MyCloud Failed - Need Access to Drive

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eddieturner.mail

Sep 10, 2018
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Hello! After two years, my WD MyCloud began to show a blinking red light. After reading that a fix for this is not possible, I removed the 4TB Red NAS drive from the enclosure and connected it to my PC via a powered HD adapter. The drive spins as expected, but Windows is giving me error messages 43 and 10. I've uninstalled the USB drivers/rebooted, disabled USB suspend settings, etc. Everything I've read about I have done. Even connected it to multiple computers.

My guess is that, because access to the drive was done using WD's desktop app via password, the drive needs that entry point. But again, the drive in its enclosure ceased to be recognized. My entire family photo archive is on this hard drive and I desperately need access to it. I have not tried connecting the drive while in its enclosure to my PC directly via ethernet or USB cable. I just figured the enclosure's functionality had halted. But I will try this.

Is there anything else I should be doing? Another method of connecting it? Maybe putting the drive in another NAS enclosure? Might a Mac recognize the drive? Any help you can provide would be hugely appreciated!

Thank you!
Eddie
 
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androbourne

androbourne

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Jul 18, 2017
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Sounds like possible failed hard drive but a good test would be to use a hard drive dock rather then the usb adaptor. Sometimes the USB adaptors do not provide enough power to drives and wont be fully accessible in windows because so. A dock would be more stable in this aspect.

Aside from that, drive might be faulty and your best bet is to send it off for data recovery.
 
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eddieturner.mail

Sep 10, 2018
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I'll consider the dock. I do recall that my wife's laptop did recognize the drive as a "mass storage device." Would this indicate that there is no hard drive failure? Also, there were tons of good reviews for the adapter, some of which had success connecting similar drives. Would the fact that Windows recognizes the device at all rule out the power deficiency?
 
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androbourne

androbourne

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No, that does not indicate a good drive. From my experience when it shows up as a storage device but it is not accessible, it is a power issue or a bad hard drive. You can try to download WD Lifeguaurd and try running a scan on that hard drive to see if it is bad. (run the long diag). However, if it is a power issue, it may not even see the drive or allow the scan to run.

The adapter might have good reviews but that doesn't mean your's isn't faulty or went bad. A true dock would be more stable and reliable.
 
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eddieturner.mail

Sep 10, 2018
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Any particular recovery service? Do they charge an arm and a leg? I guess cost doesn't matter since my arm and leg will be gone if the issue isn't corrected. : )

 
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androbourne

androbourne

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Well first get the dock and run a scan on the disk to see if it is truly bad.

From there yes data recovery and yes they are normally pretty expensive as it can require taking apart the hard drive in a clean room to replace parts with a donor drive in order to get it working again. Really depends on what exactly is wrong with the drive.
 
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eddieturner.mail

Sep 10, 2018
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Would connecting it directly to my motherboard/PSU do as good as the dock?

 
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eddieturner.mail

Sep 10, 2018
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I just read that the reason Windows doesn't recognize the drive is that the MyCloud devices are formatted for Linux. Downloading a Linux file system explorer for Windows should grant me access to my data as long as the drive is connected via SATA cable instead of USB. A third party recovery app, like ReclaiMe, may or may not need to be used in conjunction. I'll report back and let you know what success I have. Say a prayer for me!

 
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androbourne

androbourne

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Was the MyCloud a two bay unit? Was it in a Raid?

If this is MyCloud by Western Digital then I doubt it was formatted for Linux use only. It uses a Linux based ISO. However that doesn't make it a Linux formatted disk. If it was in a Raid and not just a single disk, then issue could be with the Raid and not using all proper disks at the same time. (depending on the Raid type)

Now I did read a few articles stating WD has a proprietary file system often used in their NAS's. Now that could totally be the case here.
 
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eddieturner.mail

Sep 10, 2018
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I don't know from experience, but there are a ton of articles and forum discussions out there that describe the NAS drives used in both single and RAID configurations in MyCloud devices as having Linux ext4 partitions. Videos on YourTube which show these drives being accessed using Linux reader applications demonstrate this as well. They aren't formatted for Linux use only. They are accessed via network instead of a direct connection, so it would be the access software that any OS can use to access them.

My attempts so far to access the data using the reader apps have been unsuccessful, which leads me to believe that there is a larger issue. Even so, I have not yet connected the drive to a computer running Linux. I'm hoping this will make all the difference. If not, it may be time to seek help from a data recovery service.

 
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USAFRet

USAFRet

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Additionally, a lot of those "MyCloud" things have built in hardware encryption.
Remove the drive from the enclosure, and no access to the data, even if the physical drive works.

Backup
Backup
Backup

A dead drive should never be more than "Oh crap, I need to buy another drive".
You data should never be at risk.
 
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eddieturner.mail

Sep 10, 2018
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From what I've read, the drives contain no encryption. I've watched as people have accessed their data after removing the drives from the MyCloud enclosures. My inability to access the data after the numerous methods I've tried speaks of the likelihood of another issue. I'm now exploring whether there is a separation in the SATA bridge. I do recall knocking the enclosure over on its side, but it landed on a magazine. Hardly an impact. But this did occur when I had moved the drive to a better location in my office. It was unplugged at the time, and it was when I plugged it back in that I got the blinking red LED indicator. I can replace that, but I won't go any further if it's not the culprit.

 
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