My MyCloud drive was successfully installed and worked for a couple of months and now I can’t log in to it. WD has sent me a new one and I have to send in the original. However, I want to recover my files before doing so. I have tried to connect the drive directly to my computer, but it still doesn’t recognize the drive. Any thoughts?
How do you know the drive is corrupt? Is the front LED no longer blue? If so what color is it? What does “can’t log into it” mean? Can’t log into the Dashboard? Can’t log into a Private Share? Cannot log into SSH if SSH is enabled on the My Cloud?
If the hard drive on the My Cloud really is corrupted one can remove the drive from the enclosure (that may void the warrantee), connect that drive to a computer running Linux and attempt to access the drive using Linux. Microsoft Windows doesn’t support the file system used by the My Cloud drive without the use of third party software/drivers.
Or one can pay a recovery service to recover the data. See the following WD Support page for more information on Data recovery.
See this thread, last modified yesterday:
Maybe “corrupt” is the wrong technical term. The drive doesn’t work anymore. Yes, I plug it in, get white light that turns to solid red. I have been over everything with WD support- including reset. I am not able to log into the dashboard so I can’t even update firmware.
I am a little peaved that I need to pay to recover my data from a third party vendor. Plus, I attempted to pursue one of the vendor options on WDs support page and my virus protection identified the flash driver update that popped up from that site as malware.
I didn’t break the hard drive. WD should be helping me get me data off of it. I was hoping someone in the forum has already done this successfully that could help guide me since WD has been less than helpful on the issue.
You don’t “need” to pay for a third party recovery service if you are willing to invest a little time and effort (if you have a desktop computer that has SATA connectors, or have SATA external USB drive/connector). As mentioned above one can pull the hard drive from the My Cloud enclosure and access it with a Linux operating system (or use a Linux Boot Disc).
The fact is that most if not all hard drive manufactures will not cover the cost of recovering data from a damaged hard drive, WD included. At most they’ll replace the drive/NAS under warranty. Fact is that hard drives can and do die which is why it is recommended one have multiple backups of sensitive data, that includes backing up the My Cloud to another location/USB drive for just this sort of situation. One can backup the My Cloud using Safepoint (v3.x/v4.x firmware) or Backup (v2.x firmware).
If one does a forum search using the terms “recovery” or “data recovery” they will find several threads discussing methods and ways to attempt data recovery from the hard drive. Here are just a few recent threads:
https://community.wd.com/t/mycloud-is-dead-and-need-to-recover-data/158346
https://community.wd.com/t/how-to-recover-deleted-files/92885
https://community.wd.com/t/my-cloud-my-archive-deleted-by-mistake/159839
This situation is no different from any other hard disk manufacturer. Warranty covers device replacement only, not data recovery. This has been the case since hard disks first appeared, and why (in addition to the fact that data recovery is not always possible) backups are essential.
Feel peeved if you like, but you are unreasonable to do so. Your data loss is your fault for not backing up your data.
if the actual drive will still operate you do need to remove it from the MyCloud enclosure and install in a new external enclosure. there are a couple YouTube videos that show you hoe to remove it from the enclosure using a credit card. you then need to remove the 4 rubber feet that protect the drive and 3 screws from to separate the drive from the WD circuit board, then you attach the drive to the connectors in the new external enclosure. slide the drive into the new enclosure, plug it the poer and connect to your computer through USB. Once in the new enclosure use DiskInternals Linux Reader Program (Free), i had trouble with a Linux Boot and I don’t know anyone with a Linux operating system… You will have a list of 6 or so drives that pop up and you need to go through those drives(not all the drives have your data really just 1) and copy the files to a new hard drive.
