Unbricking MBL without UI or SSH enabled - THE guide

[skullmonkey]

Hello, after 3 days of research and gathering info I finally got my MBL (1TB) Live live again.

Many thanks @Myron who give me the crucial link to this workthrought.

Enormous thanks to Hacking WD MyBook World Ed for the scripts.

FIRST THINGS FIRST - THE PREPARATION

i) You will need to get your WD Green HDD OUT of the MBL box. This will void your warranty!!!

You can see how here (http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/forum/t-337415/change-hdd-in-mbl) and video here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_2oMyoTBno).

ii) You will need Linux. None of this can happened under Windows. And when I say Linux, I don't mean on Live CD or Bootable Linux USB, but Linux installed on your machine.

iii) I'm not sure if you loose all the data on it. I had some movies so I didn't care much.

THE STEPS

1. Download the Ubuntu Live ISO and burn it on CD or make bootable USB from it.

You have it here with the instructions.

2. INSTALL the Ubuntu as standalone OS on some partition or another hard drive you have (Lucky me I had spare 80gb hdd).

When you choose username or label for the partition D O   N O T   U S E   E M P T Y   S P A C E S!

If you have empty spaces in your path the script will not work.

3. Boot in ubuntu and press CTRL+ALT+T to get the terminal window.

 3.1. Type - gedit unbrick.sh (this will open new file called unbrick.sh)

 3.2. Get the script from this site (http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/forum/t-368098/debricking-script-that-can-keep-data) and copy it in our new file;

 3.3. Save the file

 3.4. Type chmod 777 unbrick.sh to make the script file executable;

(Sometimes the path can be wrong. Play around with it. To see the correct path, drag/drop the file to Terminal window. I know NOTHING about Linux and I figure it out by trying.)

4. Go to Ubuntu Online Store or how it is called and download/install this programs: mdadm and curl. THEY ARE MUST so the script can work.

5. Download the latest firmware from WD. (http://wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdfmb_live)

5.1. Extract the rootfs.img file from the .dmg file you downloaded and place it in HOME folder.

(all files we are working MUST BE/ARE in the HOME folder)

THE POINT OF NO RETURN

6. Type this in terminal window

sudo bash /home/YOURUSERNAME/unbrick.sh /dev/sdc /dev/home/YOURUSERNAME/rootfs.img

* /dev/sdc - You will need to find what latter is your MBL conected to. 

6.1. Open explorer (or how its called for Ubuntu were the hdds are) from taskbar.

6.2. Click on the partition that you got from MBL and see the error. You will see somewhere in the text that /dev/sdc or /dev/sdb or /dev/sdd. That is what you need to change in the executable path.

7. When you typed everything right, the script will ask you if that is your hard. We are looking for hard with 4/5 partitions. Click Y and enter.

8. Just click YES.

If everything goes right you will get congratulation message with no errors.

Then, take the MBL off SATA port and put it on the MBL motherboard. Connect id to your network and wallah, you got your MB Live live again.

I went to the UI and even that the update was the last version the date was wrong so I reupdated it again using the official interface. Then factory reset.

I heared of UI running slow but there is a fix for that. Follow this (http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Book-Live/GREEN-Light-and-VERY-slow-to-log-into-UI/td-p/386775) and see if it works for you.

SCREWUPS

a) If you have empty spaces in your path/username sudo bash /home/YOU RUSER NAME/unbrick.sh /dev/sdc /dev/home/YOUR USER NAME/rootfs.img this will not work.

b) If you got path error, try playing arround with your folderspath, drag the scropt or the img file to terminal so you can find it out.

c) If you dont install the Linux as regular OS, you will get error that You dont have enough space on the harddrive to unpack the img file.

Good luck,

skullmonkey

ps: Sorry for misspells, English is not my native

[ikeyaro]

Wow!! This helped me a bit to understand whats happening to MBL, I lost hope at fixing it... if WD were this detailed and created a simple guide I would have fixed MBL long time ago.

Great, thank you and thanks to Myron!

[Myron]

You're welcome.  Thing is, I am just also as many others gethering information from other sources and learning myself.

[Myron]

For some reason I'm getting an unexpected error from W.D. board when clicking the link to the where the recovery script is so I'm gonna put a copy in here too.

Source: http://mybookworld.wikidot.com/forum/t-368098/debricking-script-that-can-keep-data

#!/bin/bash
#
# The purpose of the script is to reinstall the operating system (debrick) on 
# a harddrive that has been extracted from the housing of a WD MyBook Live.
#

#help screen
if  [ $# = 1 -a "$1" = "--help" ]; then
echo "
standard use of script is:
    sudo ./debricker.sh     the script will find out what disk to use, it will not
                            touch the partition tables and therefore perserves data.
                            it will look what the newest version of the firmware is
                            via internet and then search for it in current folder or
                            subfolders. if none is found it will download one.

possible options are:
    /dev/sd?                path to the disk from mybook live. if not given, the script 
                            will figure it out on its own.
    /*/*.img                path to the firmware that will be written to the disk. if 
                            not given, the script will search for and then download it.
    destroy                 script will rewrite the partition table of disk,
                            this will not perserve data, must match /dev/sd?.

example
    sudo ./debricker.sh /dev/sda /firmwares/mine.img destroy
"
exit 1
fi

echo

#check that requirements are fullfilled
if [ "$(id -u)" != "0" ]; then
    echo -e "this script must be run as root.\n"
    exit 1
fi
if ! which mdadm > /dev/null; then
    echo -e "this script requires the mdadm package.\n"
    exit 1
fi

#making sure the mountpoint is available
rootfsMount=/mnt/md0
if [ -e ${rootfsMount} ]; then
    if mountpoint -q ${rootfsMount}; then
        echo "${rootfsMount} needs to be unmounted."
        exit 1;
    fi
fi
test -d "./mnt" || mkdir -p "/mnt"
test -d "$rootfsMount" || mkdir -p "$rootfsMount"

#making sure that there is no raid unit running
rootfsRaid=/dev/md0
if [ -e $rootfsRaid ]; then
    echo -e "\n$rootfsRaid already exists! you need to stop and remove it.\n"
    exit 1;
fi

#standard choices
disk=notset
image_img=notset
destroy=false

#handles the arguments and sets options
for (( arg=1; arg<=${#}; arg++ ))
do
    case ${!arg} in
    /dev/sd?)    disk=${!arg};;
    *.img)        image_img=${!arg};;
    "destroy")    destroy=true;;
    *)             echo "unknown argument: ${!arg}" 
                exit 1
    esac
done

echo "********************** DISK           **********************"
echo

#figure out what disk to use
if [ $disk = "notset" ]; then
    for x in {a..z}
    do
        #avoid a to literal matching in order to avoid incompability.
        if [ -e /dev/sd${x} ];                                then
        diskTest=$(parted --script /dev/sd${x} print)
        if [ ! -e /dev/sd${x}0 -a ! -e /dev/sd${x}5 ];            then
        if [[ $diskTest = *WD??EARS* ]];                        then
        if [[ $diskTest = *??00GB* ]];                            then
        if [[ $diskTest = *3*B*B*5??MB*primary* ]];                then
        if [[ $diskTest = *1*B*B*2???MB*ext3*primary*raid* ]];    then
        if [[ $diskTest = *2*B*B*2???MB*ext3*primary*raid* ]];    then
        if [[ $diskTest = *4*B*B*GB*ext4*primary* ]];            then
            if [ $disk != notset ];                                then
                echo "multiple disk founds, you must enter the path manually:"
                echo "   sudo ./debricker.sh /dev/sd?"
                exit 1;
            fi
            disk=/dev/sd${x}
        fi; fi; fi;    fi;    fi;    fi; fi; fi
    done

    if [ $disk == notset ]; then
        echo "script could not find a matching sd unit connected to system."
        exit 1
    fi
else
    if [ ! -e $disk ]; then
        echo "$disk does not exist."
        exit 1;
    fi
fi

echo -e "script will use the following disk: \n"
parted --script $disk print
read -p "is this REALLY the disk you want? [y] " -n 1
if ! [[ $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
    echo -e "\nuser did not confirm, nothing was done.\n"
    exit 1;
fi
echo

diskRoot1=${disk}1
diskRoot2=${disk}2
diskSwap=${disk}3
diskData=${disk}4

echo
echo "********************** IMAGE          **********************"
echo

#the image was not given as parameter
if [ $image_img = notset ]; then
    #find out what the latest version of firmware is
    if ! which curl > /dev/null; then
        echo -e "\nthis script requires the curl package, either install it or specify image file.\n"
        exit 1
    fi
    wdc_homepage="http://websupport.wdc.com/firmware/list.asp"
    wdc_latestfirmware=$(curl "${wdc_homepage}?type=AP1NC&fw=01.03.03" 2> /dev/null | awk ' {
        if ( match($0, "upgrade file" ) != 0 ) {
            split($0, http, "\"");
            print http[2];
            exit 1;
        }
    }')
    latestversion_simple=$(echo $wdc_latestfirmware | cut -d'-' -f 2)
    latestversion_pattern=$(echo $latestversion_simple | sed 's/../&*/g;s/:$//')
    if [ "$latestversion_simple" == "" -o "$latestversion_pattern" == "" ]; then
        echo -e "\ncould not fetch the latest version!\n"
        exit 1;
    fi
    echo "checking:     ${latestversion_simple}"
    echo "searching:    ./*/*${latestversion_pattern}.img"
    image_img=$(find ./ -type f -name "*${latestversion_pattern}.img" -print; 2>/dev/null)

    #get the latest firmware either from subdirs or internet
    case `echo $image_img | wc -w` in
    0)  echo "searching:    ./*/*${latestversion_pattern}.deb"
        test -d "./firmware" || mkdir -p "./firmware"
        image_deb=$(find ./ -type f -name "*${latestversion_pattern}.deb" -print; 2>/dev/null)
        image_img="./firmware/rootfs_$latestversion_simple.img"
        if ! [ `echo $image_deb | wc -w` == 1 ]; then
            image_deb="./firmware/rootfs_$latestversion_simple.deb"
            echo
            echo "downloading:  $image_deb"
            read -p "confirm [y]:  " -n 1
            if ! [[ $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
                exit 1
            fi
            echo
            curl $wdc_latestfirmware > $image_deb
            if [ $? != 0 ]; then
                echo -e "\ndownloading encountered problems.\n"
                exit 1;
            fi
        fi
        echo
        echo    "will extract: $image_deb"
        read -p "confirm [y]:  " -n 1
        echo
        if ! [[ $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
            exit 1
        fi
        echo "extracting:   ./firmware/rootfs_${latestversion_simple}.img"
        ar p $image_deb data.tar.lzma | unlzma | tar -x -C ./firmware
        if [ $? != 0 ]; then
            echo -e "\nextraction encountered problems.\n"
            exit 1;
        fi
        mv ./firmware/CacheVolume/upgrade/rootfs.img ./firmware/rootfs_${latestversion_simple}.img
        rm -rf ./firmware/CacheVolume;;
    1)  echo "found:        $image_img";;
    *)  echo -e "\nmultiple image_img files was found."
        exit 1
    esac
else
    if [ ! -e $image_img ]; then
        echo "$image_img does not exist."
        exit 1;
    fi
fi

#construct the swap program
echo "\
#include <unistd.h>
#include <stdlib.h>
#include <fcntl.h>
#include <stdio.h>
#include <sys/mount.h>

#define MD_RESERVED_BYTES      (64 * 1024)
#define MD_RESERVED_SECTORS    (MD_RESERVED_BYTES / 512)

#define MD_NEW_SIZE_SECTORS(x) ((x & ~(MD_RESERVED_SECTORS - 1)) - MD_RESERVED_SECTORS)

main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
    int fd, i;
    unsigned long size;
    unsigned long long offset;
    char super[4096];
    if (argc != 2) {
        fprintf(stderr, \"Usage: swap_super device\\n\");
        exit(1);
    }
    fd = open(argv[1], O_RDWR);
    if (fd<0) {
        perror(argv[1]);
        exit(1);
    }
    if (ioctl(fd, BLKGETSIZE, &size)) {
        perror(\"BLKGETSIZE\");
        exit(1);
    }
    offset = MD_NEW_SIZE_SECTORS(size) * 512LL;
    if (lseek64(fd, offset, 0) < 0LL) {
        perror(\"lseek64\");
        exit(1);
    }
    if (read(fd, super, 4096) != 4096) {
        perror(\"read\");
        exit(1);
    }

    for (i=0; i < 4096 ; i+=4) {
        char t = super[i];
        super[i] = super[i+3];
        super[i+3] = t;
        t=super[i+1];
        super[i+1]=super[i+2];
        super[i+2]=t;
    }
    /* swap the u64 events counters */
    for (i=0; i<4; i++) {
        /* events_hi and events_lo */
        char t=super[32*4+7*4 +i];
        super[32*4+7*4 +i] = super[32*4+8*4 +i];
        super[32*4+8*4 +i] = t;

        /* cp_events_hi and cp_events_lo */
        t=super[32*4+9*4 +i];
        super[32*4+9*4 +i] = super[32*4+10*4 +i];
        super[32*4+10*4 +i] = t;
    }

    if (lseek64(fd, offset, 0) < 0LL) {
        perror(\"lseek64\");
        exit(1);
    }
    if (write(fd, super, 4096) != 4096) {
        perror(\"write\");
        exit(1);
    }
    exit(0);

}" >./swap.c

gcc swap.c -o swap
rm swap.c

echo
echo "********************** IMPLEMENTATION **********************"

echo -e "
everything is now prepared!
device:       $disk
image_img:    $image_img
destroy:      $destroy\n"

read -p "this is the point of no return, continue? [y] " -n 1
echo
if ! [[ $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
    exit 1;
fi
echo

#rewrite the partition table
if [ $destroy = true ]; then
    backgroundPattern="${backgroundPattern:-0}"

    dd if=/dev/zero of=$diskRoot1 bs=1M count=32
    dd if=/dev/zero of=$diskRoot2 bs=1M count=32
    dd if=/dev/zero of=$diskSwap bs=1M count=32
    dd if=/dev/zero of=$diskData bs=1M count=32
    badblocks -swf -b 1048576 -t ${backgroundPattern} ${disk} 16 0

    sync
    sleep 2

    parted $disk --align optimal <<EOP
mklabel gpt
mkpart primary 528M  2576M
mkpart primary 2576M 4624M
mkpart primary 16M 528M
mkpart primary 4624M -1M
set 1 raid on
set 2 raid on
quit
EOP

    sync
    sleep 1

    #blocksize 65536 is required by the hardware, you won't be able to mount if different.
    mkfs.ext4 -b 65536 -m 0 $diskData

    echo
    read -p "destroying was done, would you like to continue with installation? [y] " -n 1
    echo -e
    if ! [[ $REPLY =~ ^[Yy]$ ]]; then
        exit 1;
    fi
fi

#write the image to the raid disk
echo
sync
mdadm --create $rootfsRaid --verbose --metadata=0.9 --raid-devices=2 --level=raid1 --run $diskRoot1 missing
mdadm --wait $rootfsRaid
sync
sleep 2
mkfs.ext3 -c -b 4096 $rootfsRaid
sync
sleep 2

mdadm $rootfsRaid --add --verbose $diskRoot2
echo
echo -n "synchronize raid... "
sleep 2
mdadm --wait $rootfsRaid
sync
echo -e "done\n"
echo "copying image to disk... "
dd if=$image_img of=$rootfsRaid
mount $rootfsRaid $rootfsMount
cp $rootfsMount/usr/local/share/bootmd0.scr $rootfsMount/boot/boot.scr
echo "enabled" > $rootfsMount/etc/nas/service_startup/ssh
sync
sync
sync
umount $rootfsMount
rmdir $rootfsMount
mdadm --stop $rootfsRaid
./swap $diskRoot1
./swap $diskRoot2
rm ./swap

echo
echo "all done! device should be debricked!"
echo

[ikeyaro]

Well done, thanks for putting so much effort into this didnt expected, to be honest. Uber helpful

[Ruustan]

everything went good until it stopped at

********************** IMAGE          **********************

/dev/home/roland/rootfs.img does not exist.

What to do

/Rolle

[skullmonkey]

Play arround with the path, something is wrong with the path for the img file. Demember you need to unpackit from the .dmg file.

[xulinjia]

Hello , Iv done what you said, but I am still getting an error,
root@ubuntu:~# sudo bash /root/unbrick.sh /dev/sda4/dev/root/rootfs.img

********************** DISK           **********************

script could not find a matching sd unit connected to system.
root@ubuntu:~#
type dmesg taht show
open" parent=1 profile="/usr/lib/telepathy/mission-control-5" name="/usr/share/gvfs/remote-volume-monitors/" pid=1927 comm="mission-control" requested_mask="r" denied_mask="r" fsuid=0 ouid=0
[  159.723103] EXT4-fs (sda4): bad block size 65536
[  173.809537] EXT4-fs (sda4): bad block size 65536
[  174.627794] EXT4-fs (sda4): bad block size 65536
[  587.859086] EXT4-fs (sda4): bad block size 65536
[  853.001527] EXT4-fs (sda4): bad block size 65536
Then what i s the promble
thank

[skullmonkey]

This is the syntax:

sudo bash /home/YOURUSERNAME/unbrick.sh /dev/sdc /dev/home/YOURUSERNAME/rootfs.img

In your case, I dont see the drive paths /dev/sdc (in my case)

[Ruustan]

Thanks for answering. I have a question. What do you mean by Type chmod 777 unbrick.sh

 The file i downloaded is apnc-021109-053-20120413(1).deb. Inside there is a folder called data.tar.lzma. Inside that one there is a folder called data, then CacheVolume, then upgrade. Inside that is rootfs.img and rootfs.md5. You said .dmg file. Where is that? /Rolle