Data Recovery Case Study #10 WD My Book

WD My Book External

In this data recovery case study we’ll be working on a Western Digital hard drive model WD500KS-00MNB0 pulled from a My Book external enclosure. Hard drive has failed read/write heads and require clean room work.

Initial Hard Drive Information

Model: Western Digital WD500KS-00MNB0 (Pulled from My Book external)

DCM: HCACAJAA
Date: 29 AUG 2006
Size: 500Gb
Country: MalaysiaDrive spins up, does not click but shows as unrecognized to computer when USB connected.

Data Recovery Diagnostic Phase

Drive connected to PC-3000 and powered on. Reaches ready state, but in Kernel mode.
Backup of service area, ROM, and service tracks made. Attempted to set max LBA and hotstart drive (unsuccessfuly)
Contacts on donor PCB noticed to be extremely charred. Contacts cleaned (no effect)
Donor PCB pulled from stock and ROM programmed with donor ROM code. (no effect)
Attempted to change headmap in ROM to determine which heads have failed (still only has access in kernel mode – seems to be a Zeus family issue).
Compatible smart hotswap donor not available in stock, order one for stock to load tracks onto PCB.
Customer quoted $700 labor cost plus ~$100 for donor parts (approved)

WD My Book Data Recovery

Order donor hard drive for read write head replacement. (arrived approximately 1 week later)

Read/write heads replaced in clean room environment. (operation completed successfully)

Hard drive ID’s correctly and is able to read sectors. One read/write head is still very slow (possibly due to media damage).

Slow head is disabled and remaining heads complete imaging within 24 hours.

Remaining head is re-enabled and imaging repeated. After three passes of varying intensity 99.7% of sectors are read successfully and copied to temporary clone.

Customer purchased 1Tb Toshiba external from us for $85

Data copy completed.

Total billed to customer: $700 (recovery charge) + 89.76 (donor parts) + $85 (new Toshiba external)

Google Rating

4.8

Data Medics

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15:04 07 Oct 17

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16:33 06 Jul 17

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17:07 20 Mar 17

So far it's been great - Jared took the time and patience to explain everything to me. I've chatted with several companies and he's has been the most helpful.

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03:04 05 Jun 15

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Gayle Patalano

14:18 09 Jun 15

These are honest and hard working people. So professional. They have answered every question I have had about my computer. Totally trustworthy. You won't be sorry you used Data Medics. Gayle Patalano

Katie Abramski

18:43 27 Mar 18

Everyone at data medics was so professional, helpful, and pleasant. Their prices are very good compared to other companies that ask way more money. They were also able to recover ALL of my data in just a few weeks. Highly recommended!

Ale García Bardales

23:43 30 Apr 18

Wonderful help from Jared!

Allen Breyette

07:56 23 May 18

Friendly and knowledge staff.

The Nice Company Bryn

21:21 18 Jul 18

I couldn't be happier with the service and the counseling, as they talked me off the cliff. Great Job, thanks again!

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17:40 26 Sep 18

Excellent service at a great price!

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22:14 18 May 19

This is a very professional company. They go through all scenarios, exceptional service at offIce.

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21:07 29 Aug 19

Without them, I wouldn't have been able to retrieve any information from my old laptop, nor would I have my photos of Sally ( my dog who recently passed) back

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13:16 30 Oct 19

Very EXCELLENT work! Highly recommend ??

Eric Brown

17:17 20 Mar 20

Great service - Was able to get my pictures of my kids back. Thanks again! Hopefully i do not need the service again.

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17:47 20 Jun 20

Jared was kind enough to answer a lot of questions by email without me being a customer. He is an absolute expert who is extremely customer-friendly. I really appreciate that. Really great!

Eric MacIver

17:57 30 Jun 21

Jared worked with me on a RAID0 recovery project. He did so remotely and was fantastic to work with! He was prompt, professional, patient, helpful, courteous and extremely knowledgeable. I fully recommend working with him and Data Medics - I know they'll be my first call if I need any assistance in the future.

Soheil A

16:40 29 Sep 21

Mr. Palmer and Data Medics are quick, communicative, experienced and professional with lots of experience. I am living in Germany and was looking for someone to help me. He was able to identify an issue that many people who I had asked could not identify. He told me the best way to recover the data and his estimation are always correct, work is done quickly. I couldn’t imagine any better expert for this problem and I highly recommend his service worldwide.

Liz Farrell

22:04 03 Mar 22

After I dropped my external hard drive and it squealed like a dying animal, I bandaged & shipped it to Data Medics. Owner Jeremy Walsh was instantly responsive and provided a realistic prognosis for recovery of any data. He put Zach Lillibridge on the case and this computer "surgeon" forged a miracle. Most of my files were saved! My case is rare and so perhaps lucky, but I believe that the great docs' diligence and skills were at play in the "O.R." at Data Medics. I would trust them-- and The Right Click-- with any and all of my computer hardware and software needs. Don't sweat it, just call Data Medic and The Right Click.

Michael Ryan

18:16 23 Dec 19

I have brought 3 drives to this company in last 2 years. They recovered only one of them, the first one. Each time they charged me for parts couple hundred $ per drive. It took them over a month to get back with final result. I have sent the last drive to NJ and they were able to recover 60% of the data. I am very upset. This is not a good business.

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Data Recovery Case Study #10 (WD My Book WD500KS-00MNB0)

Initial Hard Drive Information

Data Recovery Diagnostic Phase

WD My Book Data Recovery

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