If your attached screen capture is from the new cloned 6TB hard drive then check the Diagnostic screen to see what it is saying about new drive. Also review the alerts notifications in the Alert icon ( ) to see if anything there provides additional information on the drive error.
I ran into issues trying to use certain clone software to clone a first gen My Cloud drive. It was hit or miss. Some software just didn’t work to clone the drive properly I think due to the fact the My Cloud uses Linux. Clonezilla worked once I put the drives into USB to SATA adapters and didn’t use the desktop PC’s internal SATA ports.
Personally if I continue to try cloning a My Cloud drive and it doesn’t work, which I’ve experienced in the past on a first gen. I moved to following Fox_Exe’s method of restoring the My Cloud operating system to the new hard drive then manually copy over the user data from the old drive to the new.
My first post but wanted to share my experience. I have a wd my cloud gen 2 (firmware is 2.xx)
I needed the hard drive for another purpose so I took it out. Had a spare seagate 3tb and wanted to see if I could put it in here. It worked but ultimately needed to go a different route. I used the video above and followed their steps and it worked. I tried so many other methods and downloaded virgin disk images but it didn’t work. It’s possible those disk images are for gen1 but I tried the method described above and it didn’t work. Here’s a quick summary of what I did (watch the video and download the files from the video).
got ubuntu on a usb (google instructions. very easy)
downloaded image files and loaded them onto the root folder of the ubuntu disk. there should be 5 image files, each 1gb and one is 2gb)
loaded ubuntu and opened terminal
in terminal, I wrote the following commands (can reference video for details)
sudo su
parted -l (this gives you details about the hard drive. my hdd happened to be /dev/sdb. Be sure to change the drive to your own)
parted /dev/sdb (now you are in the parted application on this selected drive)
rm * (this threw an error but the next step deleted the partitions anyway)
mklabel gpt
mkpart primary 1049kB 2149MB
mkpart primary 8591MB -1MB
mkpart primary 7517MB 8591MB
mkpart primary 2149MB 3222MB
mkpart primary 3222MB 4296MB
mkpart primary 4296MB 6443MB
mkpart primary 6443MB 7517MB
q (type q to quit parted)
mkswap /dev/sdb1
mkfs.ext4 /dev/sdb2
cd / (goes to root folder)
cd media (goes to media folder)
cd cdrom (goes to cdrom folder which is where the usb files are. you can use “ls” command to confirm that they are there)
cp sdb3.img /dev/sdb3
cp sdb4.img /dev/sdb4
cp sdb5.img /dev/sdb5
cp sdb6.img /dev/sdb6
cp sdb7.img /dev/sdb7
That’s it. now close terminal and shutdown ubuntu. unplug your drive and plug it back into the wdmycloud.
find the ip address of your mycloud and type that into your browswer. once it loads, agree and go through the setup. at this point, it defaults to a raid setup page that I don’t know how to access normally but it keeps going to this page. this is the page that you need. there is only one option to setup a jbod configuration which is basically a single drive configuration. i have a single wd my cloud so this was my only option. follow through the prompts and it will format. once formatted, everything should reset and work normally. I was able to see my full 3tb. then I updated the firmware to the latest version and everything continues to work.
Yes it is possible to replace a 6TB drive with a larger (or smaller) one.
For example I’ve experimented with a 12TB hard drive inside a single bay first gen My Cloud with another 12TB external hard drive attached to that MY Cloud’s USB port before moving those two 12TB drives to a different manufacturer’s NAS enclosure.
Firstly a big thank you to all those still contributing here.
I have only yesterday had to replace my HDD.
After reading loads and trying for two days I finally cracked it by using bits and pieces strewn throughout various threads here.
Here’s how I replaced my drive:
You will need: To read all of this first
16Gb minimum USB (and optionally a second 16Gb for the bin file – not required just an option)
Replacement HDD – I will use 2TB direct replacement for instructions
Rufus software
Ubuntu trial version
Image of 2TB WDMyCloud Gen 1
see link in step 9
Identify if your WD MyCloud is Gen1 or Gen2
Look at the P/N number on the bottom on the single bay WD MyCloud enclosure.
Gen 1 P/N ends with -00
Gen 2 P/N ends with -10
Format your 16Gb USB (if you don’t know how, you shouldn’t be trying this as there is the ability to format the incorrect drives on you PC and lose all your data)
You can download the zipped disk_image.10g.bin on a separate USB for use later if you don’t want to use your Wifi password while in Ubuntu. Extract the file from the compressed format onto the separate USB. Put it to one side.
Create a bootable Ubuntu USB drive using Rufus software
(Any other software capable of writing an iso will do)
Run Rufus.exe (Rufus download)
SELECT
Ubuntu-20.04.2.0-desktop-amd64.iso (Ubuntu trial version)
START
OK
YES
OK (Last chance before you destroy USB data)
WAIT for Bootable Ubuntu USB to be created
Connect your new/donor 2TB HDD to your PC (I used a USB to SATA enclosure/cable)
(The one your’re going to fit to the WD MyCloud enclosure once programmed)
Reboot the PC
Enter the BIOS
Boot from the Ubuntu USB
(I’m not helping with this – again if you don’t know how, you shouldn’t be following this)
SELECT ‘TRY UBUNTO’ (from the two options)
Wait for it to load !
SELECT the ‘Show Applications’ (Dots in far bottom half of L/H screen)
SELECT ‘Settings’ App (Click on the Cogs icon) – may need to scroll down screen
Add your Wifi Password (Don’t worry this is so you can get online and download the Image of 2TB WDMyCloud Gen 1)
SELECT CONNECT
CLOSE these Application windows
SELECT FireFox App (Top L/H bar) and download from the link below.
(When offered ‘start set up’ hit ‘not now’ until you get the browser screen.
Search for “fox.exe.ru” choose url below:
Click on MyCloud Gen1 folder
Click on Backups folder
Click on disk_image.10g.bin.gz
Extract bin image to download folder or any other folder (just remember the location) (Archive manager might open and try to do this for you Step 10)
Alternatively download this file to a different USB and later when using the Disks App select the bin file from that location instead. See initial steps.
Extract by terminal window: tar xvfz disk_image.10g.bin.gz
If popup asks open with archive manager:
Open it ……. Wait
Select EXTRACT (top L/H window)
Choose a destination folder – remember your location !
Select EXTRACT (top R/H window)
Wait …… for file to extract itself
Close all Application windows
Go back to ‘Show Applications’ (Dots in far bottom half of L/H screen)
Select ‘Disks’ App (Click on the Disks icon) – may need to scroll down screen
L/H side shows all your disks and USBs If your donor/replacement HDD isn’t shown make sure you’ve connected it (USB to SATA cable pugged in etc)
Select your Replacement WD MyCloud HDD
MAKE SURE YOUR REPLACEMENT DRIVE IS HIGHLIGHTED ON THE L/H BAR
(If you get his wrong you’ll wipe the wrong drive !)
(If you get his wrong you’ll wipe the wrong drive !)
(If you get his wrong you’ll wipe the wrong drive !)
(If you get his wrong you’ll wipe the wrong drive !)
Optionally format your replacement HDD now
Select ‘Drive Options’ (three dots top R/H of window bar)
Select ‘Format Disk’ and wait this is optional OR go to step 14
SELECT ‘RESTORE DISK IMAGE’
‘Image to Restore’ window appears
Click the Folder Icon (R/H side of pop up window)
Select the extracted disk_image.10g.bin file from where ever you stored it
(See Step 9)
SELECT ‘START RESTORING’
WAIT until complete ……… Shutdown Ubuntu (very top R/H = ‘Power Off’)
Connect HDD to WD’s plate and turn on WDMyCloud. Wait ~5-10 min.
Yes wait 5 to 10 mins really !
Check your router to find IP address of new WDMyCloud
Enter IP address into Web browser
WD Set up screen will appear if successful
Don’t do anything else until step 20 is complete !
Go to Settings, Firmware, and upgrade firmware to remove 0MB storage error.
Short version
Create USB Ubuntu USB (4Gb USB)
Download https://fox-exe.ru/WDMyCloud/WDMyCloud-Gen1/Backups/disk_image.10g.bin.gz to another USB (suggest 16Gb) and extract it ( You’ll need >10Gb)
Connect your replacement HDD and your dl image bin USB to your PC
Boot into Ubuntu
Open ‘Disks’ Application
Select replacement HDD (L/H bar in window) - Don’t pick the wrong one ! YOU WILL LOSE EVERYTHING ON THE DRIVE YOU SELECT WHEN YOU CONTINUE !
Select ‘Drive Options’ (Select the three dots top R/H of window in Disks App)
(Format replacement HDD optional or skip to step below)
Select ‘Restore Disk Image’ - (point it to location of 10Gb extracted bin file on other USB)
Select ‘Start Restoring’
Wait until complete
Put HDD back into WD case
Open web browser using IP address for WD Storage - use router software to find IP address
Connection shows HDD will have 0Mb storage error, Select Factory Restore/Reset first, then Upgrade FIRMWARE from ‘Settings’
All going well correct volume size is now displayed and blue light is on !
Please note dl is for Gen1 image - see other post for determining Gen 1 or Gen 2
That’s good to know, I’m currently doing a full system restore on it to see if it rectifies errors booting after a power failure which corrupted some of the files stored.
Also, how did you merge the capacity with the USB drive, I have 10 (yes Ten) MyClouds varying 6 to 8 TB with 6 x 10 TB WD Element Drives attached.
Well not mine, it’s my fathers who basically isn’t mobile and I’ve backed up every BluRay, DVD and VHS he’s got, it took us about 8 years to get where we are now and although the size seems a lot, we worked on the old fact if your Hard Drive becomes 75% full it slows, so none of his drives are above 60%
Detect your (WD) disk: blkid or cat /proc/partitions or fdisk - l or parted -l or ls /dev/sd* (Look for 8 lines like “sdb1” to “sdb8”)
Download archive to any folder (Need ~400MB of free space. Check it by typng df -h or just use USB drive)
Unpack and upload image directly to disk (Change “/dev/sdb” to your disk! Type it without numbers at the end!): gunzip -c disk_image.10g.bin.gz | dd of=/dev/sdb bs=1M
Fix data partition on disk: parted /dev/sdb resizepart 4 (type 100% in “END” question) quit resize2fs /dev/sdb4 (Expand filesystem to entire partition)
Thanks Fox_exe, your image saved the day.
I was posting for those of us not proficient in linux / ubuntu.
My version mostly uses GUI so no need to learn a new language - But kudos to your work.
For those wondering Fox is using a terminal window in his response.
@HannaWSP
You’ll need to be extra careful with that many drives - I’d connect one at a time.
Its bad enough connecting into your main pc to run them anyway - just be careful which drive you are working with - my method assumes you have your data elsewhere and are installing a blank new donor HDD to use the device again with a more modern HDD or SSD.
I didn’t fix it, the settings ‘system/factory restore’ did once I could access via webpage resolved that issue.
Fox’s response is just as quick open the ‘terminal’ application in ubuntu
Just be extra careful ‘sdb4’ could be sdc4,sdd4, sde4 etc so you cannot just use Fox’s text commands exactly. he does say this:
Ubuntu-20.04.2.0-desktop-amd64.iso (Ubuntu trial version) comes with Gparted so you can see if you’ve maximised your ext4 partition with that. (if you know how to use it you can maximise it with that too)
It’s just I’m only semi-literate and you might need user rights with sudu - i and apt-get install -y for curl or parted etc - too much for me - wrong dash or minus sign or command and loads of errors which I’d then need to look up. I stuck with mostly Ubuntu GUI and then the WD Web interface once online.
Shame we cannot upload a file here. I have written down step by step guide in MS Word with screen shots (just incase I need it again) that I’d be happy to share - it uses GUI for almost everything - little / no script to terminal windows.
I’ve transferred everything from that unit and was going to put a brand new Seagate in as I’m reading bad reviews with the new WD Reds.
And it seems like the Drives gone as it’s sounds like the drive is stuck at a certain point, like when the old 3 1/2” floppy’s had bad sectors! And I can’t access the dashboard to see the progress!
Mine was a WD 2TB Red that was near to failure - progressively getting noisier.
Fortunately, I swapped to a spare 2.5 2TB I had going spare, whilst i could still get the data.
Should be easier in future, 2.5 can be added via usb rather than opening up my main pc and installing there, or having to use usb with power supply for 3.5.
Using the bin file was a lot quicker than opening terminal windows - well for me, anyway.
Once you’ve done one drive, those after are easier. Just be careful when selecting it.
Generally its has always been advised to always do a System Only Restore via the My Cloud Dashboard > Settings > Utilities page immediately after powering up the single bay My Cloud for the first time after unbricking it. Often two things will happen after an unbrick. One will get a red front LED and or they’ll get the 0K issue on the My Cloud Dashboard. Generally a System Only Restore fixes one or both of those issues.
Wouldn’t hurt to try that first Bennor.
I got the 0 kb error on mine.
As I said I’ve only done the one myself.
I’ll defer to your and Fox’s experiences.
Just thankful to both you guys as essentially all the information I used was from you two or replies to you two.
Some suggestions. If one isn’t erasing and repartitioning the drive (for example if using Fox_exe’s directions) then maybe one is having issues due to the drive possibly not being properly formatted (for example not using GPT and instead using MBR). Try erasing all partitions on the drive and then repartitioning it with one single partition and reformatting the that single partition to NTFS prior to starting what ever unbrick process one is using.
When in doubt, run through the unbrick process a second, third or fourth time. Sometimes the first time unbricking doesn’t work because one missed a step or entered the wrong value/code. If repartitioning and reformatting the drive using Fox_Exe’s directions, make sure to use the exact values in the directions. Do not adjust them to the size of your hard drive.
Even if the unbrick looks like it failed, for example you get a front red LED upon first boot after the unbrick process. Try accessing the My Cloud Dashboard anyway. If the My Cloud Dashboard can be accessed, perform a System Only Reset via the My Cloud Dashboard > Settings > Utilities page.
Got a Gen 1 failed now, so I was putting another 8TB into it and no matter what I’ve tried I get Yellow, the Immediate Solid Read, network at back is showing activity, but nothing in the Network Scanner for that MAC address.
Plug the old Hard Drive back in and and it boots up and works until I try and move things off Hard Drive.
I have now got a Ubuntu Laptop to try all methods.
) to see if anything there provides additional information on the drive error.
Please note dl is for Gen1 image - see other post for determining Gen 1 or Gen 2
