My 2TB WD My Book Essential 3.5" external drive, model no. WDBACW0020HBK-01 suddenly failed to power up, it just sit at a corner and i rarely move it

i check the adapter and usb cable, both working fine

my warranty finished d, called wd support to try my luck, they say need to send in for RMA and the files inside need data recovery, ridiculous

Google a lot and apparently the control board is the culprit, the hdd is still ok 1, i pry open the casing and found the control board part number 4061-705094-001 Rev 13R

the data in the hdd is encrypted by the controller board, thus putting the hdd into a generic casing to access the data wouldn't work

the solution is to replace the controller board, found a seller online but just buying the controller board would cost over 200 whereas a new 2tb drive is just 350++ 



anyone here experience the same problem and manage to fix it? or if you know where to get the controller board locally?

any help is very much appreciated, thanks.

Hi tommy_thaitanium,

I've tried the solutions mentioned in the KB but nothing work 

tried another usb cable, make sure the adapter is working and tried it on another laptop

the power input socket on the external drive is kinda different, i tried to plug in the unifi modem power adapter but can't fit. But the external drive's power adapter plugs in nicely on the unifi modem and powers it up nicely

i barely move the usb cable because it's always plugged in, so i doubt it's the problem

Its not adviseable nor recommended to change the controller PCB on Western Digital hard drives. Also if you hard drive have encryption, changing the controller PCB may also be detrimental (as encryption information is usually stored on the controller firmware itself). You may want to check/diagnose the power supply distribution section on that controller PCB for failed components...

Having just power not necessarily means the power supply is working well. Do you have either a multimeter, a voltmeter or an oscilloscope to check the voltage output? Bad voltages and noisy rails can affect hard drives easily...