WD My Cloud (Gen 2) data recovery

How to identify it

Brand

WD

Model

My Cloud (Gen 2)

Also sold as

My Cloud single-bay 2nd generation, My Cloud P/N WDBCTLxxxxxxx-10, My Cloud firmware 2.x, WD My Cloud Personal Cloud Storage

Released

2015

Type

1-bay desktop NAS

Drive bays

1

Drives

Single internal SATA hard drive in a sealed enclosure (not a user-accessible bay)

Operating system

My Cloud OS 3 (firmware 2.x), upgradable to My Cloud OS 5

File systems

ext4

RAID modes

Single disk

Connection

1 x 1GbE

Capacities sold

2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB, 8TB

The model name is printed on the front of the unit or on the label on its back or underside.

Recovery methods for this NAS

• Deleted files or a reset volumeLogical recovery from drives that still work
  Yes

  We image the drives, then search the ext4 volume for deleted files and for the volume as it was before a reset. Stop using the unit straight away: new writes overwrite deleted data.

• Failed drivesDrives that click, don't spin or have bad sectors
  Yes

  Each failed drive is imaged on its own. Hard drives that have to be opened go into our clean room, with donor parts matched to the exact drive.

• RAID reconstructionRebuilding an array from its member drives
  Not needed

  This unit holds one drive, so there is no array to rebuild.

• Dead unit, healthy drivesThe NAS itself won't power on or start
  Yes

  Your files are on the drives, not in the unit. If the NAS has died, we read the volume straight from the drives without it.

• Encrypted volumes and foldersEncryption you switched on in the NAS settings
  Needs your key

  If you turned on volume or shared-folder encryption, we need the password or the exported key. Without it the data can't be decrypted, by us or anyone else.

About this model

• The single internal drive holds separate system, swap and data partitions, and the data partition is ext4, so user data can normally be read from an image of the drive without the WD firmware.
• Sold with drives fitted (2TB, 3TB, 4TB, 6TB and 8TB).

What recovery costs

With one drive, the WD My Cloud (Gen 2) is priced like a single hard drive: £150 – £350 for deleted files or a damaged volume, £250 – £450 for a drive fault, and £480 – £750 if the drive has to be opened in the clean room. All prices are plus VAT. Inspection is free, and you get a fixed quote before any work starts.

Other WD My Cloud models

• WD My Cloud Mirror Gen 2

More about NAS and RAID data recovery