Sounds like your drive might use hardware encryption. Western digital my book essential external hard drive on. Hi, i am considering buying my book duo but i am not too sure about hardware encryption. Hardware encryption market by algorithm and standard. It was bent a little so i hastily began tryin to pry the case off with hopes of putting the hd in my desktop to recover the info. Im guessing if you find yourself in possession of a my book like i have and want to feel your files are safe in the future. Dec 23, 2015 hi, i am considering buying my book duo but i am not too sure about hardware encryption. Which wd disks have hardware encryption and can that be. Hardware aspects and setup impressions western digital my. Western digital mybook elite external hard drives use hardwarebased encryption chips to optionally encrypt drives using 256bit encryption.
Western digital selfencrypting hard drives riddled with. Wd my book essential no drives september 2007 forums cnet. It is impossible to access decrypt the drive if the enclosure circuit board fails, even if the drive itself is fine. Reviewing the wd my passport 2tb which comes with hardware. Lets take the occasion to reiterate that encyption should always be software. How to decrypt a wd mybook drive after its removed from the. Wd my book essential not being recognized in windows 10.
This is ok for security, but horrible for data recovery. Hardware implemented aes encryption provides fast and. The my book essential hd has a capacity meter on the front to display how full the disk is. Western digital s my passport selfencrypting hard drives have really bad encryption. Software encryption is a policydriven, manageable solution that everyone has to get behind. Western digital external hds with hardwarebased encryption wd introduced its new my book essential and my book for mac desktop external hard drives equipped with. But if consistent high throughput, low latency and security are key issues, then dedicated, optimised hardware based encryption is superior to softwarebased encryption. This includes not only the 3 terabyte drives, but all of the wd my passports, and 4 terabyte drives. Im guessing if you find yourself in possession of a my booklike i have and want to feel your files are safe in the future. The data on the drives with hardware encryption is always encrypted by a chip and cannot be turned off.
Western digital encryption recovery dti data recovery. My wd my book essentialbook is not getting power ifixit. Dec 29, 2016 this is a huge issue and needs to be addressed. Hardware aspects and setup impressions western digital. Many people shuck various wd externals to use in their nasserver, myself included.
Jan 05, 2018 western digital s network attached storage solutions have a newfound vulnerability allowing for unrestricted root access james bercegay disclosed the vulnerability to western digital in mid2017. Hardware implemented aes encryption provides fast and transparent encryption of all user data on the storage medium, at all times. I am fed up of this pcb failure,only less than 6 months service. I bought a my book 8tb several years ago, and i bought the elements 8tb about a week ago. Oct 20, 2015 the encryption systems used in western digital s portable hard drives are pretty pointless, according to new research. My wd my book external drive, i can access it, and only a few files are visible, most of the folders which used to have files in them show 0 bytes and are empty. The my book drives builtin 256bit aes hardware encryption with wd security tools helps keep your content private and safe. The hardware encryption is on by default and cannot be turned off nor can you find the encryption key. Recover data from broken western digital mybook spiceworks. Oct 20, 2015 some consumergrade, selfencrypting external hard drives from western digital are littered with security vulnerabilities that render their encryption an afterthought. This western digital my book hard drive offers builtin 256bit hardware encryption and optional password protection for peace of mind. Oct 21, 2015 western digital passport, my book hard drives littered with serious crypto flaws, expose user data.
I purchased the western digital my book essential edition 320gb external hard drive this week, and within 15 minutes, it was up and running providing more storage for my system. Western digital selfencrypting drives vulnerable threatpost. Quoting the abstract should be enough to show how dire the situation is. On the hardware side, encryption support can be in the form of specialized hardware blocks in the soc common in arm powerpc based nas. Auto backup with included wd backup software for windows and.
My friend has a dead western digital mybook essential edition 250 gb that contains important data. Security researchers have found severe flaws in the encryption methods used in certain hard drives from western digital. Its a 256bit hardwarebased encryption that is also used by governments to protect classified information. The encryption systems used in western digitals portable hard drives are pretty pointless, according to new research. Feb, 2017 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. Looking at western digitals warranty information page i see this. Wd 16tb my book duo desktop raid external hard drive usb 3. A team of researchers has decided to check whether the encryption offered by western digitals my passport external selfencrypting hard drives is effective and unbreakable as it should be. Hardwarebased full disk encryption fde is available from many hard disk drive hddssd vendors, including.
Mar 04, 2015 western digital supports encryption on a volume basis only. If for whatever reason, the drive or its components were to fail, you would be at a real loss to unencrypt your data. A hardware random number generator relies on a measured value of a physical process that is inherently random. But with the new windows 10 i get a black window in the lowerright that says the drive does not work. The western digital my passport and my book devices are external hard drive. Oct, 2019 reallymine is a program that decrypts the encrypted hard drives of western digital mybook and mypassport external hard drives and some rebranded derivatives.
Selfencrypting western digital hard drives easy to crack. The first is the hardware encryption that western digital has built into the drive. Just activate password protection and set your own personalized password. Oct 21, 2015 a team of researchers has decided to check whether the encryption offered by western digitals my passport external selfencrypting hard drives is effective and unbreakable as it should be. Western digital my book connection to windows 10 i was okay with windows 7.
Western digital passport, my book hard drives littered with serious crypto flaws, expose user data. The my book duo comes with hardware raid and hardware encryption, if opted for. Its 5 gbps data transfer rate enables fast copying of files, and its automatic backup software can be set to fit any schedule. Wd my book essential no drives september 2007 forums.
Wd my book and wd my passport drives have the hardware encryption feature while other products such as the wd elements dont. You can get around the encryption by using another enclosure and formatting though. This was discovered as part of an investigation by a group of security researchers into the levels of security on portable hard drives like western digitals my. Encryption at the hard drive level would be vastly superior to any encryption by the os, if it was done correctly and with tamperresistant chips. Western digitals encrypted hard drives come under fire. Western digital my book connection to windows 10 microsoft. Cracking open a western digital mybook external hard drive.
Western digitals encrypted hard drives come under fire from. Aug 28, 2015 western digital my book connection to windows 10 i was okay with windows 7. Currently, it can only decrypt jmicron, initio, and symwave bridge chipbased devices tht use aes256ecb encryption. However, history has shown that dedicated hardware encryption devices for the consumer market practically always contain backdoors or ridiculous weaknesses. An attacker who steals your drive can guess the key in a short time using a single pc. Enter easytoremember names in the computer name name by which. How secure are these encryption implementations in general i think the above mentioned model uitilizes aes256. This portable and hardware encrypted hard drive could be a great choice anyone wanting to add between 1 and 5tb of storage to their chosen. It is impossible to access decrypt the drive if the enclosure circuit. Dec 26, 2011 however, for me, my laptop is only usb 1. Sep 18, 2006 just purchased western digital essential edition 500 gb my book 2. On the wd website the information about the encryption is sadly scarce so im asking here.
So if the circuit board in the enclosure fails you lose the encryption key and the likelihood of being able to recover your data. This confusion extends to even different models within the same wd elements and my book lines. Hardware encryption can be aided by a hardware random number generator. Western digital selfencrypting hard drives riddled with security flaws encrypted data is often easily recovered, in some cases with no password required. Is there hardware encryption in wd my book external hard.
Western digital mybook drive lock encryption failure and. Im planning to buy an external hdd with hardware encryption, namingly the wd my passport ultra 2tb. Data encrypted at rest does not guarantee it remains encrypted as it traverses a network. Auto backup with included wd backup software for windows and time machinecompatible for mac. Oct 30, 2015 wd 2 tb my book not recognized by norton or by file explorer, but shows up in device manager. While the process of encrypting information is nothing new, encryption technologies are a hot topic in it with good reason.
However it seems the hd may be still be good and the only reason it doesnt turn on is because the power supply is damaged. It appears anyone getting hold of the vulnerable devices can easily decrypt them. Western digital selfencrypting hard drives are completely. Also, when plugged in at boot up, it stopsfreezes computer from completing. Only helpful if you dont need the drive data though. Removing the drives and placing them in a working enclosure of the same model will not work either. View and download western digital wdh1nc0n my book world edition nas server user manual online. Encryption protects information by making it unreadable to those without the passphrase or digital key to decode or unlock it. The researchers refer to this as the dek data encryption key. They have built in, hardware encryption that cant be shut off. I also called a hdd recovery service that said they can get the info off for me and. The main chip on the external hard drive sata to usb 2.
Can hw encryption be completely disabled on new my book. We will describe the security model of these devices and show several security weaknesses like ram leakage, weak key attacks and even backdoors on some of these. The hardware encryption serves to protect the data on a drive to be taken in case the drive is lost or stolen. If creating a new account, fill out all fields then click next.
The symmetric encryption key is maintained independently from the computers cpu, thus. Western digital hard drive data recovery definitive guide. I now want to just have the drives docked into dock stations. However, the raid is implemented via hardware in the mybook duo enclosure.
Help with western digital my book usb error september. My wd my book essentialbook is not getting power i accidentally knocked this sucker off my desktop and the power adapter caught the weight. My book duo hardware encryption external drives for pc wd. When i highlight all the files and folders, it shows about 8. Designed for home users, creative professionals, workgroups, and anyone looking for shared storage, the western digital wdg1nc0n my book world edition 1 tb ethernet network storage system offers a surprisingly simple and secure way to access and share your data, presentations, and photos at home, in the office, and anywhere in the worldeven when your local. I dont have a full list of wd drives with forced encryption, but i do know the mybook line was plagued by this issue. Western digital hardware encryption western digital is manufacturing a significant number of their external hard drives with an encrypted hard drive controller. Thank you for helping us maintain cnet s great community. Passport drives that use the usb bridge for encryption rely on either aes128 or aes256 to create an encryption key.
Western digital supports encryption on a volume basis only. Conversely, data encrypted over the wire does not offer any safeguard that the content remains encrypted after it has reached its destination. Popular encryption books meet your next favorite book. The wd my book world editions sevenpage quick install guide is about as simple as it gets in terms of getting a product set up and operational. Wd 2 tb my book not recognized by norton or by file explorer, but shows up in device manager.
Some consumergrade, selfencrypting external hard drives from western digital are littered with security vulnerabilities that render their encryption an afterthought. Its noted that late model my passport drives have moved encryption control to the sata. Hitachi, istorage limited, seagate technology, samsung, toshiba, viasat uk, western digital, micron, ocz, sandisk, samsung, integral memory and usb vendors such as yubikey or istorage limited. Once system operational and plugged in, it appears in device manager. Obviously, this depends on the individual application. Mac compatible, may require reformatting before use. 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.
Oct 21, 2015 this was discovered as part of an investigation by a group of security researchers into the levels of security on portable hard drives like western digitals my passport and my book series. Data on the disk is always encrypted, even if i have not specified a password, using some master key that resides on the disk enclosure that is, its not possible to take out the disk and read it directly. Wdh1nc0n my book world edition nas server network storage server pdf manual download. Do western digital external drives still have issues. Hardware based full disk encryption fde is available from many hard disk drive hddssd vendors, including. Western digital mybook elite external hard drives use hardware based encryption chips to optionally encrypt drives using 256bit encryption. Western digital my cloud drives have a builtin backdoor. Software complexity is constantly increasing and with increased complexity comes a growing risk of human errors or bugs. It really was as simple as unpacking, plugging in the included usb cable, plugging in the power, and thats it. Western digital hardware encryption prosoft engineering, inc.
I called wd and they told me that their drives have a hardware encryption etc. Windows sees the hardware, but refuses to recognize any drives defined on it. In this paper we will look into some models in a self encryption external hard drive series. Just purchased western digital essential edition 500 gb my book 2. Western digital external hds with hardwarebased encryption. Jul 12, 2014 the my book duo comes with hardware raid and hardware encryption, if opted for. Hardware encrypted usb sticks are useful in situations where you need to occasional encryption without having to rely on some sort of system. The user name and password you ente r here changes the admin user name and password of the my book world edition device. Western digitals network attached storage solutions have a newfound vulnerability allowing for unrestricted root access james bercegay disclosed the vulnerability to western digital in mid2017. Store files securely with this 4tb western digital my book hard drive. Western digital hardware encryption prosoft engineering. Western digitals my passport selfencrypting hard drives have really bad encryption. Encryption support evaluation western digital my cloud.