Update The hex of the E01 image shows it is encrypted line by line. I completed a RAW image and this works fine and is processing through FTK now, so everything is good and my evidence is intact.
If anyone has any idea why an E01 image would react this way and a RAW image would not I'd appreciate the input, as I'd still like to have a better understanding of what happened.
What do you mean by "encrypted line by line"? ?
The .E01 is essentially a compressed format, so maybe you are looking at compressed data (and not to "encrypted").
The result may (or may not) as hinted before be connected with the 4096 bytes/sector size of the original device.
jaclaz
What I mean, is the data appears as mscotgrove mentioned it may in an earlier post - a repeating pattern of random data. I'm familiar with the hex view of E01 image files and this isn't it. What I'm seeing is more in line with the way the hex is viewed if the hard drive is removed from its case and detached from the circuit board containing the USB 3.0 port and possible encryption module as mentioned earlier.
As you said, I do not know if this is the result of the 4096 bit sector size, however, I am at a loss as to why the E01 image is unrecognizable but a RAW image of the same drive has no issues whatsoever.