My Cloud Home device - recover data

[Johngf6]

I accidentally did a hard reset on my WD My Cloud Home device.

When I opened Recuva, I could not see this drive on the list. I looked in network and could see it there, but the "OK" was greyed out.

I would appreciate any help/advice?

Thank you,

Regards, John

[nukecad]

WD My Cloud is not like a standard disk drive.
Whilst it shows up as a network drive (usually drive 'Z') your PC cannnot detect or connect to it like it does with a normal external drive, you have to use the WD Discovery program or the Android/iOS apps supplied.

Because it can't be seen as a normal drive then Recuva, or any other recovery tool, can't see it so can't access it to work with.

However you still have a chance, - if you are prepared to do a bit of work. (and void your warranty).

 You need to shut down the My Cloud unit, take it apart and carefully extract the hard drive.
Like most products they are not designed to be easily user accessible , but like any computer hardware you can do it.
For an idea of what's involved see these videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfLzUWs6R1c&ab_channel=PetermanBuilds
And 2:40 to 9:30 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZYOMwBc2eno&ab_channel=SmallTechReviews

Once you have the hard drive out you can then connect it directly to a computer.
You'll need a SATA to USB cable, or an external hard drive caddy, both are readily available at computer shops or online.
Once it is connected like a 'normal' external drive then recovery software should be able to see it and work with it.

Of course Recuva or any other recovery software is never guaranteed to always get your files back, it depends just what has happened to the drive.
In particular if the 'Hard Reset' has reformatted the drive then it's going to make things more difficult.

 

 

[Johngf6]

Thank you very much, I appreciate your help and advice. Fortunately the data and media were copies of other drives and I haven't really lost anything. I shall be more careful in future with resets.

[nukecad]

It's much easier to restore from copies (backups) if you can rather than trying to recover deleted data, especially if if you have to go through extra steps just to get the drive where Windows can see it.

[Johngf6]

Yes, thank you. I am in process of setting up new process for backups using My Cloud. Hopefully no more problems.