Failed WL 700 GE - Need to Access Hard Drive
Read everyone's postings and I see I'm not the only one who's gone through this.
My WL 700ge has gone thru the same problems - blinking blue lights - can't load up etc... read all the threads and had difficulty executing the instructions as I'm Mac/Apple based and can't seem to reinstall the firmware.
I then brought my WHITE BRICK over to the ASUS dealer and they were really helpful - and service exceeded my expectations when they whipped out a new WHITE BRICK and gave it to me... told me that that's what they are supposed to do and that they don't do data recovery on the hard drive.... !!!! I broke a cold sweat as I'd just moved some wedding pictures into the drive as TEMP STORAGE and don't have a back up ...
This is what I have:
1. They have swapped an entire new router and loaned me the hard drive so that I can attempt date recovery...
2. I am attempting to use some data recovery tool on PC to try to recover this - but I'm not sure if I can do it as its taken a full day for the computer to read the drive and extract information.
3. I am sure that there is no FATAL ERROR on the drive and that it's not a mechanical failure.
4. The information on the drive is still intact - when we swapped the drive on the router (at the ASUS service center) and tried to re-boot the router, we managed to access the drive for a while - but after that it just failed to boot up again.
So here is my question:
a. How can I access information on my old ASUS WL 700ge hard drive?
b. Are there options for me to read and retrieve my information without reinstalling the firmware?
Can someone help me and advice me as to how I can recover this data that had been previously stored on my hard drive - there is nothing wrong with the drive - just that the firmware has corrupted and the WHITE BRICK is unable to boot up and allow me to
Would appreciate any help that I can get with this - cause I'm in deep POO POO when my wife finds out that it was my smart idea to store the wedding photos in the hard drive (sigh)
No Linux Experience - I guess I need to get help
I don't have any experience with LINUX- but can I get clarifications if all the directions provided in the forum based on LINUX and not applicable for my machine running on XP?
Where I am With My White Brick's Hardrive
So the saga continues with my ASUS ROUTER.
Let me recap the situation for everyone - in case it might have gotten lost in the thread.
1. Had a ASUS router and was happy to use it as an temp storage drive and started consolidating my information onto router.
2. Did an successful firmware update and could get the white brick to get going again.
3. Sent back to equipment dealer and they were extremely pro-active to swap a new working router for me but couldn't retrieve any information.
4. Have a new router and the old hard drive with my data still on it.
Got a few suggestions:
a. Recovery Tool
Suggested to use: http://www.diskinternals.com/linux-recovery/
To access disk and obtain information. But after 3 days of scanning the drive I got an recovery of the files - but with no file names only numbers - so that's no use at all as it will be "hell" to go thru each and every file to figure out what it is... there's about 80GB of information there.
But at least one consolation - the information is still intact ??? So this brings be back to the same place I started out - a LINUX based hard drive that I don't have access to - or at least access to the information that is not manageable.
b. Access by LINUX
Suggested by CHIMBORAZO to refer to MUMSOFT's post at:
http://wl500g.info/showthread.php?t=10198
Suggestion was to download KNOPPIX from www.knoppix.org and re-write partition so that LINUX based application can view and copy folders.
Have a few questions:
a. Downloaded KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso - but there were 2 other files that I don't know what they are for:
(1)KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.md5.asc (2)KNOPPIX_V5.1.1CD-2007-01-04-EN.iso.sha1.asc
Do I need these files?
b. Instructions from MUMSOFT asks me to backup MBR or first 512 bytes.
Can someone clarify - where does it back up to? I mean it gives specific instructions to type:
"dd if=/dev/sda of=asus-mbr-original bs=512 count=1"
But I am not sure how/and where LINUX back saves this? I am not a familiar LINUX user so am going with the instructions step by step... and exactly as how the instructions spell it...
c. Restoring MBR
MUMSOFT says taht we need to restore MBR in order to get it to work...
- What is an MBR?
- If the MBR doesn't work in the first place - where do you get it? The saved MBR is faulty isn't it? I'm not clear as to this part of the instructions
Thank you for everyone's patience - the thread is a wealth of resource - but sometimes is quite confusing especially for a newbie like me who has limited resource and capabilities when it comes to LINUX.
d. File Names
If I am able to recover and open the hard drive for reading will I see the files with names or will it have numbers like the DISK RECOVERY program..
Many thanks in advance to everyone for help and inputs - I really appreciate it if you could walk me thru these questions.... maybe if some kind soul is willing to help speak with me and clarify these questions thru (skype or messenger) and help me thru this I would appreciate it..
