I picked up one of these drives at a carboot sale earlier today for a couple of euro, thinking if the drive was dead, maybe I could put in another good drive to have the thing working. I've done it before with the larger WD devices that take 3.5" HDDs, as it just uses an extra board to convert the SATA connection on the HDD, to USB to connect to the PC.
However, after opening up the drive, I see that there is no extra board, the HDD has the funny USB/power combined connection as part of the HDD board, see the attached photo.
I do have a cable that works with it, and the drive does show up, however, like a lot (most/all) of these USB type devices I've tried to check the SMART data of, it's not possible, the drives need to be connected directly to the SATA ports to achieve that, but with this USB/power port, I can't seem to find a solution.
I've tried a few SMART reporting programs, but all cannot display the SMART. I even tried WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics, and it will list the HDD (H in the photo), but won't list it as a physical drive (I think my other drive isn't being shown because it's a Seagate), which would enable SMART data viewing.
Anything I can do?
Edit: Added a photo of a regular SATA connection on a 2.5" HDD, and the connection that is on this WD Elements drive.
However, after opening up the drive, I see that there is no extra board, the HDD has the funny USB/power combined connection as part of the HDD board, see the attached photo.
I do have a cable that works with it, and the drive does show up, however, like a lot (most/all) of these USB type devices I've tried to check the SMART data of, it's not possible, the drives need to be connected directly to the SATA ports to achieve that, but with this USB/power port, I can't seem to find a solution.
I've tried a few SMART reporting programs, but all cannot display the SMART. I even tried WD Data Lifeguard Diagnostics, and it will list the HDD (H in the photo), but won't list it as a physical drive (I think my other drive isn't being shown because it's a Seagate), which would enable SMART data viewing.
Anything I can do?
Edit: Added a photo of a regular SATA connection on a 2.5" HDD, and the connection that is on this WD Elements drive.
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