Recovering data from a broken WD NAS disk [RAID1]

[justchiara]

Hello,
I have a Western Digital NAS (DL2100) that unfortunately stopped working. It has two 4TB discs (RAID1).
I'd rather not buy a new WD NAS since got no support at all from them, but I need to recover the data that's on the discs. I have a docking station with two SATA slots, but if I connect it to Windows I'm prompted to format the discs and cannot read them.
I read Linux should be able to read them, so I created a bootable USB stick and tried that. I can see the discs but it says they are 1.1GB instead of 4TB and are empty. I'm guessing it has to do with partitions... but I am a little out of my depth here.
I would appreciate any help in reading the files so I can copy them on an empty drive and then format the discs.
Thank you.

 

[justchiara]

PS: I am running Ubuntu 20.04.2.0 LTS

 

[justchiara]

This is the HD info. I tried following a few tutorials to mount the 4TB partition, but with no luck. Tried using "mount" and I get a "only root can do that" message. Tried "udisksctl mount -b /dev/sdc2" and it says "Object /org/freedesktop/Udisk2/block_devices/sdc2 is not a mountable filesystem".

 

[Condobloke]

You do need to proceed carefully here....I would hate to see you lose whatever info is on that HD

Just below and slightly to the left of the 'partition 2' is a small pair of 'gears'.....left click on that.

It will then look like the pic below

Then...click on Edit Mount Options

You will then hopefully see below

If this is NOT what you see ......simply close the window and get out of there.

If this IS what you see, then click on 'User Session Defaults'.....so that it is no longer highlighted.
The text below it will now be no longer greyed out....see pic below

Place a tick in 'Mount at Startup'......DO NOT alter anything else !

Click on ok down the bottom....and reboot.....restart the bootable usb stick

Is the hd mounted now?

 

[justchiara]

Thank you for your reply.
I wasn't able to do any of it because I cannot access "Edit Mount Options" for the partition I need, only for the 1.1GB partition I already see. When the 4TB partition is selected and I click on the gears icon, I only get the first two and last three options: everything in between is greyed-out and unaccessible.

 

[Condobloke]

What does the "User Session Defaults" look like?......is it On or Off ?

 

[justchiara]

It's off on the 1.1GB partition. I can't access that window at all on the 4TB partition.

 

[KGIII]

I only get the first two and last three options: everything in between is greyed-out and unaccessible.

You say you get the last three options? Does that mean you have "Create Partition Image" available?

If so, and if you have space, go ahead and make the partition image. Then, do your work/attempts against that image. This will prevent you from accidentally ruining the existing data.

So, keep following along with @Condobloke, but make the image and work against that.

This is one of the first steps that should be undertaken in any data recovery operation.