I had success modifying the whitelist.xml of a DX4000 to use a drive that was not listed on the DX’s Dashboard compatible drive list, but that was on the WD list in the link you refer to.
It’s a bit of a tricky process, but it can be done.
Only immediately useful when replacing a drive in a working system, not for factory-resetting an older unit, although you could consider to modify the whitelist.xml in a recovery ISO for a non-starting system, but that’s an exercise on its own.
See Expanding DX4000 HDD List - #5 by DTMtech
Note: providing these steps without warranty to success and take at your own risk.
Steps
(1) find correct WDStorageSetup.msi corresponding to your DX’s software version (Dashboard-Monitor-Software update)
Possible locations:
- sentinel_firmware_x_x_x_x.zip (Google it)
- C:\WD directory on your own or another DX with the same software version.
On a DX with software version 1.2.19.381 I found the .msi there. Newer software versions don’t seem to contain the .msi files anymore in \WD. - in a recovery ISO: mount the ISO, unzip \RESET\OS.SWM using 7-zip, look in \RESET\OS.SWM\WD
(2) extract the contents of WDStorageSetup.msi using msi2xml
- the extracted files get random names. To identify whitelist.xml, do a text search for e.g. “Model description=”
- modify whitelist.xml for your drive : copy an existing line that corresponds to your capacity, modify the full disk type with your type.
Example I had success with:
copied
description=“Enterprise Storage 2 TB” size=“1907730” etype=“constant”>WDC WD2002FYPS-02W3B0
changed this to:
description=“Enterprise Storage 2 TB” size=“1907730” etype=“constant”>WDC WD2000F9YZ-09N20L1
(3) rewrite the WDStorageSetup.msi using xml2msi
(4) on your DX: Control Panel > Programs & Features: remove WD Storage Provider, reboot DX
(5) copy the modified WDStorageSetup.msi to a USB stick or copy it to the NAS or to any location the NAS can reach, doesn’t matter, you just have to be able to execute WDStorageSetup.msi
(6) execute WDStorageSetup.msi, reboot DX
In Dashboard > Monitor > Compatible hard drives, your newly added type will now appear.
Note:
I just factory-re-installed an older DX4000 (2012) that originally contained software 1.2.19.381, with 1.7.5.17.
Apparently the software version 1.7.5.17 Dashboard’s Compatible hard drive list contains many more compatible drives than in the older software e.g. 1.2.19.381.
At this time (March 2016) one of the listed 2TB’s is still widely available in the distribution chain: WD2000F9YZ-09N20L0.
So for owners of an older DX out of warranty, it may be worthwhile to upgrade the unit’s software version, in order to still be able to replace a disk with an available model on the compatible list, in the event of failure.
The 1.7.5.17 ISO is still downloadable at http://download.wdc.com/sentinel/EMEA_SvrRecovery_1_7_5_17.iso
MD5 hash : 46649c0b8acca02c6544514e5c99bd4c
