Reset password/ recover data for WD My passport portable drive

Hello everyone,

I own a Western Digital My passport 1TB external hard drive (model no: WXC1A2309911 if it's of any use). It has a WD unlocker and password protected that my pc remembers. But I upgraded my windows and now my pc can't recognize the password, I have forgotten what it was and I have no back up of all the data. To pour salt in the wound, the portable drive was sent to me from abroad and it has outlived the warranty. So if there is anyway to bypass the password? There is no reset button and I don't know whether it has 256 bit encryption so I'm afraid of formatting it. I read about a way of using linux command prompts but I have no clue about Linux. So, any help is appreciable.

So, is there any wise wizard out there?

 

http://wdc.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3741

Looks like a format might be in order if you cannot remember it.

 

I don't think that it is possible to decrypt the data from that drive without the password. Maybe there are ways but I think only experienced professionals in data recovery services knows that.