to day; set a WD Security password and the key is locked behind it. Either way the drive read without its board is noise. A dead board is repaired, or its key material read out and applied while the drive is imaged; a thrown-away board is a drive whose data no one will read.

BitLocker To Go on Windows keeps its key in the volume, protected by a password or a recovery key of 48 digits that Windows offered to save when it was turned on: to the Microsoft account, to a file, to a printout. FileVault and an encrypted Time Machine use the account password or the recovery key the Mac showed once. Seagate Secure and LaCie's tools use the password you chose. All of them are unlocked on the image with what you supply, and none of them can be unlocked without it.

A drive that has failed and is encrypted has two things wrong in order. The mechanics or the board are dealt with first, the drive is imaged through its own board so that WD's layer is undone, and the software layer is unlocked on the image afterwards. Encryption adds a step to the job; it usually adds nothing to the cost, provided the key is to hand.

What you see, and what it means.

Describe yours to us →

What you see	The usual reason	Where that leaves you
WD drive shows as blank or RAW outside its case	Hardware encryption; the key is on the board you removed	Put it back; send it whole
WD Security asks for a forgotten password	The password protects the key	We do not break it; a hint or a password manager may
Windows asks for a 48-digit BitLocker recovery key	BitLocker To Go	The key from the Microsoft account, a file or a printout
Mac asks for a password to unlock the disk and rejects it	FileVault or an encrypted Time Machine	The password is required
Seagate Secure or LaCie lock	A password you set	The password is required
An encrypted drive that also clicks	Two faults, in order	Mechanics first; unlocked on the image second

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

Every external drive is two things: the drive, and the USB board that talks to it. The board is checked first, because a failed bridge, a snapped socket or a dead regulator is the whole fault on a good share of jobs, and because on WD's encrypted drives the board holds the key. Where the drive itself has stopped, it comes out of its case onto the bench.

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

The mechanics, in clean air

The drive is recovered as a drive first, through its own board where the board holds a key. The image is then unlocked with what you supply — the WD Security password, the BitLocker recovery key, the FileVault password — and the volume mounted from the unlocked image. Nothing is ever attempted 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

From the bench

Find the key before you post. BitLocker's is under Devices in the Microsoft account, or with your employer; FileVault's is your login password; WD Security's is whatever you chose. Ten minutes now saves a week later.
Never throw away the case of a WD drive. The board in it is the key to everything on the platters.
We do not break encryption, and we decline devices that are not yours to open. A drive belonging to an employer, an estate or a former partner needs the owner's authority in writing.
Guessing passwords against a Seagate Secure drive can lock it permanently. Stop after one or two tries and think about where it was written down.

One job, followed all the way through.

UK · EHD-2026-0466JOB LOGGED ✓

A My Passport Ultra whose owner had set a WD Security password in 2017 and written it in a diary

The drive's board had failed and the drive read as blank on a dock, which is what a My Passport does without it. The case had been kept. The board was repaired so that its key could be used, the drive imaged through it, and the password from the diary unlocked the volume on the image. Nothing on the drive had ever been at risk except the diary.

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 your password, hint or 48-digit key first
Tell us which encryption was set
Have the owner's written authority if the drive is not yours

What sets us back

Throwing the case away
Guessing passwords repeatedly
Initialising a WD drive that shows as blank
Turning BitLocker off on a failing drive

Questions answered before you commit.

I have a BitLocker prompt on my external drive. Can you help?

With the 48-digit recovery key, yes. It is under Devices in the Microsoft account that turned BitLocker on, or with your employer's IT. Without it, nobody can, and we say so.

Do you break encryption?

No. We recover the drive and unlock the volume with the key you supply. We do not attempt to bypass WD Security, BitLocker, FileVault or anything else, and we do not take drives that are not yours to open.

My WD drive was never encrypted. Why does it show as blank out of its case?

Because it was. WD's My Passport and My Book encrypt in hardware whether or not a password was set. Put it back in its case and send the unit whole.

What does it cost?

£300 + VAT for one drive after the free look, fixed in writing. Encryption adds a step, not usually a cost.

How long does it take?

3–4 days at the bench after the free look.

Where this usually leads.

Hardware-encrypted drives →Time Machine drives →Western Digital →Seagate →Broken port or bridge board →

Nothing gets worse while it is unplugged.

Looking at it is free. Back comes a list of what opened and what did not, together with a single price to finish, set down in writing while you are still free to say no. Until that list reaches you, leave the drive unplugged.

0800 6890668

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