WD My Book Emitting a Burnt Smell & Sparks

A professional photography company contacted us after their WD My Book external drive failed. The reported symptoms included:

  • A burnt smell and small sparks from the drive’s enclosure when powered on.
  • The hard drive no longer spinning up, making data completely inaccessible.
  • Previous DIY attempts, including switching cables and adapters, failed to fix the issue.
  • The drive contained critical wedding photos that had not yet been delivered to the client.

Since electrical failures can worsen if the drive is powered on again, immediate professional intervention was necessary to prevent permanent data loss.

Diagnosis & Evaluation

When the WD My Book hard drive arrived at our cleanroom facility, we conducted a full hardware and circuit board diagnostic. Our findings:

  1. Burnt PCB (Printed Circuit Board) – A power surge damaged key electronic components, preventing the drive from receiving power.
  2. Damaged TVS diodes and power regulators – The surge protection failed, leading to overheating and sparks.
  3. No internal platter or read/write head damage – The drive’s mechanical parts were intact, meaning the data was still recoverable.

Since WD My Book drives use encryption at the PCB level, a direct PCB replacement was not possible—the original ROM chip had to be transferred.

The Recovery Process

1. PCB Repair & ROM Chip Transfer

Since the original circuit board was burnt and non-functional, we:

  • Sourced an identical donor PCB from a matching WD My Book model.
  • Transferred the ROM chip from the damaged PCB to ensure firmware compatibility.
  • Restored power to the drive, allowing it to spin up without further damage.

2. Imaging & Extracting the Wedding Photos

Once the drive was operational again, we:

  • Created a sector-by-sector image to prevent further degradation.
  • Bypassed damaged sectors to extract all readable data.
  • Recovered and verified all wedding photos and RAW files.

3. Verifying & Restoring High-Quality Wedding Images

After completing the recovery, we:

  • Checked image integrity to ensure no corruption or missing data.
  • Restored all wedding photos, including RAW, JPEG, and edited files.
  • Transferred the recovered data to a secure external SSD for the photographer.

The Results: 100% Data Recovery Success

Thanks to our PCB repair and imaging techniques, we successfully recovered 100% of the wedding photos, including:

✅ RAW and high-resolution JPEG images
✅ Edited wedding albums and client folders
✅ Backup Lightroom and Photoshop project files

The photography company was relieved to deliver the wedding photos on time, preventing any loss of professional reputation.

Why Choose Us?

With 25 years of experience and tens of thousands of successful recoveries, we are the leading external hard drive recovery specialists in Ireland and the UK. Our expertise includes:

✔ Burnt PCB and power surge data recovery
✔ ROM chip transfers for encrypted WD drives
✔ Hard drive head swaps & cleanroom platter extractions
✔ Secure & confidential recovery for photographers and media professionals

If your WD My Book hard drive emits a burnt smell, sparks, or fails to power on, stop using it immediately and contact us for expert data recovery.

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