RGH Secondary // WD My Book 2TB USB 3.0 External Desktop Hard Drive

[StaticPulse 262]

Now before anyone says anything about the USB 3.0, let me stop you there. That is not what this thread is about.

 

I have a friend who wants to buy this for an RGH2 slim. I have warned him that the My Book series is a 3 1/2" 2TB SATAIII drive encased in a shell that has a logic board on it that does hardware encryption.

 

My general idea is that unless I totally low-level format this device and then partition as FAT-32 that it will not work at all for the application in mind due to the hardware encryption. Maybe changing it's partition table from the low-level it might not be recognizable by the logic board that does the hardware encryption. I am aware that the drive itself encrypts using the software on the drive, however making accessible is off the board itself. Like the hashkey is stored on an EEPROM or something.

 

Here's my question: Has anyone ever used a Western Digital My Book 2TB drive for this before and what was your experience with it?

Better yet, anyone ever appropriate a personal NAS drive like the ones Seagate makes for this same type of application? Or has anyone ever used one with ConnectX before?

 

 

Here's a detailed description of the device in question: http://www.frys.com/product/7859669#detailed

[saywaking 289]

It should work normal.

I use it on NAS with connectX

[StaticPulse 262]

It should work normal.

I use it on NAS with connectX

Thanks! I'll let him know now

[Swizzy 2084]

Low Level formatting is just writing to the disk directly, this is done by talking to the firmware... the firmware then does the crypto for you...

[StaticPulse 262]

Low Level formatting is just writing to the disk directly, this is done by talking to the firmware... the firmware then does the crypto for you...

Then the encryption feature would remain but the low-level might either bypass it from the remap or make the device unusable then? I was thinking that if the partition table changed then the firmware that was programmed for NTFS would either bypass or just cease functionality...

[gavin_darkglider 1562]

when formatted, the drive would still keep its encryption, just be blank, as this is handled by the firmware on the drive. It also handles the decryption, so as long as the pcb on the drive is intact, or it might even be for the sata to usb adapter, then the drive should work fine. either way that is a good price.

[Swizzy 2084]

Then the encryption feature would remain but the low-level might either bypass it from the remap or make the device unusable then? I was thinking that if the partition table changed then the firmware that was programmed for NTFS would either bypass or just cease functionality...

All block remapping, encryption etc. etc. is handled by the firmware, it's all transparent for whatever the device is attached to

[StaticPulse 262]

when formatted, the drive would still keep its encryption, just be blank, as this is handled by the firmware on the drive. It also handles the decryption, so as long as the pcb on the drive is intact, or it might even be for the sata to usb adapter, then the drive should work fine. either way that is a good price.

Frys has always had great prices. The only place I go if I'm not buying from ebay or newegg is usually Fry's mother store in Fremont, CA which is around 60 miles from where I live.

All block remapping, encryption etc. etc. is handled by the firmware, it's all transparent for whatever the device is attached to

I was thinking that if the partition changed to something not pre-programmed to one set (NTFS) that it might be unrecognizable by the firmware. I'll find out for sure when he brings it to me, he bought my Glossy slim that I built and wants me to set up that My Book as a secondary. I've only done it with WD Passport and Seagate Free Agent drives so I wasn't sure how well it will play with it since all the encryption for that device is done from the hardware side of its controller board. I took one apart not too long ago, they're pretty interesting but I'd just as soon as gut it for the drive and put it in an array or something else.