Recovering damaged external hard disk by installing internally

Posted by nfarshchi on Super User See other posts from Super User or by nfarshchi
Published on 2012-07-11T09:42:41Z Indexed on 2012/09/06 15:41 UTC
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I had a 1TB Western Digital (My book series) 3.5" USB3. One day, the SATA to USB3 converter board was damaged and has not worked since.

I decided to open the cover and use the HDD as an internal HDD.

When I attached the HDD to my PC and booted up in Windows, it asked me which type of ????? I want to use "MBR or GBR" (I dont remember the exact question)

I chose MBR and Windows gave me a 1TB empty Hard drive. I tried to recover with recover my files and some other recovery programs but no success.

  • Some one told me that you should choosed GBR instead of MBR . How can I do that now?
  • Another guy told me that the SATA to USB3 converter board is coded to save data on HDD and you can not use them internally without losing data, and I should find another SATA to USB3 board (exact same).

It is impossible to find because they are not produced any more.

Please help me to find a solution to bring back my data.


UPDATE I have 1TB WD "Mybook" USB 3. the board that convert sata to usb3 was damaged. so when the HDD was in the box computer did not recognize it. I opened the box and remove HDD to use it internal. after connecting to my PC windows showed me one massage that I had two choice MBR or GPT I choosed MBR one and windows gave me 1TB empty new volume. I tried many recovery software to recover my data but no success. I brought it to one expert recovery company and they told me the converter board (SATA to USB3) make some encryption on data and with out that board you cannot recover any thing. so I bought another empty WD box and put the HDD inside but even after that also there is no file. I tried to recover again in this state but no success. so I have some unanswered question.

  • does this converted boards make any password or encryption? if yes how can I solve it?
  • does using many recovery programs affected my data?
  • any suggestion or solution for bring back my data?

I had use recovery programs such as : recover my files , EaseUS data recovery, easy recovery, test disk, Ontrack easy recovery .

Note: when I was using test disk it asked me to choose which partition table I want to use. as it was I choose NTFS, does this made any change on data?

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