That depends on what your "data directory" is. If it is, as recommended, an additional partition you mounted into the file system you should be fine as long as you take the necessary precautions. See https://openwrt.org/toh/wd/mybooklive#upgrading
If you, against all recommendations, enlarged the rootfs partition then ... no.
Thank you for your prompt reply 
"Data" directory is within /dev/sda3 partition
Will it survive sysupgrade from 18.04 EXT4 to 19.07 SQUASHFS?
root@MBL:~# fdisk -l /dev/sda
Disk /dev/sda: 1.8 TiB, 2000398934016 bytes, 3907029168 sectors
Units: sectors of 1 * 512 = 512 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 4096 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 4096 bytes / 4096 bytes
Disklabel type: dos
Disk identifier: 0x5452574f
Device Boot Start End Sectors Size Id Type
/dev/sda1 * 8192 24575 16384 8M 83 Linux
/dev/sda2 32768 557055 524288 256M 83 Linux
/dev/sda3 557056 3907029167 3906472112 1.8T 83 Linux
root@MBL:~# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 252.0M 20.1M 226.8M 8% /
tmpfs 124.1M 1.2M 122.9M 1% /tmp
/dev/sda1 8.0M 3.1M 4.5M 40% /boot
tmpfs 512.0K 0 512.0K 0% /dev
/dev/sda3 1.8T 1.1T 584.0G 66% /mnt/Data
SUCCESS!
I have just upgraded 18.04 EXT4 to 19.07 SQUASHFS. The system survived!
The current filesystem structure is:
root@MBL:~# df -h
Filesystem Size Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/root 2.8M 2.8M 0 100% /rom
tmpfs 123.9M 656.0K 123.2M 1% /tmp
/dev/loop0 251.4M 18.9M 162.5M 10% /overlay
overlayfs:/overlay 251.4M 18.9M 162.5M 10% /
/dev/sda1 8.0M 3.2M 4.3M 43% /boot
tmpfs 512.0K 0 512.0K 0% /dev
/dev/sda3 1.8T 1.1T 584.0G 66% /mnt/Data
Hooray, and ... interesting. So the default rootfs is still 256 MB in 19.07. I guess the change that reduces it to 128 MB (and then makes it necessary to recreate additional partitions) did not make it into 19.07, only into snapshots.
So, how do I get it to shutdown instead of reboot?
I've ran Gdisk and entered 1 (MBR) after the initial flash and when I run 'halt' or 'poweroff' the hard drive spins down and the LED turns blue, then starts up again.
I printed this output before I took off the WD stock image.
MyBookLive:/sbin# parted -l
Model: ATA WDC WD30EFRX-68A (scsi)
Disk /dev/sda: 3001GB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: gpt
Number Start End Size File system Name Flags
3 15.7MB 528MB 513MB linux-swap(v1) primary
1 528MB 2576MB 2048MB ext3 primary raid
2 2576MB 4624MB 2048MB ext3 primary raid
4 4624MB 3001GB 2996GB ext4 primary
Model: Unknown (unknown)
Disk /dev/md1: 2048MB
Sector size (logical/physical): 512B/512B
Partition Table: loop
Number Start End Size File system Flags
1 0.00B 2048MB 2048MB ext3
MyBookLive:/sbin# cat /proc/mdstat
Personalities : [linear] [raid0] [raid1] [raid10] [raid6] [raid5] [raid4]
md1 : active raid1 sda2[1] sda1[0]
1999808 blocks [2/2] [UU]
See the There was a solution-of-sorts in an older thread on exactly this issue [edit] that is no longer working, see below.
What are you trying to do with that? The stock image (a heavily customized Debian) is massively outdated and comes with a completely different partition setup.
Okay. Can you please help me get this image on my My Book Live? I tried for the past few days with no luck and got so frustrated that I put the stock image back on. Besides of more security updates, what advantages does this image have compared to the stock image? I'd be more than happy to put an old LEDE/OpenWRT image and call it a day.
The softoff is no longer supported/working due to changes in upgrade process. From the hardware point of view there never was any way to switch is off, the best it can do is to lock the CPU in a endless loop for eternity.
The most sensible thing would be to interface with the upstream linux powerpc+watchdog folks and come up with a solution that will service the watchdog in that particular loop.
Sure, but what exactly does not work for you? Since you talk about "putting the stock image back on", that is exactly how you put on the OpenWrt image in the first place: connect disk to a PC, dd the image to the disk, re-insert into enclosure, it should boot. It's all laid out in the OpenWrt wiki page, too. The process still works like that, even with latest snapshots.
You shrug this off very quickly, but the stock image based on 2012 Debian "Lenny" has some serious security issues and will not receive updates anymore. The most basic function -- serving files via SMB -- is insecure even in the last update.
Besides, obviously, the vastly larger selection of software and filesystems you can run on it, that you can just leave off services you don't want, include services you do, and exactly like you want them to? I would say one of the biggest advantages is the standard block size for the disk. You might have noticed that if an original MBL system goes belly-up you can't just connect its disk to any other computer -- it won't be able to read it. With OpenWrt, you can just pop it into another PC or connect it via an USB adapter and done, there's your data.
The MBL's original firmware is outdated and restricted on every possible level. Sure, you can still run it, but if given the choice ... why would you?
Personally, I do want to try this image on the MBL. I do have it powered up a lot when I'm not around, so just in case something gets by the router, the extra security would be handy.
Also, I am having an issue with the performance. When I copy a large batch of files that contain lots of small files, the NAS slows right down and becomes unresponsive. No clue if it's the hardware or the 'bloatware' on the WD image. Would that issue be a thing of the past if I put this image back on?
Lastly, sorry for the n00b question but how can I enable a swap partition and put the data partition back on?
As for the power off thing, I did see that 'soft off' script.
I was just getting very frustrated at that time that every time I change a setting that I was unable to access the My Book Live until I ran dd to put the image back on. (I'll be honest. I have no idea what I am doing).
I too noticed that with the stock firmware, and I have no explanation for it. Generally speaking, SMB transfers on the MBL using OpenWrt are a bit slower than the stock firmware (I achieve around 35 MB/s with cifsd, with samba3 it was around 23 MB/s), but I don't see any strange slowdowns.
First of all, I never saw a reason for doing this. OpenWrt works just fine without it on the 256 MB of RAM, at least if you only use it for file transfers (my MBL usually hovers around 50% of those 256 MB used). But of course you can just create a swap partition and mount it if you intend to run some heavy hitting software.
I don't fully understand that question. OpenWrt by default doesn't come with a "data partition" you could put "back on", only with two small default partitions to boot and to contain the rootfs (and you should leave those partitions alone). You then create additional partitions as you see fit, most probably at least one partition containing your data, and mount it into your file system.
That sounds like you tried to configure networking and broke it, or made it otherwise inaccessible. Frankly, that's not OpenWrt's fault. It will allow you to do almost anything, but it will not care if what you're trying to do is wrong. It will not hold your hand and tell you what to do.
I'll be equally honest: OpenWrt is not a write-it-to-disk-and-run-it affair. After writing OpenWrt to disk you will still have only a very bare-bones system. You will need a bit of knowledge about partitioning and formatting drives, installing and configuring a SMB client (samba36 or, my preferred one in snapshots, cifsd), using some sort of idle timeout on your hard disk, and ... configuring OpenWrt in general.
I've installed with OpenWrt 19.07 om WD MyBook Live.
I've forgot the root password.
Is there a way to reset it ?
I've tried to enter in safeboot mode pressing reset button when led starts blinking green but it seems it doesn't detect it.
I've also tried to connect via telnet or ssh to 192.168.1.1 during boot phase but without success.
I hope that someone can help me
@Ricky65, welcome to the community!
Did you revive a year-old thread to ask for help with a device?
I think you'll get more readers (and hence possibly more assistance) by creating an on-topic thread - clearly describing your issue.
(The only relation to your issue seems to be the title/device model.)
Thank you for your answer but the point is how to put My Book Live in Fail Safe mode. I've tried to push reset button before it boots but it ignores and continues normal boot.
I've also tried to ping for IP 192.168.1.1 at boot and telnet or ssh when it answers but without success.
After one ping response it continues normal boot.
Thank you Takimata, I'll try to press the key at step 3.
If it starts blinking fast I should do execute ssh root@192.168.1.1 from a pc connected to WDL and access to failsafe mode shell ? Correct ?
Hi Takimata, I tried many times but without success. There's no reaction to the button during the boot phase.
I see 5 colors steps:
I've pushed many times the button when the led is blinking green ( step 3 ) but it continues normal boot
Where's the mistake ?
Welp. I am actually not sure if I am misremembering things and it never worked, or if it worked at some point and now it doesn't anymore. I just got out my MBL test system and you are right, it doesn't react to button presses during bootup, it's not possible to get into failsafe this way.
Honestly, I am not sure what to do at this point. Personally I would probably remove the drive from the case, connect it to a different system, back up the data and start over. Depending on how you partitioned the drive after installing OpenWrt, you might, after re-writing Openwrt, just be able to re-insert the data partitions into the partition table (if you made them in the first place.) Or you might even be able to edit /etc/shadow in the rootfs partition to replace the root password hash with one for which you know the actual password.
(For the record, it's also possible to access the system using the serial port, but that's even more involved, what with soldering and a serial connection.)
Thank you Takimata.
I've solved removing HD from box and connecting to an externa USB -> SATA adapter.
I've mounted the disk on a linux PC and I've cleared the root password in /etc/shadow
Reconnected the WD board and the WDL have corrected booted asking to set a password for root user as happens on first boot.
Thank you for your support.
This topic was automatically closed 10 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.