Hello all. I’m sure we’re either going to see a lot more of these issues, or this is incredibly redundant, but I would appreciate any help at all in this.
Windows 11 PC, i9 CPU, 32 GB RAM, 3 TB SSD storage and 5TB SATA. 8 TB MyCloud purchased in 2015, early 2016.
Last week sometime I suffered the ultimate double whammy. My 2 TB internal SSD Data drive bricked, and then I realized that my MyCloud had as well. Guess what is on the MyCloud - that’s right, my data drive’s backup!!! Sweet! So now I cannot access the MyCloud in any way shape, or form and I find out this is probably because of this latest update that was automatically attempted by the MyCloud device, only to find out the update is not compatible with this device. Stellar. Now I cannot access the dashboard, or the contents of the drive via Windows Explorer as I once could.
My 2 TB SSD (separate problem) has been sent back to Seagate for a data recovery which I am hopeful for. My MyCloud, on the other hand is completely inaccessible. I have even attempted the process described in this video to getting to the manual update screen and the new, downloaded firmware is not taking at all:
I have a ticket in with WD Support, but there’s no telling how long, or effective that will be. I find myself in that worst case scenario of both data AND backup have gone down at the same time. A very desperate place to be sure, but I am hopeful that in the spirit of good drive volumes and data integrity, both of these drives can be recovered. The WD MyCloud however has over 20 yrs of original music backed up to it, not to mention a number of important personal documents. I need to find the most non-destructive method through this that I can. Any help is appreciated.
The My Cloud will not try to install an incompatible firmware version. Having said that, auto-update has been known to brick some MyClouds. Does your MyCloud have the tell-tale rapid flashing blue light? If so, follow the instructions on this site by Fox_Exe:
It did start with the flashing blue light, however it is now at flashing red. The directions in the video I linked had me walk through the first section of Fox_exe’s solution. The next set of directions appear to re-partition the drive which I am not yet ready to do.
Update. I downloaded the previous firmware version and the web interface for the MyCloud safe mode is still just clocking with no response.
If you absolutely need access to your data and cannot afford to lose it look up videos in YouTube on How to open/extract the hard drive on your MyCloud device. It’s easier than you think.
Then you just need to attach the drive to an external hard drive enclosure which then you connect via USB to your PC to extract your data.
Now keep in mind the data in WD MyCloud cannot be read by Windows normally. You will need to have one of the following to get the data:
1-) A computer running Linux or a Linux Live CD to run at system start up before booting into Windows.
2-) A Windows program such as “Linux File System for Windows” by Paragon Software. (www.paragon-software.com)
Yes, thanks for this. So after some careful consideration, this may become an internal HDD on my own system. I have gotten under the hood for this MyCloud once before when I attempted to recover a few files that were lost. Looks like that’s the path this is taking.
Plan of action seems like this:
Pull HDD out of the MyCloud Shell.
Download Paragon’s software again (I had it once before, actually - similar problem, same device).
Connect via external USB apparatus, or HDD enclosure as I have both.
Extract the contents of the brains of this older POS.
Store all copied data onto a newer 8TB MyCloud EX2 Ultra that I have for business that hasn’t been used since I got it in March.
Plop this 8TB drive into my PC as a random backup drive.
Hi, I have very similar problem here. After spending 6 hours reading posts and trying to fix it, I decide to follow your solution for the last dance. Did it work? have you saved your data? at this point I do not care about how much money I spend to save my data I am trying this before I contact data recovery company
