Recovering data from an inaccessible server HDD - SOLVED!!

[NorthernEnd]

Hey guys,

I have a server (Synology Diskstation DS112J - an NAS) that I can't access via my network, and I'm wondering if there's any way I can back up the data on the HDD before I do a reset. When I plug the HDD into a computer, it isn't recognized because it has the server OS/firmware installed. Is there any other way I can access the data and/or back it up from the HDD?

Thanks.

 

[NorthernEnd]

For anyone with a similar problem, or anyone who needs to recover files from an inaccessible NAS hard drive, this is the solution and utility that I used:
Ext2read
http://ext2read.blogspot.dk/2010/04/ext ... 2-and.html

This utility makes it possible for your regular Windows PC to read an NAS hard drive (can't read it normally because it's set up for RAID, I think? Please correct me if I'm wrong.)

- Connect the NAS hard drive directly to the PC, as you would with any hard drive.
- Download Ext2read and run the application as administrator
- The NAS hard drive should be visible within Ext2read, so open it and all files will be visible
- click on the files you want and go down to "save"
- You are given the choice of where you want to save these files, so you can simply copy them onto your main PC hard drive, and voila! Everything is backed up and you don't have to worry about the HDD being formatted when you do a server reset.

Best of luck!

 

[popatim]

Ext2 is a common linux file system that, unfortunately Windows cannot read natively. There are several such programs available to read ext2 drives thru windows but just about any linux boot disk would have been able to read the drive also.
Glad you got it sorted out and sorry I didnt see this yesterday.