Hard Drive Data Recovery: A Client’s Journey to Recover Data from a Clicking WD My Passport with Damaged Heads

Watch how Payam Data Recovery successfully recovers data from a clicking WD hard drive, just like Sarah’s.

The Day the Hard Drive Stopped: A Client’s Story Begins

Imagine you’re working on your laptop, relying on your Western Digital WD My Passport USB hard drive to store your cherished memories, business files, and photos. Suddenly, you hear a faint clicking sound, and your computer can’t find the drive anymore, and your heart sinks as you realize what you might have lost.

This is what happened to Sarah, a small business owner and mother of two from Sydney, who delivered her failed drive to Payam Data Recovery in distress. Her 2TB WD My Passport, model WD20NMVW, a drive she’d relied on for years, had stopped working, and she feared her data was gone for good. Sarah had lost all photos and videos of her kids from the past five years, including their births, first birthdays, family holidays, and countless other milestones. Like many of our clients, Sarah hadn’t backed up her data in months, thinking she’d get to it eventually, a regret echoed by others who’ve said, “I kept putting off getting a backup, thinking I’d find time soon.” For Sarah, the thought of losing those irreplaceable memories of her children’s early years left her feeling devastated, a fear shared by many who’ve faced a sudden hard drive failure.

Portable hard drives like the WD My Passport can fail due to physical damage, often from damaged heads. That clicking sound Sarah heard was a clear sign of trouble, and she knew she needed professional hard drive data recovery to retrieve her files. That’s where our team in Rhodes NSW stepped in, ready to assist with our skills in cleanroom HDD recovery and head replacement.

Understanding the Problem: What Are Damaged Heads and Why Do They Fail?

When Sarah delivered her WD My Passport to our Rhodes NSW office, we quickly identified the issue: the drive had damaged heads. Inside every hard drive, tiny read write heads float just 10 to 100 nanometres above the spinning platters, reading and writing your data. These heads are incredibly delicate, and if they become misaligned or damaged, they can’t access the data anymore.

This leads to a repetitive clicking sound, often called the “click of death,” as the heads hit a limiter (head stopper) while struggling to function, making the drive inaccessible. But what causes these heads to fail? Here are several reasons, and Sarah’s drive could have been affected by any of these:

• Shock and Impact: Dropping the drive, even just a few centimetres, can cause the heads to crash into the platters, leading to damage. Portable drives like Sarah’s are especially at risk because they’re often carried around.
• Banging or Pushing Down: If the drive is knocked or pressed hard, the heads can be forced into the platters, causing scratches and data loss.
• Shaking or Vibration: Excessive shaking or vibration can disrupt the heads’ precise positioning, leading to a crash, especially if the drive isn’t securely placed.
• Old Age: With careful handling, a hard drive can last 7 to 8 years, but over time, the heads wear out from constant use as the mechanical components degrade.
• Environmental Factors: Heat, moisture, or poor cooling can cause the heads to malfunction, as they need to operate within a specific temperature range (typically 0 to 60°C for WD drives).
• Power Surges: An unstable power supply or sudden surge can damage the drive’s electronics, including the heads, causing them to fail.
• Contamination: If dust gets inside the drive, often through a faulty air filter, it can settle on the platters, leading to a head crash when the heads pass over it.

For Sarah’s drive, a 2TB model WD20NMVW, the issue was complicated by its likely use of Shingled Magnetic Recording (SMR) technology. SMR drives overlap data tracks to fit more storage in a smaller space, but this makes them trickier to repair.

Step 1: Diagnosing the Failure in Rhodes NSW

Sarah delivered her failed WD My Passport to our Rhodes NSW office, leaving it with us for a thorough assessment and a free quote. Using specialized diagnostic tools, we confirmed that the read write heads on her WD20NMVW were damaged, a common problem with portable drives that get knocked around.

We also checked for other issues, like platter damage or firmware problems, to plan the best approach for her hard drive data recovery. After informing Sarah of the problem and providing a clear cost estimate, she approved the work, and we began the recovery process.

Step 2: Head Replacement with Dmitri

With Sarah’s approval, our technician Dmitri took her WD My Passport to our dust free environment for the head replacement process. Head replacement is a delicate task, and Dmitri’s years of experience were essential.

Using the laminar flow cabinet to maintain an ESD safe and dust free setting, he carefully opened the drive, revealing the damaged read write heads that had caused the clicking hard drive sound. The heads are made of advanced alloys like nickel and iron, and they need to be perfectly aligned to avoid touching the platters, which can cause scratches and permanent data loss.

At Payam Data Recovery, we had the matching heads in stock, as we maintain an inventory of over 20,000 working donor drives and 15,000 hard drive PCBs. We’re also building a large collection of donor SSDs for our SSD data recovery division. This extensive inventory allows us to perform repairs onsite quickly, without waiting for parts to arrive from overseas.

Dmitri sourced the matching donor heads from an identical WD My Passport drive, ensuring the model and firmware were the same to avoid complications. He performed the head replacement with precision, a process that requires steady hands and a controlled environment. This followed one of the best practices for cleanroom HDD recovery: always use matching donor parts to ensure compatibility and avoid further damage. For Sarah, this step was a significant step forward, as her drive was one step closer to being accessible again, and she appreciated the efficiency of our process thanks to our in house resources.

Step 3: PCB Swapping and Firmware Adjustments

The next challenge was the drive’s Printed Circuit Board (PCB). Sarah’s WD My Passport used SMR technology, which includes an encrypted system area that needs specific firmware to access the data.

To work with our recovery tools, Dmitri swapped the PCB, changing the USB connector to a SATA connector, a part we also had readily available from our inventory of 15,000 PCBs. But that wasn’t the end of it, the firmware on the new PCB had to be adjusted to match the drive’s original setup.

This step is where many DIY attempts fail. SMR drives, like many WD My Passport models, require advanced technical knowledge to handle their encryption and firmware. Dmitri used specialized software to make the adjustments, ensuring the drive could be read without errors. Following best practices for hard drive data recovery, he avoided powering on the drive unnecessarily during this process, as doing so could worsen the damage to the platters. For Sarah, this meant her business files and photos were still within reach, and the careful process gave her confidence in our capabilities.

Step 4: Cloning the Data with the PC3000

With the head replacement and PCB swap complete, Dmitri moved to the data cloning phase. Using the PC3000, a professional tool for hard drive data recovery, he created a sector by sector clone of Sarah’s drive. This process is time consuming because the drive can be unstable after physical repairs, but it’s essential to avoid further damage to the original drive.

This step aligns with best practices: always use specialized tools to clone the drive, bypassing bad sectors caused by head damage, and monitor the process closely to handle read errors.

For Sarah, this meant her years of memories were being carefully preserved, one sector at a time.

Step 5: Data Extraction and a Positive Outcome

Once the cloning was done, we had a full image of Sarah’s WD My Passport. Following best practices, our team extracted her files, including business documents and personal photos, and verified their integrity to ensure everything was intact. We successfully recovered her data, including all the photos and videos from the past five years of her two kids, their births, first birthdays, family holidays, and countless other milestones that she feared were lost forever. For Sarah, this was an outcome shared by many of our clients who hoped to regain years of memories, like 18th birthday celebrations or family Christmases, that they thought were gone for good.

We sent Sarah an email and SMS with a file listing and a preview of her recovered files, showing her that her precious memories had been restored. After she paid for the service, we transferred the data to a brand new hard drive and shipped it back to her via an overnight courier. Sarah was relieved to have her data back, a sentiment echoed by many clients who’ve expressed gratitude for having their cherished memories restored.

Are You Using a WD My Passport? Know the Risks

Sarah’s WD My Passport isn’t the only drive at risk. Many 2024 and 2025 models of WD My Passport USB HDDs use SMR technology and can face similar issues if dropped or if the heads are damaged. These drives are popular for their portability and high capacity, but their delicate internal components make them vulnerable to physical shock. Here are some models that may have similar issues if you drop them or damage the heads:

• WD My Passport Ultra 20th Emerald Anniversary Edition 2TB (Estimated: WD20TMVW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport Ultra 20th Emerald Anniversary Edition 6TB (Estimated: WD60NDZW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport Works with USB C 1TB (Estimated: WD10TMVW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport Works with USB C 2TB (Estimated: WD20TMVW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport Works with USB C 4TB (Estimated: WD40NDZW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport Works with USB C 5TB (Estimated: WD50NDZW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport Works with USB C 6TB (Estimated: WD60NDZW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport 1TB (Estimated: WD10TMVW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport 2TB (Estimated: WD20TMVW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport 4TB (Estimated: WD40NDZW 21XXXXX)
• WD My Passport 5TB (Estimated: WD50NDZW 21XXXXX)

These newer drives feature USB C ports with USB 3.2 Gen 1 speeds up to 5 Gbps, 256 bit AES hardware encryption, and durable anodised metal enclosures. They measure around 107 x 82 x 22 mm and weigh about 230 grams, making them easy to carry but also easy to drop. Sarah’s drive, the WD20NMVW, was slightly smaller at around 110 x 81 x 15 mm and weighed about 170 grams, but it shared the same vulnerability to physical damage.

Why Choose Professional Cleanroom Type Data Recovery?

Sarah’s case shows why professional cleanroom HDD recovery is crucial for hard drives with damaged heads. Attempting a DIY fix on a clicking hard drive can lead to permanent data loss, especially with SMR drives that need advanced tools like the PC3000.

At Payam Data Recovery, we work on approximately 15 hard drives per year, all day, every day. Since 1998, we’ve successfully recovered data from over 50,000 HDDs with damaged heads. These are complex issues that your local computer shop or IT expert typically can’t fix. In fact, some of our clients are smaller data recovery companies in Australia who lack the experience or training to take on these challenging jobs.

Payam Toloo, a leading figure in data recovery in Australia, who has personally performed over 10,000 head replacements in his lifetime for his clients, advises, “If you treat your hard drive like an egg, handle it like it is fragile, do not move it when you use it, when you unplug it, let it spin down and power down, and never drop it or shake it, it should last for a long time. WD drives are very reliable if you treat them well. If you need a portable drive to travel and move around, it’s better to buy an external SSD like a Samsung T7 or other types of external SSDs, as they are shockproof but can also fail after a few years suddenly for other reasons. Always keep a backup of any portable drive.”

With our skills, laminar flow cabinet providing a cleanroom type environment, and extensive inventory, we ensure your drive is repaired safely and efficiently across our Australian offices.

Contact Payam Data Recovery to Recover Your Data

If your hard drive is clicking, not detected, or has damaged heads, don’t risk losing your data. Contact Payam Data Recovery, just like Sarah did, and let our team recover your files safely and efficiently. We have offices across Australia, ready to help. Visit our contact page for more details on how to reach us:

• Sydney NSW
• Rhodes NSW
• Melbourne VIC
• Brisbane QLD
• Perth WA
• Adelaide SA

Contact Us

Phone: 1300 444 800

Email: help@payam.com.au

Website: https://www.payam.com.au

Learn more about HDD recovery: HDD Recovery

International: +61 2 80766079

Our team specializes in hard drive data recovery, cleanroom type data recovery, and head replacement, ensuring the best outcome for your data. Whether you’re in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, or Adelaide, we’re here to help you recover data from a dead hard drive.

Conclusion: Don’t Let a Clicking Drive End Your Story

Sarah’s journey with her WD My Passport shows that a clicking hard drive doesn’t have to mean the end of your data. With professional hard drive data recovery, we swapped the heads in a dust-free environment, adjusted the firmware, and used the PC3000 to clone her drive, recovering all her files.

If you’re facing the same problem, don’t take chances. Contact Payam Data Recovery for professional cleanroom HDD recovery services today.