Western Digital My Book - Opening the Case - Removing the Drive
Posted by Carlton Bale on January 10th, 2008
I recently needed to removed the drive from a Western Digital My Book External USB/eSATA drive enclosure. Unfortunately, this wasn't an obvious process and this excellent article by Scott Cramer didn't apply to the newer version (1 TB drive) enclosure I have. So here you go, the steps required to disassemble a new-style Western Digital My Book drive enclosure.
1. Locate the two rubber pads on the bottom of the enclosure near the front, curved surface. Remove these two pads. Depress the two tabs below using a small flat-head screwdriver.
1a. With a couple of credit cards, pry the back edge of the casing apart and hold them open with the credit cards. There are some locking mechanisms there that need to be held apart. You can now slide the plastic casings apart.
2. Slide the clear plastic LED front panel conduit forward and remove.
3. Rotate the hard drive/carrier assembly sideways and then lift away from the case
4. Remove the two screws holding the metal connector casing. Slide it upwards and remove it
5. Slide the circuit board upwards (away from the drive), just like you did for the metal casing.
6. Remove the 4 screws holding the hard drive to the metal carrier. You'll see that it is a standard 3.5" desktop SATA drive.
You're done!
Repeat the steps in reverse order to re-assemble the enclosure.
January 14th, 2008 at 11:23 am
Is there any way to disassemble the drive without damaging the pads?
Thanks in advance.
TE
January 14th, 2008 at 11:27 am
I was able to peel the pad off and then re-attach it. You'll need a small screw driver to do this. To make it easier, you can heat them with a hair dryer; then they should peel right off.
January 14th, 2008 at 11:28 am
Sounds good. Thanks. Do the rear pads need removal as well?
January 14th, 2008 at 11:30 am
Nope, only the 2 front pads.
January 14th, 2008 at 11:31 am
Alright. Thanks for the help - I'm taking mine apart at the moment because apparently the cables are not well attached…because I dropped it, hehe =) I hope I can fix things. Thanks a bundle!
January 16th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Is the hard drive a standard IDE hard drive? The reason I ask is mind just went bad (after just 1 year) and all of my important data back-ups are on this drive. I think that maybe the the hardware to run the drive is malfunctioning and perhaps my data on the drive is still intact. Can I just remove the drive and use it like a standard IDE harddreive to possible recover the data?
January 16th, 2008 at 4:24 pm
Actually, it's just a standard 3.5" desktop SATA drive. I replaced the 1TB drive with a 160GB SATA drive I took out of my TiVo.
January 22nd, 2008 at 2:36 pm
Western Digital must have changed something. I tried to open my Essential 2.0 1TB and it won't open up at all. I even broke the tabs that are supposed to be depressed in order to open the casing. Still, no movement! It's still rock solidly closed :/
January 22nd, 2008 at 5:26 pm
OK, I managed to get it open. The construction is much more complex than what is shown here. Mine is a 2508A.
January 25th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Thank you!
Your post is helpful for me and up to time.
February 5th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
@Boris: mine won't open either. What did you (additionally) to get it open?
February 7th, 2008 at 3:39 pm
Richard, check these pictures:
http://home.tiscali.nl/bcobelens/wdmybook/
I used old bank cards to open up the casing. Start at the backside and put the (thin) cards between the casing parts to open up the edges. Be careful not to break or damage any parts. Once you have a start you can get the left en right part open. Then kind of spread out those parts and you'll be able to open up the casing. You might even need somebody to help you to pull it all apart once it's unlocked.
February 10th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Thanks Boris,
2 old cd's and a starbucks card work, use the starbucks card on the edges where the tabs are, release one side then insert the cd (whatever works)to hold the side open, then repeat on the other side. Then do the opposite end with the starbucks card while pulling on the side casing. Tug at the side and it pulls right off. You still may have to start by depressing those two release tabs.
February 12th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Thanks. This helped me repair my brand new 1TB MyBook that had a jammed power button. It had been put together improperly and the button wasn't properly clearing the switch housing.
What is it with electronics assembled in the PRC? Unlike Taiwanese products, they are shoddily made.
I also recently purchased a new high-end HP Pavillion media center PC. The built in Wi-Fi didn't work. When I took it apart, I found that the internal USB connector either hadn't been connected or had come loose from the motherboard. And, the internal cable routing was the worst I've every seen in a PC and I've seen some bad ones! This machine was also assembled in the PRC.
Anyway, thanks again!
February 22nd, 2008 at 11:04 pm
Damn George you are dead on. CD's are the shit. When i needed something thinner to get it started i used an old credit card, but once you can slip a cd in there it is game over for the WD engineering. The cd just rolled down the side and gently unsnapped the entire case on that side! Thanks DOOD!
April 1st, 2008 at 10:21 am
Hi guys. I'm trying to take apart a 500GB WD My Book Premium. Does anyone know if this can be done without damaging the enclosure and drive? Thanks, Adam.
April 7th, 2008 at 12:49 am
My USB connector broke off, tempted to open and resolder. Any further suggestions appreciated
May 7th, 2008 at 11:31 pm
If you don't need to, I wouldn't remove the drives from the case. I bought one from a guy on eBay and he didn't mention that it was taken out of a MyBook external. Now it's dead and WD will not honor the warranty. So there goes $200+
For some reason this seller on eBay does this all the time and sells them as "NEW".
May 8th, 2008 at 7:11 am
Just make sure you have the case to put the drive back in if it fails. If the drive is installed in the case, it will be covered by the original Western Digital warranty.