DSM-G600, DNS-3xx and NSA-220 Hack Forum

Ext2 Help required:

Long story short:
1x 500 GB as drive #1 (in right side) formatted and functioning perfectly with /ffp fully installed & working.
1x 350 GB as drive #2 (additional storage)

Removed both drives, put them in a linux box, copied files to/from each of the drives. Didn't mess with /ffp or partitions. Unmounted cleanly.

Put 500 GB (#1) back in right side.
Put new 500 GB as drive #2 (left side).

Dlink HTTP interface detects a new drive and asks to format.
Answer: yes.
Dlink asks to reboot after format.
Answer: yes.

DNS323 comes back up.
(Noting this time that SSH is closed)
Dlink HTTP interface detects new drive (WTF?), asks to format.
Answer: Skip (aka No!).
Using Dlink interface, shut down DNS323.

Put both drives back in Linux box.
Both drives appear to be properly "partitioned" (HD_x2, HD_x4), but they're of "Unknown" format, and I can't directly mount them as Ext2 or Ext3 partitions.
I even tried to "-f" force the mount. There's nothing there.
I even tried to change the partition type to "ext2", but still can't mount (superblock error given).

I considered maybe I put the drives in backwards (swapped left and right). That still wouldn't explain my current condition: i.e. two drives, neither one having working/readable partitions.

I suspect, hope, prey, that the data might still be on drive #1.
But no programs I could find (Windows and Linux searching on google for Ext2 helpers) actually find anything more on these drives than picture (.gif, .tiff, etc) on these drives.

Any last minute thoughts/ideas/known good programs to try and recover data from drive #1?