- #WD DIGITAL PASSPORT STUCK ON PREPARING BACKUP SOFTWARE#
- #WD DIGITAL PASSPORT STUCK ON PREPARING BACKUP PASSWORD#
- #WD DIGITAL PASSPORT STUCK ON PREPARING BACKUP PROFESSIONAL#
- #WD DIGITAL PASSPORT STUCK ON PREPARING BACKUP FREE#
If people want the encryption on, let them set the password, and then, you can throw up the disclaimers and all that good stuff.
So, I am unsure why hardware encryption is on by default. In the case where they remove the HD from the case, then, unsure why they didn't take the whole thing to begin with.
#WD DIGITAL PASSPORT STUCK ON PREPARING BACKUP PASSWORD#
In the case of the item is stolen, and a password wasn't set, the thieves can read the data just fine.
#WD DIGITAL PASSPORT STUCK ON PREPARING BACKUP PROFESSIONAL#
IMO, there should be a sticker on it saying "This drive uses hardware encryption at all times, please make appropriate backups since you will be unable to recover your data without professional help."
#WD DIGITAL PASSPORT STUCK ON PREPARING BACKUP SOFTWARE#
Oh, the box also claims it can do backups to dropbox, but he states there was no software or any DVD that came with the unit. Yes, more tech savy people know to keep backups, but, these are made for the average joe, and they just buy the device thinking it is their backup, and that is all they need. It doesn't mention that you CAN'T get your data back by normal means either, in case the case dies on you. It doesn't mention it (hardware encryption) is always on from the moment you turn it on. "WD security software helps protect your files from unauthorized access with password protect and hardware encryption.
#WD DIGITAL PASSPORT STUCK ON PREPARING BACKUP FREE#
Your safest bet would be a data recovery company but these services tend to be quite costly.įeel free to ask if you have further questionsĬlick to expand.I asked him to send me pics of the box, and it states on the side label: It is advised to have backups of the data on such drives for such cases. The drive itself cannot be read if a password is set and that password is not entered correctly or the drive is used outside of that particular enclosure. It's a 256-bit hardware-based encryption that is also used by governments to protect classified information. The hardware encryption serves to protect the data on a drive to be taken in case the drive is lost or stolen. This is described on our website for all the products that feature hardware encryption. It's up to the user's preference if they want to set a password or not, but the encryption of these drives is always on and cannot be turned off. The data on the drives with hardware encryption is always encrypted by a chip and cannot be turned off. WD My Book and WD My Passport drives have the hardware encryption feature while other products such as the WD Elements - don't. I'm sorry to hear about the trouble with the drive. Luckly, here, this was used as a backup drive mainly, with only some stuff that wasn't backed, but, they still had the originals of the other stuff, so, I just reformatted the HD, and stuck it in a regular USB 3 case (with fan), and, no more of this encryption nonsense.Īnyone know if this encryption is always on, on ALL WD external devices now? With HDs this size and higher, that tends to cost thousands of $$$, so, this seems rather shortsighted by WD. It seems the only thing this does is make sending these drives to professional recovery services mandatory.
Why is WD automatically doing this without the consent of the user? There is a encryption key that seems to be stored in a EEPROM chip most likely on the USB PCB, and I haven't seen any tools that could decrypt it.įunny enough, I just saw a press release from ACE recovery saying that can now crack this encryption of these units.
Looking online, it seems that WD is doing this to "protect your data", even if you didn't ask for said data to be encrypted to make it impossible to recover any info in case of disaster. I asked him if he ever set any password, and he said no, he just plugged it in, and starting writing data to it. That did work, the HD is seen, however, the data seems to be encrypted. A friend has a 4TB My book external drive, and his 2 year old managed to damage the unit from working.Īnyway, I was over there trying to help him get his data back, and opened up his case (it was out of warranty), and attempted to plug the HD into another machine I brought with me.