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Which WD Disks Have Hardware Encryption and Can That Be Disabled?

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User101

User101

PCHF Member
Sep 16, 2016
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#1
There seems to be confusion and differences of opinion in WD "sites" as to (1) which WD disks have hardware encryption and (2) whether that encryption can be disabled from ever running. This confusion extends to even different models within the same WD Elements and My Book lines.

Can anyone clarify the encryption situation in the WD lines? I know there are so many models with the same names and sizes, but with different shapes. I don't want to buy a disk and then find that it is encrypting and can't be overriden. I don't need expensive My Passport models, and would like to stay with the Elements (discontinued but possibly still around) and the My Book (preferably soft corner versions).

Thank you.
 
#3
I can't help because I own 6 My Passport portable hard drives. If the drives come with software, one of the first things I do is remove it, if possible.
 
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#5
I have bought and sold WD hard drives, internal and external, for many years. Consumer WD drives now come with encryption software but I rather doubt you will find hardware encryption. You might do us a favor and post the reference to this so we all might have a look. I'm sure the lovely Plodr would know if her My Passports had this feature. I have several Passports, Elements and My Books with no issue. :)
 
#6
Ah! I see what the fuss is about. My apologies User101. Seems WD slipped something past me. Guess I will have to strip my drives out of the cases and use my own. From what I see the encryption is done from from the USB bridge or the SATA controller. My advice would be to save your data, strip the drive, put it in another enclosure and forget using WD or Seagate external drives. It has never been an issue with me because I never install the software that enables the password feature.
 
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#7
Lord Chance:
Are you saying not to use WD external Disks? What else is there that's reliable? I would not use Seagate
References:
1)
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/997294-REG/wd_wdbfjk0030hbk_nesn_3tb_my_book_desktop.html
A good drive, but with a few qualifiers...

By gabryant

VERIFIED BUYER
So far this seems like a good external drive for the price. I've been running short on storage space for some time, so when this drive popped up for the price offered, I couldn't afford to pass it up.

That said, you would need to consider two qualifiers and how to work-around them.

The first is the hardware encryption that Western Digital has built into the drive. If for whatever reason, the drive or it's components were to fail, you would be at a real loss to un-encrypt your data. So the work-around is to NOT set up the encryption. The default for the drive in encryption disabled. Of course, that would leave the drive vulnerable to a hacker, but you would need to consider "is my data all that important to someone?" Yes, if you are storing credit card or social security number data there. No, if not. The work-arounds there would be to either disconnect the drive from your computer or network when not in use, or to turn the drive off when not in use.
======================================================
2)
https://community.wd.com/t/can-hw-encryption-be-completely-disabled-on-new-my-book-series/189925
This is a simple question that I need someone from WD to officially answer with either Yes or No.


Question: Does the new version of My Book series (WDBBGB0040HBK-NESN) still suffer from the "Hardware encryption is always on" problem/bug? I'm a long-time WD customer but have no interest in HW encryption and am not willing to purchase an external hard drive that isn't recoverable in the situation where just the enclosure fails. I demand the ability to completely disable it.


So, a Yes reply means that the user has been given the capability of completely disabling all HW encryption, and a No reply means that WD has chosen to not address the problem outlined in the post below.

This is a huge issue and needs to be addressed. I have spoken with a data recovery company, they have said that if your WD My Book Duo which has the "AES 256 Hardware encryption" feature, if the drive enclosure dies that your data will NOT be accessible even if your hard drives are in perfect working order. Your data may be fine and dandy on your hard drives but you can not access it. Even if you are able to find and purchase another exact WD My Book Duo and put the drives in that, it will N…
==============================================





 
#8
User101 said:
Lord Chance:
Are you saying not to use WD external Disks? What else is there that's reliable? I would not use Seagate
Click to expand...
I highly recommend Western Digital hard drives. Let me clarify. I have used, bought and sold WD drives for many years. In fact I was a WD Authorized Resaler. WD sells two types of hard drive. Internal which is a bare drive that relies on the computer for controller operations and External which is in a stand alone case with the controller built into the case relying on the computer for a data stream only. The issue you are referring to exists on the external drives only. The encryption routine is hard coded on the controller board within the case of the external drive. At this point I see no way to disable the encryption unless the firmware of the controller can be flashed with the appropriate update. Since I have been out of the business for several years I have no way of obtaining that knowledge short of WD making it available. At this point the only work around the issue is to save your data to an external or internal drive then take the drive out of the WD case, put it in a case of your choice, format the drive then use it as you were intending.

In my opinion Western Digital dropped the ball in releasing this feature on Consumer products. The feature is next to useless where the casual user is concerned. These users only want these drives for everyday storage and backups. What happens if the controller goes bad? You lose your data unless you can find someone to decrypt the disk. I used to charge $300 USD for raw data retrieval. Not many can afford that for their music or picture files so those files are effectively gone. You are supposed to make backups though. You did, on a drive that encrypts the data for "Security Sake" but now you need to make an unencrypted backup just in case your backup fails. Sounds like RansomWare to me. These drives are fine in an IT setting but for everyone else they are a trap.

To answer your question, No. What I am saying is that be aware of what you buy and its intended purpose. The External WD drives are fine and that I will continue buying them. If you are worried about the encryption and its pitfalls then maybe you shouldn't but until WD fixes this issue then it is what it is. Just my 2 pence worth. :)
 
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#9
2 pence is worth more than $US.02 so I'll take it :)

Do you have any recommendations for non-WD external disks? I now need to get one for each of my WD disks. This is especially bad as I do manual dual file copies and dual backups for protection - and both sets of copies and sets of backups are on WD Elements Disks. I have four of them and now have to get four non-WDs for the dual copies and dual backups. A lot of work and a lot of money for no good reason, just to recover from WD's conceit and arrogance.
I used to use Samsung disks but once they went out of the disk business (selling it to Seagate) I had to look elsewhere.
Any recommendation will be appreciated.
Thank you.
 
#10
Any recommendation I make would be biased as I prefer devices other than USB external drives. If USB is a must then find an enclosure that looks something like the following.
https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?item=N82E16817392054
Look for a robust enclosure that offers RAID. You can get them with bays for 2 to 4 drives. The above is just an example.

If you have a home or office network then a NAS (Network Attached Storage) enclosure is what I prefer. In either case if your WDs go bad and the drives inside are still viable then it won't be a total loss. :)
 
#11
I am not experienced nor familiar with PC hardware. I would not know how to go about changing enclosures and would not even attempt to do that. I'll have to look for some other brand of disk that doesn't cost a fortune (that leaves out a G-Technology disk), that has good reviews and hope that it also doesn't have hardware encryption.
 
#12
User101 said:
I am not experienced nor familiar with PC hardware. I would not know how to go about changing enclosures and would not even attempt to do that. I'll have to look for some other brand of disk that doesn't cost a fortune (that leaves out a G-Technology disk), that has good reviews and hope that it also doesn't have hardware encryption.
Click to expand...
I do understand your hesitation. The process is really not difficult and just for giggles I will provide a short video showing how easy. As for buying an enclosure, they are usually just pop it open and plug the drives in. Simple. ;)

 
#15
I am trying to get up the nerve/guts(/confidence?) to try what Lord Chance recommends. How would I find which serial numbers are which - and which line of Disks are involved?
 
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