External drives are built differently from internal ones
An external drive is a hard disk or SSD in an enclosure that connects by USB, USB-C or Thunderbolt. Older models used FireWire or eSATA. Because they travel, external drives fail from drops and knocks far more often than internal drives, and the way they are built changes how recovery works.
- USB-native circuit boards
- In many 2.5-inch portable drives the USB socket is soldered to the drive's own board. There is no SATA connector to plug into another computer. Recovery needs a compatible SATA board with the original drive's ROM data transferred, or direct connection to test points.
- Hardware encryption
- WD My Passport and My Book drives, and several others, encrypt all data with a chip in the drive or enclosure, even when you never set a password. The original electronics, or the key they hold, are needed to decrypt the data after imaging.
- Shingled (SMR) drives
- Nearly all current portable hard drives use shingled recording. They slow down heavily when failing and their firmware translator can be corrupted by an unsafe unplug.
- Portable SSDs
- Samsung T-series, SanDisk Extreme, Crucial X-series and LaCie Rugged SSD drives fail like any SSD: suddenly, with no noise. See SSD recovery.
- Multi-drive enclosures
- Two-bay and larger units from LaCie, WD, G-Technology and others are small RAID arrays, often set to RAID 0 for speed, so one failed disk takes the whole volume offline. See RAID recovery.
External drive faults we recover from
- Dropped or knocked-over drives that click, beep or do not spin
- Drives that are not detected, or show up with no capacity
- Drives that ask to be formatted, or show as RAW or uninitialized
- Very slow drives that freeze the computer when connected
- Damaged USB ports, cables and bridge boards
- Firmware corruption and bad sectors
- Accidental formatting, deleted files and lost partitions
- Forgotten setups such as a Mac-formatted drive reformatted for a PC
- Power surge, liquid, fire and flood damage
- Malware and ransomware damage
Brands and models
We recover every make of external drive, including WD My Passport, Elements and My Book, Seagate One Touch, Expansion and Backup Plus, Toshiba Canvio, LaCie Rugged and d2, G-Technology and G-DRIVE, Samsung portable drives and Hitachi Touro, as well as Buffalo, Transcend, ADATA, Verbatim and SanDisk Professional.
Models we recover, 2013 to 2026
Examples of the model numbers we see most often, grouped by the years each range was sold. Turn the drive over or check its back panel: the model or part number is printed on the small label next to the serial number, and again on the retail box.
| Years | Range | Model numbers |
|---|---|---|
| 2012–2015 | Hitachi / HGST Touro Mobile, 500GB–1TB | HTOLMXEA5001ABB, HTOLMU3EA5001ABB, HTOLMX3NA10001ABB |
| 2012–2016 | WD My Passport and My Passport Ultra, 500GB–3TBHardware encrypted; USB port soldered to the drive board | WDBBEP0010BBK, WDBY8L0020BBK, WDBZFP0010BBK, WDBBKD0020BBK |
| 2012–2017 | Samsung M3 Portable and D3 Station, 500GB–4TB | HX-M101TCB, HX-M201TCB, STSHX-D201TDB, STSHX-D301TDB |
| 2013–2022 | Toshiba Canvio Basics, 500GB–4TBUSB bridge built into the drive board | HDTB310XK3AA, HDTB320XK3CA, HDTB410XK3AA, HDTB440XK3CA |
| 2013–2026 | WD Elements portable and desktop, 1–26TBNot encrypted | WDBUZG0010BBK, WDBU6Y0040BBK, WDBWLG0080HBK, WDBWLG0180HBK |
| 2013–2026 | LaCie Rugged Mini and Rugged USB-C, 1–5TB | LAC301558, LAC9000298, STFR2000800, STFR4000800, STJJ5000400 |
| 2014–2019 | Seagate Backup Plus Slim and Backup Plus Portable, 1–5TB | STDR1000100, STDR2000100, STDR4000100, STDR5000100 |
| 2015–2021 | Seagate Expansion portable and desktop, 1–8TB | STEA1000400, STEA2000400, STEB4000100, STEB8000100 |
| 2015–2026 | Samsung Portable SSD T1, T3, T5, T7, T7 Shield and T9AES-256 hardware encryption when a password is set | MU-PS500B, MU-PT500B, MU-PA1T0B, MU-PC1T0T, MU-PE1T0S, MU-PG2T0B |
| 2016–2026 | G-Technology / SanDisk Professional G-DRIVE mobile and ArmorATD, 1–5TB | 0G06071, 0G10264, 0G10433, SDPH81G-004T-GBA1D |
| 2016–2026 | WD My Passport (2016 and 2019 designs), 1–6TBHardware encrypted; USB port soldered to the drive board | WDBYFT0040BBK, WDBYVG0020BBK, WDBPKJ0050BBK, WDBR9S0060BBK |
| 2018–2026 | SanDisk Extreme and Extreme PRO Portable SSD, 500GB–4TB | SDSSDE60-1T00-G25, SDSSDE61-1T00-G25, SDSSDE61-2T00-G25, SDSSDE81-1T00-G25 |
| 2018–2026 | Toshiba Canvio Advance, Flex and Gaming, 1–4TB | HDTC920XK3AA, HDTCA20XK3AA, HDTX120XSCAA, HDTX140XK3CA |
| 2020–2026 | Seagate One Touch and Expansion (current ranges), 1–24TB | STKB2000400, STKZ4000400, STKM2000400, STKP16000400, STNB20000400 |
Not listed? These are examples, not limits. If your model is missing we almost certainly still recover it. Give us the number when you start a case.
External hard drive recovery experts in Temecula
Our lab in Temecula has the tools for logical, electronic and physical recoveries. We evaluate the fault quickly, tell you what can be recovered and what it will cost, and only then start work. Call RMLD on (951) 595-8065 to discuss your external drive.