Functioning Mycloud 3Tb (2013) - Expand HDD

[SandyEgo]

I have a working 2013 WD 3TB My Cloud Personal Network Attached Storage - NAS - WDBCTL0030HWT-NESN. I would like to expand the HDD to 8Tb, if possible, to postpone buying a better NAS.

I’m familiar with Linux and have used terminal to stop wdmcserverd and wdphotodbmergerd .

All posts in forum about swapping out HDD assume it’s dead. Mine is working.

Would this procedure work? Or, can you please point me to procedure to image/expand HDD?

1. Remove HDD from enclosure. Plenty of youtube videos.
2. Clone the HDD to larger 8Tb using Clonezilla
   2.1) HDD Option 1: Seagate IronWolf NAS 7200RPM Internal SATA Hard Drive 8TB 6Gb/s 3.5-Inch (ST8000VN0022) - holes on bottom do not line up with smaller HDDs. Because of larger rpm, ensure cooling adequate.
   2.2 HDD Option 2: WD Red 8TB NAS Internal Hard Drive - 5400 RPM Class, SATA 6 Gb/s, 256 MB Cache, 3.5" - WD80EFAX.
3. Boot to Linux Mint and use gparted to expand the data partition to max.
4. Reinstall HDD into enclosure.

Is there any firmware limitations to running 8Tb HDD? What is max HDD size otherwise?

Thanks for your time.

[rac8006]

I would put the 8TB in and follow the unbrick procedures. Then attach the 3TB using a SATA to USB adapter.

[Bennor]

@SandyEgo

Would this procedure work? Or, can you please point me to procedure to image/expand HDD?

The problem with imaging one My Cloud drive to a hard drive that is a different size is the user partition may not be resized to take advantage of the larger space.

As Rac8006 indicates it is probably best to run one of the unbrick procedures then, using a SATA to USB adapter or a spare SATA adapter on a PC to copy the user data from the old drive to the new drive.

I posted about putting in an 8TB WD Red Drive a while back using Fox_Exe’s directions for a first gen My Cloud.

8TB wd red drives

Success! The WD EasyStore 8TB drive I purchased from Best Buy was made in Thailand. And it is the 256mb cache WD Red version. My Cloud enclosure was a first gen version. I used Fox_Exe’s unbricking directions for unbricking/replacing HDD for first gen’s. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6OlQ_H0PxVbzZac0plbkZKeGM/view The those directions have a broken link to the archive file one needs to download. I used the original_v04.01.02-417.tar.gz file: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B_…

Note that the directions for unbricking a first gen are different than those for unbricking a second gen. User Fox_Exe’s unbrick directions:

First gen: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6OlQ_H0PxVbzZac0plbkZKeGM/view
Firmware file used in first gen directions: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B_6OlQ_H0PxVNTN6c2F4SXEwQVU
Second gen: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B_6OlQ_H0PxVQVhnLVJOdDZISUU/view

Check the P/N ending number on the bottom of the My Cloud enclosure.
P/N “-00” is first gen.
P/N “-10” is second gen.

[SandyEgo]

Thanks Bennor for detailed response, but I decided to try first my procedure.

I am glad to report that my original procedure worked.

Cloned the MyCloud 3Tbb → New 8Tb drive using 3.5HDD dual dock (Clonezilla should work too).
Used gparted to maximize the data partition. The My Cloud GUI interface shows new space available.

I recommend my procedure since it requires no terminal commands and downloading firmware.

[ANDY_CHAN]

Sandy,

How to ensure adequate cooling for 7200rpm drive? If I don’t use the box cover, is it ok?