Let me explain the recovery method. Since the WD NAS is bricked, you have to boot it with a USB stick that contains the boot (read recovery) image (uImage - Linux Kernel & uRamDisk - Filesystem). The preparation of the USB boot disk involves the above.
Once you insert the USB boot drive and power on (insert & then power on), the flashing blue light would stop and turn to yellow-red blinking. This means WD has booted up with the recovery image. The recovery image contains a minimal DHCP client that gets an IP Address from the Router. Mind you, this may not be the same IP address WD was getting during its working days.
There are 2 ways to get this IP address. Method 1 - Login to your RT. Go to LAN settings / menu. Search for attached devices. One of the IP addresses must correspond to WD. Usually there is an IP Address + MAC Address mapping in this list. I noticed, the MAC address wasn’t coming right. This is a trial and error part.
Method 2 - Netscan should also give you the same info as the router.
Now, to the Telnet part. Install PuTTY. A very simple low footprint tool. When you launch it, it provides different connection options. Default, i suppose is SSH. Select the Telnet button. Port number will default to 23. Enter the IP address and connect. You get the WD shell from where you need to type the listed commands.
The recovery image runs a minimal web server. So when WD reboots with recovery image, it comes up back with the original IP address and can be accessed through the web. Note, when WD restarts, remember to pull out the USB stick. Otherwise, it will again boot with the USB disk, not the recovery image.
No, you won’t lose any data. This was possibly an untested FW that screwed up all the devices. After I recovered my NAS, I loaded the newest image again to test. It got to that bricking stage again.
