Ok, please bear with me as I didn't sleep at all last night.

I am a volunteer SysAdmin at a small charity. I just came on board a couple of months ago and have been running around trying to produce order from chaos. Which is why I didn't hear about the external NAS dropping off the network several times a week for the last month or so. The users here have gotten into the habit of power cycling everything that has to do with the network and the drive comes back online. And then not telling me. Yeah, that kind of chaos.

So I get a call 2 days ago saying that the internet was down and they couldn't access the NAS, which has all our client database, and everyones brain and soul on it. Apparently without backups to too. I really should be shot right about now for letting this happen.

So in the mist of them going through their power cycle routine, someone unplugged the internet and didn't plug it in. I fixed it, but the NAS didn't want to start up. Dead as a door nail.

I took it out of its enclosure PRAYING that it was the adapter on the case that failed, not the HD. After plugging this drive in, the bios sees the correct drive, but it will not mount in any OS or recovery program. I've tried everything. WD tools, Hirens, Ultimate boot disk, even SpinRite. Since there aren't any weird noises coming from the drive, I'm looking at PCB to start with. I pulled the PCB board (Specs for drive at end of post), and I don't see anything obviously fried, joints and traces look fine.

So my first question is, is there a site that will give me the schematics for this board??

And two, exactly who, what, where, etc does the donor HD need to look like for this to be a successful swap. I know that there is a FW issue, that I can't just move a chip. I am trying desperately to avoid any kind of clean room, simply because we're a charity, and do not have the funds available.

I'm looking for a camera right now to post pics of the PCB and drive...

Thanks SOOOOOO much guys!!

Western Digital Caviar GP
MDL WD5000AAVS-00ZTB0
DATE 01 DEC 2007
DCM HANCHT2CHB
PCB LABEL 2061-701477-200 AA XT 5W01389R 7 0002220 8 222
PCB ETCH2060-701477-002 REV A

Fixit

The hdd is not bricked... YET!

Be very carefull what you do with the HDD. Please tell us from what NAS it came from- the model numer and the version or revision. And FW is possible.

The case usually being that NAS drives use different type of Filesystem that windows will not recognise, sometimes this filesystem wont be recognised by Linux too- because some NAS boxes use a special architecture that only works with Itanium based chips or these SPARC based chips.

You are in a critical stage now. If you shoot ahead and start swapping ROMS on the HDD you are going to loose that data in a blink of an eye.

If it picks up in Bios and shows correct size- no clicks, no ticks, no scratching - the drive is fine and you need to mount it with the proper filesystem.
Be carefull witht the drive now. dont bump or knock it- WD drives are very sensitive!

So,
What NAS box is it please.

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So the drive powers up fine, no funny noises etc but you just can't mount it?

If you use MHDD does smart report any errors and what does the scan results look like?

Can you image the drive to a file at all with something like ddrescue, CopyR etc?

Reason I ask is that many moons ago I had the same drive die on me when it's external enclosure lost power. I did eventually recover the data.

1) You can't replace the board - that 99,99% probably is fine - the problem is the drive , either LOGICAL or internal. I suspect more LOGICAL as you can at least "recognise it" on another PC.

2) Forget the schematics unless you reverse engineer the boards ( *cough !!* )and in any case you can't go let's say to Fry's and buy a Marvell MCU or many components.

3) NAS usually have another kind of filesystem so this is the reason why you don't see the drive in Windows (says it's not formatted or RAW , right ?).
Depending on the NAS it can use proprietary FS (seen many).

NOTE : DON'T DO ANYTHING INVASIVE on the disk with idiot advice like "use this, try that, MAYBE it's this" as some systems have the nasty habit of trying to rebuild something internally if they find something they judge "erratic" , and this can start even from a modified sector if you put the drive back into the NAS. BE SAFE as seems that data IS important.

Just my 50 cents.

I'm quite sure if you give proof that it is from charity and not from elsewhere and make an official request, you can have some discount or some professional of good will may decide to help you. I call myself out as I am too far, but there are reputable members of this forum

@ppumpkin This came out of a Western Digital MyBook 500GB World Blue Ring Edition. MDL WD5000G032. Now, there is a 2308A above the S/N, which when I googled it, suggested it is the firmware. The main PCB is numbered 2061-701490, with no Rev indicated.

@mips I can't get the damn thing to be recognized outside of Bios Otherwise I'd image the hell out of it. It's the lifeblood around here and people are starting to twitch!

Fix

... in your area who can help you

(sorry problems posting)

Thanks, I am being VERY careful at this point. I certainly know not to open the drive. Most of my recovery experience has been software driven until this point, but I am comfortable attempting to repair the PCB (I've done similar work before)

Unfortunately, as Data Recovery is a supply and demand market, and it appears Americans by nature are a bunch of greedy bastards, I've gotten quotes averaging $1000 USD. So I am soaking as much knowledge as I can from this site to make an educated decision.

I swear, when all this is over, I'm starting a non-profit Data Recovery service, lol

Fix

I have another WD enclosure I use at home. It wasn't NAS though. Would it be worth putting this drive in there to see if it works? Or would I be putting the data at risk...

Son of a gun...I found a swollen cap on the main PCB in the enclosure. Running down to a shop to get it tested...Wish me luck!!

Fix

The fact that you are not able to image it is concerning...

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

Ok, so the cap I was looking at was blown. After getting it replaced, I am now getting a whirrrr-CLICK, whirrrr-CLICK noise, but it will go away after a min or so, but I'm still not getting lights on the ethernet or the front leds.... I am still hanging onto the bad cap=bad board theory I've come up with. Just cause you find one bad apple, there's generally going to be another. Thoughts??

Why are you using the drive in the enclosure? You don't know if it's still faulty and you have already found a blown cap on the enclosure pcb. Remove the drive from the enclosure and connect it direct to a motherboard via the sata connectors.

In a day or so, this way, I think we will know that DATA WAS IMPORTANT....

You are to quick. Do you know the sane. The devils most happy when you are in a rush.
Forget about the enclosure. its toast! and it could have toasted your hard drive now too! Just because you replaced the cap does not mean it will work. If the cap is swollen because of of over voltage then it means the voltage regulator is knacker and now mights have put 12v into your 5volts..... ?!?! who knows what that cap replacement has done.

Just put it into your normal computer- make sure the bios recognises it. that it shows a serial number and the correct size. Like you have done before. If its not ticking in your computer-- leave it there. do not scan anything- do not use mhdd just relax for a moment. Better to wait a few days for proper advice and get your data instead of trying everything at once at never be able to backtrack.

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Exactly what OSs have you tried btw?

If the NAS use proprietary FS, you can cry in greek to mount it in any OS.

That's what professionals are for

OK - this blue rings NAS drive runs a Linux OS. The hard drive is formatted in EXT3 Fielsystem that windows cannot pick up.

Now my best advice to you is. Find a local computer technician that KNOWS how to use Linux .. Ubuntu Live CD for example... OK not somebody who thinks they know computers.. Somebody who KNOWS LINUX!

Please do not attempt todo this your self!
It looks like it uses a normal linux partition and not some cosmic stuff to make live difficult - the white edition might.

You need to start this linux - mount the hard drive in there and copy the data off it! OK

Its that simple for somebody who knows linux..
---If it is not- and you run into problems while mounting the hard drive in LINUX - Jut write down the error and leave it alone. Then i suggest going to the WD forums! As those bofs will help you step by step..

Just slow down or you will loose your data.

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It uses Ext3.

We could talk him through it. I use linux for my desktop, if the drive is fine then mounting it and extracting files is a piece of cake to explain to him.

If it is Ext3 it's simple. Let's talk about ZSFS used by some common NAS later