Hi, recently my 4TB My Cloud Home device went offline. After many calls with WD support and numerous 4s or 40s reset, sometimes I’m able to get access to my data but the connection is very unstable and data transfer is super slow. I tried different kinds of Ethernet cable thinking it might be due to the loose cable connection, but it didn’t help at all. I also tried directly connecting the device to my laptop via Ethernet, but the problem persists.
I know that my data is intact at least. In order to get my data safely transferred from My Cloud to my desktop, is it possible to remove the inner HDD from My Cloud and somehow directly connect the HDD to my laptop via a USB or some other adapter? My laptop is MackBook Air (with USB-C ports).
WDC suggested owner pay for third party recovery services:
The DIY recovery route is well documented but entirely unsupported, but do read and use the free rescuezilla as described in this thread and do not buy other unnecessary and often useless recovery software if one decided that DIY is the route to take:
Hi NoPlex, Thanks so much for the reply. However, I just realized I made a mistake in calling my device My Cloud Home. It is actually My Cloud. I bought this at least 7 years ago. Here are the pictures of my device. Does that change anything on terms of the solution you recommended here?
What specifically is wrong with the My Cloud device? Is it directly connected to the network router? What color is the front LED? Can you access the My Cloud Dashboard?
If data transfer is slow it may be due to using WiFi to copy files and or the limitations of one’s WiFi router hardware. Generally it is best to connect the My Cloud to a gigabit capable WiFi router, then connect the computer to that same router using an Ethernet wire/Ethernet networking port.
If using a Mac make sure to use SMB and not AFP to connect to the My Cloud.
You can “shuck” the My Cloud hard drive, attach it to either a USB to SATA or USB docking port or a spare SATA port on a computer, then attach that adapter to the computer. Because the data is stored on an EXT4 partition on the My Cloud hard drive you will need to ensure your computer can read the EXT4 format in order to access the files.
There are plenty of videos out on YouTube that show how to shuck the My Cloud and extract the internal hard drive.
“What specifically is wrong with the My Cloud device?” That’s a great question and I’ve been trying to figure it out. The overall problem is that I’m essentially not able to access my files. It would take 5 minutes to open any folder in the device, and sometimes the connection would fail after trying for a while. The My Cloud device is directly connected my network router, which is Netgear Nighthawk AC3200 WiFi Cable Modem Router (Model C7800). I know the low speed is not caused by the router, because I’ve tried connecting the My Cloud to my laptop directly, and the same problem persists. Per instruction, the front LED should be solid blue, but mine shows no light at all.
I’m able to access the dashboard through the browser. Following the advice from another thread, I was told that the Network Mode should be changed from DHCP to Static (due to the recent ending of support for OS3 device last year), but I was not able to enter the IP Address in the prompt window. (see screenshot). Do you know why I can’t edit the IP Address?
By the way, I also tried SMB on my Mac, but it didn’t help solve this slow or unresponsiveness problem.
Thank you for the tip about “shucking” the hard drive, I will look for some Youtube videos for how to do that. As a last resort, I will probably need to remove the hard drive and directly connect to my laptop.
There are any number of issues that can cause sluggishness in accessing other devices on the local network. For example if you are running any kind of VPN on the computer, that may cause some sluggishness in trying to access local network devices like the My Cloud. Sometimes one’s security/anti virus software may attempt to scan the My Cloud when you try to access it or the files/folders on it.
What firmware is the My Cloud running? That should be listed on the General page of the My Cloud Dashboard.
Sometimes its easier to set or reserve an IP address in the network router/gateway’s administration page, in the DHCP section. IF you want to set the static IP address through the My Cloud Dashboard and you have trouble doing so, try accessing the My Cloud Dashboard using another web browser. Some web browser plugins/extensions could potentially also interfere with the My Cloud Dashboard page causing problems or the inability to enter data.
Although you indicated you were doing a reset, make sure to follow the specific method for doing a 4 second or 40 second reset. The other option is to do a System Only restore through the My Cloud Dashboard > Settings > Utilities page.
Double check that Cloud Access is disabled if it is still available in the firmware you are running.
If you have a lot of media on the hard drive but don’t use the Twonky Media Server included with the My Cloud you can go to the Shares tab in the Dashboard and turn off Media Serving for each Share. You can turn off other services on the Dashboard > Settings > General tab as well if you are not using those services or options.
I don’ have any VPN on my MacBook Air, and the laptop doesn’t run any security/anti virus software either. To be clear, besides the sluggishness in accessing the data, the response in the Dashboard is extremely slow as well. It can take 3 to 5 minutes to update any setting in the Dashboard, such as turning off the Media Server etc.
I also did a 40s reset once again by strictly following the instruction in the article you posted. After the reset, the symptoms linger still.
I just checked the firmware on My Cloud. It is v04.06.00-111, and shows it’s up to date. I have attached a couple of more screenshots from the dashboard setting pages. Hopefully it’ll give you some more insight.
The DLNA Media Server keeps scanning forever, and sometimes running into error. Do you think that could be the culprit? I do have a ton of media files (movies, music and pictures) on my device, but the entire volume is only half of 4TB capacity.
By the way, before I performed the 40s reset, I did try turning off the Media Server and all the other unrelated services in Settings page, but it didn’t solve the slowness. I haven’t yet tried turning those services off again AFTER the reset.
I tried turning off the Media and iTunes server, but the problem still continues. In addition, I got another error on the Dashboard. Not sure, if it’s related to the network issue. I have tried multiple Ethernet cables to no avail. The only thing I can think of related to network is to change the DHCP to Static.
Switch back to using DHCP and see if the error goes away. If it does then simply reserve an IP address for the My Cloud in the router’s administration page.
Having switched back and forth between Dynamic and Static a couple of times, but none of them worked. I just tried connecting the device directly to my MacBook Air through a Ethernet/USB-C adapter, but now I’m not even able to find the server. The dashboard is not accessible at all. Totally frustrated.
Try doing another 40 second reset if you haven’t already then connect the router back to the local network router/gateway.
Have you used SSH to modify the My Cloud firmware in any way?
Not sure it will work but as a troubleshooting step, try downloading the last v4.x firmware and manually installing it over the top of your first gen My Cloud’s firmware and see if anything changes. Also make sure to directly connect the My Cloud and computer to the same router, don’t use powerline extenders, or mesh nodes or anything like that. If you are able to reflash the firmware let the unit reboot and leave it alone for 10 to 20 minutes before trying to access the Dashboard.
