WD My Book Duo data forever lost if Drive Enclosure Dies!

Western Digital's My Book Duo is a popular external storage solution offering large capacities, fast transfer speeds, and RAID configurations. However, many users are shocked to discover that if the enclosure (or its internal hardware components like the RAID controller or SATA bridge) fails, accessing the data on the drives inside becomes much more complicated—and in some cases, seemingly impossible.

Here’s a breakdown of what happens, and whether your data is forever lost if the enclosure fails.

Why the Enclosure Matters

The My Book Duo isn’t just a case holding two hard drives. It includes:

A built-in hardware RAID controller

A USB-to-SATA bridge with specific encryption

Owntary WD firmware

These components do more than just allow the drives to communicate with your computer. If you’ve configured the My Book Duo in RAID 0 (striped), the data is spread across both drives. If you use RAID 1 (mirrored), the same data is stored on both drives for redundancy. In either case, the RAID logic is handled within the enclosure—meaning removing the drives and connecting them directly to a computer typically won’t work out of the box.

To complicate things further, many My Book Duo models encrypt data at the hardware level—even if you didn’t explicitly set a password. The encryption key is stored on the enclosure’s circuit board, not the drives themselves. This means even if the drives are intact, the data remains unreadable without the original enclosure or an exact replacement.

Is the Data Forever Lost?

Not necessarily. It depends on the failure point and your configuration:

RAID 1 (Mirrored):

If you were using RAID 1, you have a much better chance.

You can usually connect either of the two drives to a SATA dock or another computer and access the files directly if there was no encryption.

RAID 0 (Striped):

If one drive fails, you lose everything—RAID 0 offers no redundancy.

Even if both drives are fine, removing them from the enclosure makes them unreadable unless you reconstruct the RAID array using software that understands the original configuration.

Hardware Encryption:

If encryption was enabled (and often it is, by default), the drives are useless without the exact same enclosure or circuit board.

Replacing the enclosure with the same model may work if the encryption keys match, but WD doesn’t guarantee this.

What Can You Do?

Try Replacing the Enclosure: If the drives are intact, buying the same model of My Book Duo with the exact same firmware version may allow you to recover data—especially if no password encryption was enabled.

Use Professional Recovery Services: If data is critical and you suspect RAID failure or encryption issues, seek out a data recovery company. They have tools to emulate WD’s RAID/encryption hardware and may be able to reconstruct the array.

Avoid DIY RAID Rebuilds Unless You're Sure: Guessing RAID parameters can lead to permanent data loss if done improperly.

How to Prevent This in the Future

Always maintain backups—never treat RAID as backup.

Avoid proprietary hardware for long-term storage.

Use standard RAID setups with software RAID or NAS if data longevity is crucial.

Conclusion

If the WD My Book Duo enclosure dies, your data might not be forever lost—but recovery depends heavily on your RAID configuration and whether hardware encryption is involved. This serves as a reminder: proprietary systems can be convenient, but they carry serious risks for long-term data safety.