Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

Summary:

Need backups of system partitions, etc for 3TB

Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

hardwhiz 20 Apr 2012 13:46

Hi everyone

Just got myself a 6TB MBLD and was so excited to take out the two drives to experiment with GPT booting (had to wipe out the system partitions and create fresh new NTFS partitions) that I didn't bother to back up the system and other partitions.

Now that I'm done fooling around with the drives, I realise that the OS is unable to operate without those files and partitions. Can anyone with a relatively fresh MBLD and the wherewithal to back up the partitions, help me out by uploading them somewhere?

Or any other advice to reinstate the bootability of the MBLD will also do. Thanks everyone!

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

Dav-M 20 Apr 2012 16:02

Hi,

ooooouchhhh, you need to find someone with a My Book Live Duo to copy one of the hard disk or to find a HDD image to download and restore your HDD…

In this forum you will find HDD image for My Book World Edition & My Book Live (single HDD) but I never see this for a My Book Live Duo…

I realise that the OS is unable to operate without those files and partitions

You need to realise the OS is in the HDD… and you format HDD.

Good luck :-(

Last edited on 20 Apr 2012 16:03 by Dav-M Show more

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

hardwhiz 20 Apr 2012 23:56

Thanks for your encouragement Dav-M!

Heheh, frankly, having so many linux based devices at home, and all of them not requiring the OS to be stored on a hdd (although I do add a hdd into the media player and cable box) I naturally assumed that the partitions on the WD hdds could be rebuilt by the OS which would be in ROM. Guess I assumed wrong haha!

Oh well, not a big issue yet as I can always use the two 3TB drives on RAID enclosure I also have. But that would be a waste of the MBLD enclosure. Can any of the linux-savvy MBLD buyers here help me out if you are reading this? I just need the first few system partitions, not the standard 2.8tb ext3 data partition which I can rebuild in ubuntu…

The WD system partitions can be read and compressed by most partition managers or partition-level backup utilities, into small files. The backup images can be uploaded into any free cloud server, or I can set up a temporary file server for this purpose.

Thanks all!

Last edited on 20 Apr 2012 23:57 by hardwhiz Show more

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

Dav-M 21 Apr 2012 07:11

To be honest, I've make the same mistake like you with my first MyBook… Assuming the OS will be in ROM and be independent of HDD…

And I found help here with recovery procedure and HDD image.

But MyBook Live Duo is not very old and nobody here post this image.

I hope for you someone will do in few days ;-)

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

hardwhiz 23 Apr 2012 08:56

Thanks Dav-M

Called the tech support centre, got conflicting advice. The tech said theoretically, putting in empty drives will just result in a rebuild. He claims the OS/dashboard are onboard the firmware, and don't need the partitions to be on the drives. Maybe he was pulling my leg or just didn't understand my predicament.

No loss at the moment, I've resumed using the two hdd in another NAS setup. The enclosure will have to sit around for the moment. Hope more is discovered of the MBLD here, for exploration and hacking :P

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

hardwhiz 23 Apr 2012 10:17

Oh, one quick question:

The guide on: Install Clean HDD in (white light) My Book World Edition

indicates I can download the firmware and then rig it to install onto one blank hdd using a linux laptop. Is this a possible solution for my problem in the near future if/when the MBLD's firmware workings are better understood?

Thanks again.

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

gunt76 23 Apr 2012 13:34

I have a 4T MBL Duo. I haven't made a copy of the OS partition, but i could if you can give me some guidance how. My OS is not stock as i installed FeaturesPacks on it so there are some changes.

---

MyBookLive Duo 4T
FeaturesPacks, Twonky, ownCloud

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

hardwhiz 24 Apr 2012 12:49

That's really great, gunt76! I've sent you some suggestions via private message. Basically, you just have to use a free partition backup utility to convert the system partitions to a single file each, with compression… Can't wait to see if this works out!

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

walleee 15 May 2012 22:23

please share the image to newbies :D

thanks

ps. with instructions on how to install

pleaseeeeee!!!!

Last edited on 15 May 2012 22:23 by walleee Show more

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

gabbel 17 May 2012 09:52

Dear all,

Please don't panic.
The first thing we did, when I bought my MBL Duo, was to take a dd backup of the partitions (just root and swap) of the two harddrives.
I will upload them tomorrow, and let you already now know, where to find them.
I will post them here: http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/backup-images-of-mybook
Included with the images you will find a small manual, how to restore them on two HDD's.
The images will work for any MBL Duo, but please read the Instructions very carefully, for not overwriting your data Partition.
I would only use some "eco green" HDD's, because the 500gig Samsung HDD's we used to test if the device will boot, became very hot.
Best regards, Gabbel and Simu.

Last edited on 17 May 2012 10:02 by gabbel Show more

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

walleee 18 May 2012 13:01

400 Bad Request for the free download

how about rapidshare

thanks

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

gabbel 24 May 2012 19:56

no problem,
uploading to RS…

Gabbel.

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

walleee 25 May 2012 18:36

that's heaven men thanks :D

Gabbel? i just wonder if /dev/sda1 , sda2 , sda3 in MBL and MBLD are both same size???

==»

seem its not :D

any way, i have 40gb ssd on DriveA then 1tb DriveB

i wonder if is it posible just to run the OS and swap on DriveA and the whole DriveB is for DataSharing only :D

and a web server :D

Last edited on 26 May 2012 15:32 by walleee Show more

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

gabbel 26 May 2012 22:07

@walleee,
Just in case, we ( Simu and me) are currently trying to build an installer package,
To run a normal Debian Squeeze or Weezy installation on the mybook live duo, using the UART port during the installation.

I will let you know when we get to the point to make it work. :D

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

walleee 28 May 2012 09:46

@gabbel

thats so much cool man,
that would be so much personalize customization on MBLD type :D

thanks…

and godluck to your new project :D

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

hardwhiz 12 Jun 2012 09:40

Shy to say, I need some help with the restoration of the partitions :(

My system is running Knoppix 7 off a usb thumbdrive, all drives disconnected except a 2GB unformatted hdd and a dvd-rom drive.
The knoppix root folder already has the /mybookliveduo folder and the backup files.

After booting into Knoppix and running the terminal, how should I proceed to copy the mbr and partitions from the boot drive to the HDD?

Thanks for any help anyone can offer here. :D

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

walleee 12 Jun 2012 20:50

@hardwhiz

just follow the instruction
mybookworld,wikidot,com/backup-images-of-mybook

:D

now trying this method if works

mybookworld,wikidot,com/forum/t-368098/debricking-script-that-can-keep-data

my MBLD Bricked again waaaa……

i think the magic word is
mdadm —create -e 0 —verbose /dev/md3 —level=linear —raid-devices=2 /dev/sda4 /dev/sdb4 && factoryreset.sh :D

ps. compress image is 2gb…

Last edited on 12 Jun 2012 20:57 by walleee Show more

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

Kartsy 17 Jun 2012 06:53

Hi Gabbel,

thanks again for your guiding on MBLD download manager. I have one more BIG issue and I would like to ask you for an advice.

I have just bought MBLD and I would like to swap 1TB drives from MB Studio Edition II and use it in MBLD. I had read your guide for newbies on restoring image for MBLD, but I cannot say I am getting the point.

I have installed Debian on my desktop PC, bought a USB-SATA cradle for WD disks, but as I am a HC Windows user and only one "programming" I did was MSDOS :-), I do not want to proceed with copying your MBLD images on new drives without double making sure that it will not rewrite some other partition.

I did not get from your guide whether I should instal Debian on the WD drive (future MBLD drive), copy also all files from your package to it and then just run the script or shall I use some kind of Debian file manager (which I cannot find) and copy it from other partitions of my PC. I am also absolutely unsure about setting the WD drive as SDA.

Sorry for this questioning, but I could not find the hints in your guide :-(

Cheers

Karsty

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

Kartsy 23 Jun 2012 09:23

MBLD drive restoration solved…no need to answer my call for help…you can delete my previous post :-)

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

hardwhiz 11 Jul 2012 20:26

I'm taking a longshot here, but is there any way to do the restoration using a graphic disk partitioning tool in linux? Thanks…

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

Morten Dall 27 Aug 2013 14:34

Anyone still have the files? They dont work on the webpage.

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

hardwhiz 24 Dec 2012 10:09

Addendum: There is actually no need to process Drive B with any partitions as long as Drive A is properly loaded with the backed up partitions. Upon booting up, you can access the MBLD and get the smartware to repartition Drive B to the correct configurations.

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

hardwhiz 30 Dec 2012 19:25

Further addendum:

Tried restoring the partitions to a pair of Samsung 2TB 5400rpm drives. The system can boot off the A drive, and the dashboard can be accessed, but never managed to get the system working properly because drive B was always detected as failed, and could not be properly initialized or reconfigured in any way to be recognised as a working drive. Drive A was similarly never recognized as working drive, although the system runs fine off the system partitions (containing the OS) already stored on it.

Re: Help for bricked MyBook Live Duo

vandervagos 24 Mar 2017 11:02

I have a similar issue, one of the drives (Drive B 2TB WD Green Series) failed as the drive had to many bad blocks.
I bought a replacement which is 2TB WD Blue Series and tried to replace it. I followed everything as Debrick a MyBookLive DUO Guides 2/3 in WD forums described but MBL has still red color and I can't access the Dashboard cause I always get the loading bar saying disk is initializing.

If I place only the old working disk in case A, then I can access the dashboard .
If I place only the new drive in case A, then I get the loading bar again saying disk is initializing.

However I managed to connect through ssh, ran the commans for swap etc as described in guide and also took some stats.

Parted old disk

MyBookLiveDuo:~# parted /dev/sda
GNU Parted 2.2
Using /dev/sda
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) p
Model: ATA WDC WD20EZRZ-60Z (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
3 15.7MB 528MB 513MB linux-swap(v1) primary raid
1 528MB 2576MB 2048MB ext3 primary raid
2 2576MB 4624MB 2048MB ext3 primary raid
4 4624MB 2000GB 1996GB primary raid

Parted new disk

MyBookLiveDuo:~# parted /dev/sdb
GNU Parted 2.2
Using /dev/sdb
Welcome to GNU Parted! Type 'help' to view a list of commands.
(parted) p
Model: ATA WDC WD20EARX-00P (scsi)
Disk /dev/sdb: 2000GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt

Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
3 15.7MB 528MB 513MB linux-swap(v1) primary raid
1 528MB 2576MB 2048MB ext3 primary raid
2 2576MB 4624MB 2048MB ext3 primary raid
4 4624MB 2000GB 1996GB primary raid

MD stats

MyBookLiveDuo:~# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [linear] [raid0] [raid1] [raid10] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4]
md3 : active linear sda4[0] sdb4[1]
3897995248 blocks super 1.0 0k rounding

md2 : active raid1 sda3[0] sdb3[1]
500672 blocks [2/2] [UU]

md0 : active raid1 sda22 sda13 sdb2[1] sdb1[0]
1999808 blocks [2/2] [UU]

unused devices:

Check swap

MyBookLiveDuo:~# MyBookLiveDuo:~# swapon -s
MyBookLiveDuo:~# Filename Type Size Used Priority
MyBookLiveDuo:~# /dev/md2 partition 500544 1664 -1

Any ideas?