I live in Portland, Oregon, so if there are professionals that are local that you'd recommend I use, I'd love a recommendation (if that is the next step that is needed).

I have a backup of everything except the last 3 years and had it on my to-do list to make a new backup this summer. What can I do to recover the data on it? It's all photos, mostly crammed into a massive Photos Library file. I'm also wary of just starting to download and run free applications off the internet.

I recently read conversations on this forum regarding damaged external hard drives and so I have not tried data recovery software yet as it might further damage the data. I'm brand new to trying to figure out what to do. The model number is P/N: WDBJBS0010BSL-05. Lukes price is good, Id normally charge 250-350 for that sort of job. Somehow, I think, the process messed up the permission.Anyway. Initializing will corrupt the MBR making the recovery harder (though certainly not impossible). I have an iMac running Yosemite and use Time Machine for backups. There is no software means to decrypt it, it must be done using a compatible WD adapter board. If I leave it in long enough there is a little beep and then it's quiet. Luke is right, these drives encrypt at the sector level using hardware encryption. Other sounds of things spinning seem typical. There is a new noise that is kind of a soft steady whine when it is plugged in. There is a white light that typically flickers when it is plugged in but now the white light is on but it is solid. I bought this too, and find it really hogs CPU - running at 90-95 most of the time, according to Task Manager, even when the Passport is detached and theres nowhere to back up to In fact, it caused a brand new laptop battery (XP) to discharge down to Hibernate in record time - pretty much while I was out of the room doing a big load of washing-up, as I recall. My 1 TB external hard drive was dropped and now the disc icon is not appearing in the Finder window.

Wd passport for mac is messed up