Clicking WD My Book: Torn Off Head and a Failed PCB, 440GB of Family Photos Recovered

Can a clicking WD My Book be recovered? In this case, yes, even with two separate faults on one drive. Lucy’s WD My Book had a torn off head and a failed circuit board. Our data recovery engineer fitted donor heads, moved the original ROM chip to a donor board, and 440GB came back, including over 12,000 photos.

Sound familiar?

• Your WD My Book started clicking and will not stop.
• The drive powers on but never shows up on the computer.
• It holds years of family photos and videos with no other copy.
• Someone has already told you the data is gone.

Same problem? We know what to do and how to do it. Call 1300 444 800 or request a free assessment.

20 Years of Family Photos on a WD My Book That Started Clicking

Lucy in South Australia kept 20 years of her life on a Western Digital My Book external drive. Family photos. Home videos. The records of her local dog obedience club.

One day it started clicking nonstop and would not engage. The computer could not see it, and nothing she tried changed that.

She sent it to us. What looked like one fault turned out to be two, and that is what made this job unusual.

The Problem: Why Was the WD My Book Clicking?

In our Sydney CBD lab, our data recovery engineer opened the drive in a laminar flow cabinet and found the first fault straight away. Head 0 had been completely ripped off.

A hard drive reads its platters with tiny read and write heads. When one is torn away, the drive keeps trying to find its data, fails, and tries again. That repeated search is the clicking sound. It explained Lucy’s symptom exactly, and a head swap was the obvious next step.

Why You Cannot Just Pull the Drive Out of a WD My Book

Here is something most people do not know about WD My Book drives. The encryption sits inside the USB to SATA bridge board in the enclosure, not on the drive itself.

Take the bare drive out and connect it directly to a computer, and the data comes up scrambled. Without that original bridge it cannot be read as files. It catches out a lot of computer shops.

So a My Book case is never only about the drive inside. Every part of the original setup matters, down to the small board in the case.

The WD My Book Data Recovery Process: Donor Heads, Then a Second Fault

A head swap needs a donor drive that matches the patient closely. We hold over 30,000 donor parts, including around 20,000 donor hard drives, so a matching donor was ready straight away and Lucy’s job did not wait on a part.

The data recovery engineer transplanted the donor heads and powered the drive on. It was still clicking.

It was a different click this time, though. That told him the job was not over. Most people would expect a clean result after a good head swap. Instead, he recognised that the drive’s printed circuit board had a second fault of its own, unrelated to the heads.

Two separate failures on one drive is very unusual.

He went back to the same donor drive and took its circuit board. Before fitting it, he moved the original ROM chip from Lucy’s board across to the donor board. That chip carries information unique to her drive, and keeping it is what lets the donor board work with her heads and platters.

This time the drive powered up cleanly.

WD My Book Clicking Data Recovery Case Study: The Results

With the drive running on donor heads and a donor board carrying its own ROM, a full image was taken. 100 percent of the data was recovered.

The clone went to another team member, who saved everything onto a new 2TB USB hard drive and checked that every file opened with no damage.

In total, 440GB came back: over 12,000 photos, 5,000 videos and more than 130,000 files, all in good condition. Twenty years of family photos, the home videos and the dog obedience club records.

Lucy received a detailed file listing and a short video preview of her data, then a secure link to pay online. Once paid, the new drive went back to her by Australia Post Express at no extra charge.

What Should You Do If Your WD My Book Starts Clicking?

Stop using it. A clicking drive usually has a head problem, and each time it powers on, a damaged head can scrape the platters that hold your photos.

Do not keep plugging it in to see if it comes back, and do not run recovery software on it. Software cannot fix a torn off head. Do not open the enclosure or take the drive out of it either, because the My Book’s bridge board is part of how the data is read.

Turn it off and send it in for a free assessment, in its original case. As Lucy’s drive showed, a click can hide more than one fault, and the second one only shows once the first is fixed.

There is never a guarantee with data recovery. Based on thousands of drives with damaged heads, we estimate about an 80 percent chance on a drive nobody has opened. In 8 out of 10 cases the platters are undamaged or have minor damage we can work around. In 2 out of 10 we find severe platter damage after opening.

Why People Choose Payam Data Recovery

A failed hard drive needs an experienced data recovery engineer, and often a matching donor part. We work on 10 to 15 drives with failed heads every day.

• We are a specialist data recovery lab, not a computer repair shop. We have been recovering data since 1998, from over 300,000 devices.
• The best equipped data recovery lab in Australia: an ISO 5 certified laminar flow cabinet for head replacements, an anti-static lab, microscopes and microsoldering stations for circuit board work, the Ace Lab PC-3000, Atola Insight Forensic and DeepSpar Disk Imager, and over 30,000 donor parts, including around 20,000 donor hard drives. When your drive needs a matching part, it is usually already on our shelf.
• Over 2,000 IT companies and computer shops across Australia send us their customers’ complex cases, and data recovery labs and IT companies in more than 50 countries have sent us their difficult cases over the past ten years.
• Rated 4.9 from more than 2,300 Google reviews.
• See your files before you pay. You tell us which files matter most. Before you pay for the recovery, we’ll send you a list of your recovered files so you can check them. If any of the files you listed are missing, tell us and we’ll search again.
• Everything is done in our own labs in Australia and never outsourced overseas. Call or visit us, and you can speak with the data recovery engineers who do the work.

We are not the cheapest. We are the best in Australia at this work. We know what to do, how to do it, and we will do our very best for you. Your best chance of getting your data back is with us.

Hard Drive Data Recovery Pricing and Services

Every hard drive case starts with a free assessment and a written quote. We test the drive, then email you the problem we found, how we can help, the cost and the time involved, for your approval before any chargeable work. About 90% of our jobs are no fix, no fee. The hardest 10% carry an attempt fee.

A hard drive with damaged heads needs donor parts and work in the laminar flow cabinet, so it carries an attempt fee that forms part of the total price. You pay the attempt fee to begin, and if we are successful, you pay the remaining balance. Current prices are on our hard drive data recovery page. Priority and Emergency service cost more and are faster. Your quote confirms the exact price.

If you need to know sooner, an urgent written quote within 1 to 2 hours is available for a fee. We can supply a destination drive, or you can send your own. There is no card surcharge. Pay by Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Afterpay, Zip or bank deposit (EFT).

Our hard drive data recovery service covers every brand and size, portable and desktop, including all Western Digital external drives.

How Our Process Works for International Customers

International customers are always welcome. The easiest way to reach us from overseas is by email at help@payam.com.au, which works in every time zone. Start with the free quote form. If the indicative pricing suits you, we send job instructions and you post the drive to our main data recovery lab in Rhodes, NSW by a tracked courier. Recovered data comes back on a new drive.

Frequently Asked Questions

My WD My Book is clicking and not detected. Can the data be recovered?
Often, yes. Lucy’s My Book was clicking because head 0 had been ripped off, and the board had a second fault too. Our data recovery engineer fitted donor heads, moved the original ROM chip to a donor board, and recovered 100 percent of her 440GB. Turn the drive off and have it assessed before using it again.

Why is my hard drive still clicking after a head swap?
Sometimes a drive has more than one fault. On Lucy’s drive the new heads were fine, but the click changed, which told our data recovery engineer the circuit board had failed too. Fitting a donor board carrying her original ROM chip let the drive power up cleanly, and a full image followed.

Can I take the drive out of my WD My Book and plug it in directly?
Please do not. On WD My Book drives the encryption sits in the USB to SATA bridge board inside the enclosure. Connected directly, the data comes up scrambled without that original bridge. Send the drive in its original case, so every part needed to read your data stays together.

What is a ROM chip transfer and why does it matter?
The ROM chip on a hard drive’s circuit board holds information unique to that drive. A donor board cannot run the drive properly without it. Our data recovery engineer moved Lucy’s original ROM chip onto the donor board, which preserved her drive’s own configuration and let it power up and be imaged.

How many photos and videos did you recover from this My Book?
In total 440GB came back, including over 12,000 photos, 5,000 videos and more than 130,000 files, all in good condition. That was 100 percent of the data. Every file was checked to open with no damage before it was saved to a new 2TB USB hard drive for Lucy.

If you cannot recover my data, is there nothing to pay?
Yes. The assessment and quote are free, and for most faults there is nothing to pay unless we recover your data. See your files before you pay. You tell us which files matter most. Before you pay for the recovery, we’ll send you a list of your recovered files so you can check them. If any of the files you listed are missing, tell us and we’ll search again. The one exception is cleanroom and other high risk work, where part of the quoted price is a non-refundable attempt fee paid upfront so we can begin. That covers the data recovery engineer time and donor parts we commit whatever the outcome. If an attempt fee applies to your job, it will be stated clearly in your quote before you approve anything.

Can I send my drive from South Australia or overseas?
Yes. Lucy sent her drive from South Australia and it came back by Australia Post Express at no extra charge. We work for people all around Australia, and international customers are always welcome. Request a free quote first, then post the drive by tracked courier. From overseas, email help@payam.com.au, which works in every time zone.

About Payam Data Recovery

Payam Data Recovery has been recovering data since 1998 for individuals, businesses, government and police, with more than 300,000 devices recovered. Apple lists us as one of three recommended data recovery providers. For hard drives the lab runs the Ace Lab PC-3000, Atola Insight Forensic and DeepSpar Disk Imager, holds over 30,000 donor parts, including around 20,000 donor hard drives, and head replacements are done in an ISO 5 laminar flow cabinet. Everything is done in Australia and never outsourced overseas. Head office and full service lab in Sydney CBD, with our main data recovery lab for complex cases in Rhodes, NSW, full service labs in Melbourne and Brisbane, and secure drop-off offices in Adelaide and Perth with free overnight express delivery to Rhodes, NSW. You can read more about Payam Data Recovery.

Request a Free Hard Drive Data Recovery Assessment

Related Case Studies

• Dropped WD drive with a head crash and USB encryption
• Clicking Seagate 4TB, donor heads fitted and ROM patched
• Dead Seagate drive brought back with a PCB and ROM chip transfer
• WD external drive slow, then not detected, one head failed

Video Transcript

Hi, I’m Mike behind the scenes at Payam Data Recovery’s lab in Sydney, Australia, watching one of their engineers work a case where a single click was hiding two separate faults on the same dead hard drive. Lucy from South Australia sent in a Western Digital My Book external drive holding 20 years of irreplaceable family photos, home videos, and records from her local dog obedience club. One day, it started clicking nonstop and would not engage.

Here is something most people don’t know about WD My Book drives. The encryption sits inside the USB to SATA bridge in the enclosure. Pull the bare drive out, connect it directly, and the data comes up scrambled without that original bridge. It catches out a lot of computer shops.

Opening the drive, the engineer found the first fault immediately. Head zero had been completely ripped off. That explained the clicking, and a head swap was the obvious next move. This is where Payam’s resources matter. Payam Data Recovery holds over 30,000 donor parts, including around 20,000 donor hard drives, so a matching donor was ready straight away.

He transplanted the donor heads and powered it on, but it was still clicking. A different click this time, telling him it was not over. Most people would expect a clean result after a good head swap. Instead, he recognised the PCB had a second unrelated fault of its own. Two separate failures on one drive, which is very unusual.

He went back to the same donor, moved the original ROM chip across to preserve Lucy’s unique configuration, and fitted the donor board. This time, it powered up cleanly. A full image was taken with 100% of the data recovered. The clone went to another team member, who saved everything onto a new two terabyte USB hard drive and checked that every file opened with no damage.

In total, 440 gigabytes came back, including over 12,000 photos, 5,000 videos, and more than 130,000 files, all in good condition. Lucy received a detailed file listing and short video preview, then a secure link to pay online. Once paid, it ships back on the new drive by Australia Post Express at no extra charge.

Payam’s team has been recovering data since 1998 for individuals, businesses, government, and police across Australia, and they welcome international work too. If your drive is clicking and someone told you the data is gone, try Payam Data Recovery. Thanks for watching.