No power, open the case, recover data? - WD NetCenter external hard drive
External Hard Drive with Ethernet
Western Digital NetCenter WD2500B019
(mine distinctly says WD2500P019 on it, but must be a misprint?)
The power will not come on. I know the power supply and cord are good because the Ethernet port lights up when it's plugged in. The power button never lights up and the hard drive doesn't spin up or make any noise. I have briefly pressed the reset button on the rear of the unit while unplugged to no avail.
I need solutions on why the power won't come on, instructions for opening the case, and help recovering the data. I know it runs some kind of Linux variant and can't be dropped into a Windows box.
Western Digital specifications:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1359&p_created=1116429000
Pics here (translated from Russian) showing the case open:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ixbt.com%2Fstorage%2Fasus-wl700ge-p2.shtml&langpair=ru%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Thanks,
Dan
Western Digital NetCenter WD2500B019
(mine distinctly says WD2500P019 on it, but must be a misprint?)
The power will not come on. I know the power supply and cord are good because the Ethernet port lights up when it's plugged in. The power button never lights up and the hard drive doesn't spin up or make any noise. I have briefly pressed the reset button on the rear of the unit while unplugged to no avail.
I need solutions on why the power won't come on, instructions for opening the case, and help recovering the data. I know it runs some kind of Linux variant and can't be dropped into a Windows box.
Western Digital specifications:
http://wdc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/wdc.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=1359&p_created=1116429000
Pics here (translated from Russian) showing the case open:
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ixbt.com%2Fstorage%2Fasus-wl700ge-p2.shtml&langpair=ru%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8
Thanks,
Dan
You can try connecting it to your xp machince and use a linux filesytem driver.
ASKER
I can't connect it to my XP machine. The drive doesn't power up. And I can't open the case to remove the drive. That's what I need help with.
By the way... my posted link to the pics takes you to the wrong page.
The correct link is here:
http://72.14.203.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=ru%7Cen&u=http://www.ixbt.com/storage/wd-netcenter250.shtml
By the way... my posted link to the pics takes you to the wrong page.
The correct link is here:
http://72.14.203.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=ru%7Cen&u=http://www.ixbt.com/storage/wd-netcenter250.shtml
You can take your hard drive out of the case. all there is inside is a standard off the shelf hard drive, a small circuit board and a power supply. All you need to do is take the cover off, disconnect the cables to the circuit board and your all done. You should be able to piggy back it to your hard drive in your desktop. I believe the internal hard drive is an sata drive so make sure that your desktop has connectors. If not you can buy one of these from radio shack for about $30.
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2661875&cp=&sr=1&origkw=hard+drive&kw=hard+drive&parentPage=search
It's basically a hard drive enclosure case with all the possible connection types so that you can take any type of hard drive not matter what kind of connectors and put it in this enclosure and hook it up to your computer via USB port. Great for using any old hard drive and turning it into a external hard drive. I have one and I love it!
http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2661875&cp=&sr=1&origkw=hard+drive&kw=hard+drive&parentPage=search
It's basically a hard drive enclosure case with all the possible connection types so that you can take any type of hard drive not matter what kind of connectors and put it in this enclosure and hook it up to your computer via USB port. Great for using any old hard drive and turning it into a external hard drive. I have one and I love it!
ASKER
Thanks guys!
How do I open the case? There are no accessible screws. The silver plastic sides that curve around to the back seem to be the first pieces to remove but I can't seem to move them. I have tried to pry them off, but it seems like the plastic is going to break. The part that curves around to the back lifts up a tiny bit, but I can't figure out how to get the sides off.
How do I open the case? There are no accessible screws. The silver plastic sides that curve around to the back seem to be the first pieces to remove but I can't seem to move them. I have tried to pry them off, but it seems like the plastic is going to break. The part that curves around to the back lifts up a tiny bit, but I can't figure out how to get the sides off.
NO! This drive has an O.S. on it, connecting it to a windows machine will make it a windows drive, not a NAS drive, which is what it is now. hold for next post...
ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION
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ASKER
Thanks Mr. Limo. Unfortunately, the screws seem to be under the silver plastic sides (as far as I can tell from the pics on the link in my 2nd post). I can't figure out how to remove the plastic sides. I have removed the "feet" and they just snap on - no screws revealed...
ASKER
brett,
You have opened one of these. How did you get the silver plastic sides off? Did you have to break them to do it?
You have opened one of these. How did you get the silver plastic sides off? Did you have to break them to do it?
ASKER
I guess I will try to break the case open, as the data is more important than the case. I will post any discoveries...
ASKER
Okay... so now after breaking off one side of the case, I can post instructions on how to open the case without breaking it:
Simply put, the 2 side panels each slide towards the back of the drive enclosure and then lift off.
It's a little more complicated because it takes quite a bit of force to do it. There are 12 tabs under each side panel (6 on top and 6 on bottom), so there is a lot of friction to overcome. The other issue is that there is only a tight gap at the front of the side plate to wedge anything into in order to push the side panel backwards. I ended up using a large knife, putting it's length across the 1 inch crack, wiggling it into the crack and then just pulling the knife sideways towards me. Slide the side panel back about 1 or 2 centimeters and then it just lifts off (or falls off in my case). Be careful using a knife.
Under the side panel is a large sticker that says "Warranty void if removed". This refers to opening the case further, which seems simple enough once the side panels are off.
I hope this helps someone in the future from having to break their drive enclosure.
Now to recover the data...
Simply put, the 2 side panels each slide towards the back of the drive enclosure and then lift off.
It's a little more complicated because it takes quite a bit of force to do it. There are 12 tabs under each side panel (6 on top and 6 on bottom), so there is a lot of friction to overcome. The other issue is that there is only a tight gap at the front of the side plate to wedge anything into in order to push the side panel backwards. I ended up using a large knife, putting it's length across the 1 inch crack, wiggling it into the crack and then just pulling the knife sideways towards me. Slide the side panel back about 1 or 2 centimeters and then it just lifts off (or falls off in my case). Be careful using a knife.
Under the side panel is a large sticker that says "Warranty void if removed". This refers to opening the case further, which seems simple enough once the side panels are off.
I hope this helps someone in the future from having to break their drive enclosure.
Now to recover the data...
ASKER
Okay, I thought I should post the next steps:
Step 2: The silver plastic front cover is snapped straight into place with 8 plastic retaining clips. The front cover must simply be pried off by pulling it straight away from the case with some force. I managed to do this and only bent one of the 8 plastic clips. However, I didn't pull it straight and instead pulled off the bottom of the front cover and lifted up, thus bending the plastic clip at the top.
The next step: The internal gray case.: There are 3 clips along the top and bottom of the case and 2 at the front. However, all of these clips are visible and the case can easily be pried apart revealing the drive and innards.
Step 2: The silver plastic front cover is snapped straight into place with 8 plastic retaining clips. The front cover must simply be pried off by pulling it straight away from the case with some force. I managed to do this and only bent one of the 8 plastic clips. However, I didn't pull it straight and instead pulled off the bottom of the front cover and lifted up, thus bending the plastic clip at the top.
The next step: The internal gray case.: There are 3 clips along the top and bottom of the case and 2 at the front. However, all of these clips are visible and the case can easily be pried apart revealing the drive and innards.
ASKER
I connected power to drive and it powered up.
I connected drive to windows via USB. It recognized that a drive was connected but I couldn't read it.
I installed EXT2 IFS which allows a Windows PC to read Linux EXT2 partitions. This did not give me access to the drive.
At this point, I told the client that they would need to purchase another NetCenter and put this drive into it, or get a professional data recovery company. They said they knew someone in the data recovery business and would try that.
Perhaps I could have tried booting a Linux CD, but I don't know what format the NetCenter uses. Perhaps it is proprietary. I am sure if I had another NetCenter drive and put this drive in that case, it would have worked. I don't think the problem was with the drive, but with the enclosure and related circuitry.
Thanks, all, for you help.
Dan
I connected drive to windows via USB. It recognized that a drive was connected but I couldn't read it.
I installed EXT2 IFS which allows a Windows PC to read Linux EXT2 partitions. This did not give me access to the drive.
At this point, I told the client that they would need to purchase another NetCenter and put this drive into it, or get a professional data recovery company. They said they knew someone in the data recovery business and would try that.
Perhaps I could have tried booting a Linux CD, but I don't know what format the NetCenter uses. Perhaps it is proprietary. I am sure if I had another NetCenter drive and put this drive in that case, it would have worked. I don't think the problem was with the drive, but with the enclosure and related circuitry.
Thanks, all, for you help.
Dan