Very nice! I got 150K files with random names and timestamps (except PDFs and HTMLs). Better than none I guess…
NO MORE WESTERN DIGITAL FOR ME.
1 Like
They use Ubuntu. LOL
1 Like
What about getting time data as it is a ton of pictures, is there any way to figure out when the pictures were taken?
Thanks
Jon
AFAIK, the MyBook uses a normal Linux software raid, so you will be able to mount the two drives with a Linux based system that has the software raid compiled in the kernel
1 Like
We all need to be clear here:
Having remote access OFF will not protect you
Having UPNP switched OFF will not protect you
Having auto-update OFF will not protect you
My MBL had it all switched off and it was still wiped out.
As i remember, MBL have a function named “recovery snapshot” in settings.
Maybe somebody can repair data or filenames using it?
My MBL also wiped out with factory settings.
Upnp and remote access was turned off many years ago…
Thank you for your feedback. I just want to recover my family photos and videos and then go from there.
Did you have UPnP switched off at the router level? If so, I’m incredibly curious how you were affected.
What router do you use? If your router and modem are separate, and your modem is acting as a router, what modem do you use?
If you still have a running MBL, could you run a scan like ShieldsUP and see if it detects anything?
1 Like
And if you scan your ports using the Google Cloud example that was posted here before, did result with any exposed port on your router?
In all these years did you ever tried or setup the remote access and then deactivated?
What about Mobile Access (different from Remote)
1 Like
About block sizes used to format the MyBook Live - and file system.
The disk has 4 partitions. The first is used to boot the system, the other two store a linux system and these two partitions are RAID configured, formatted with the EXT3 file system.
The 4th partition is where everyone’s data is. It is formatted with the EXT4 file system. An index of file locations as well as directories are stored in what is known as a superblock. When a file system is “formatted” all that really happens is that the superblock is deleted but the files still remain in the system. However - they don’t necessarily have names associated with them.
The odd thing about the data partition as formatted by Western Digital is that it uses block sizes of 65,536 [1] rather than the default of 4,096. Usually, EXT4 file systems have backup superblocks.
There is a linux command to reveal those superblocks [2]:
dumpe2fs /dev/sda4 | grep -i superblock
There is a linux command to mount the file system with an alternative superblock:
The below example applies if a backup superblock exists at inode 98304. This is only an example and results may vary after running the “dumpe2fs /dev/sda4 | grep -i superblock” command.
The below command could have been run on the partition - and possibly could have revealed all of the files in tact as they were…
mount -o sb=98304 /dev/sda4 /mnt
…but, unless you want to try compiling your kernel[7] to increase your pagesize to 65,536, you most likely cannot mount a file system with a superblock size of 65,536 on an X86 Linux computer without using Fuse-Ext2[3] - but I don’t know how to tell Fuse-Ext2 to use a backup superblock.
There are also tools like extundelete, extmagic [5] - but I did not have success with these tools, I think, because of the block size.
There is also a method of restoring a backup superblock, but I am uncertain this will work without a kernel compile because of the block size issue.[6]
A helpful suggestion by @dswv42 about compiling the Linux kernel might allow for better results than I have had.
[1] How to Rescue Data Off the Disk Inside a WD MyBook Live NAS - n-dimensional.de
[2] https://www.cyberciti.biz/faq/linux-find-alternative-superblocks/
[3] GitHub - alperakcan/fuse-ext2: Fuse-ext2 is a multi OS FUSE module to mount ext2, ext3 and ext4 file system devices and/or images with read write support.
[4] linux - How to mount ext4 fs with block size of 65536? - Super User
[5] http://extundelete.sourceforge.net/
[6] HOWTO: Repair a broken Ext4 Superblock in Ubuntu | Linux Expresso
[7] Changing PAGESIZE in kernel - Install/Boot/Login - openSUSE Forums
4 Likes
Thank you. I’ll modify my post.
Looks like someone thinks that is possible, see last comment.
YES! I looks like the EXIF data of photos (JPGs) are still intact. I am surprised and elated!
So I just need to write a shell script to auto-categorize files based on date/time/camera type etc. Don’t think it will be perfect, but its something…
2 Likes
There is a program called Exiftool that can view tags embedded in photo files, including dates. You basically have to run the program from the command prompt against the file in question - and the date of the photo will be revealed.
1 Like
Only if one is stoooopid enough to buy one…
So how did you apply that service block to the MBL on your LAN, and is there a method for doing this on a Frontier FIOS (Arris) router?
Fantastic idea!
So in implementing this solution, one would ssh into the My Cloud (v4x only) with USB port, and proceed from the command prompt to either mount the file system with the alternative superblock and block size specified - or try one of the extundelete tools.
I remember that message for my Seagate Central. Then the HDD in it died several months later…
Yes. I found that tool too thanks to a quick Google search.
Now I’m wiping out *.txt, *.ini, *.DS_Store, *.ico and a ton other junk files that I never knew I had. Then I’ll weed out JPGs smaller than 10KB (those are thumbnails).
sigh… I’ll say again, NEVER NEVER AGAIN with Western Digital.
3 Likes
Thank you so much
Jon
thanks for the comments on photorec that was great! I had never used the program, its very straightforward.
I pulled the drive out hooked it up with a usb/sata adapter and Photorec seems to be finding stuff. The down side is it works a bit too well, as my WD Book was only half full and i had used the mybook to transfer files between pc’s, the empty space is filled with files I deleted over the years, so now they are all coming back, I delete as I go.
I only used the WD as a backup - so pretty much everything is still where its supposed to be (on my other PC’s). I’ve had this thing for a dozen years and the only issue I will have is that there were files backed up on the WD from PC’s i retired years ago that i was too lazy to move to a newer pc when i trashed the old one (so really shouldn’t be of too much value) There are a couple excel files that i used just to keep track of budgets that i would like to recover rather than repopulate - so we will see.
To be honest, I thought the hard drive had cratered last week and blamed myself for relying on this old thing, until I got the email from WD! It was a nice idea - too bad it was so insecure! I’ll have to look for an alternative.
