CPU Going Nuts

[Aziel]

Started up my laptop today, after shutting it off to eat, trusting that my previous installation went without a hitch. Windows started up, booted all my backround programs, but still sounded suspiciously like it was still overworking. opened my task manager to find my CPU using 100% of its power constantly. checked processes and found that it was the smartware app causing 98% of the ussage. I ended the process, and am hoping nothing was damaged. My HD was unconnected through out this whole thing. Is there anything i can do, or am i doomed to this happening over and over until i uninstall? and if it has something to do with the smartware, how do i disable it on my HD as well? I'm willing to just use it as an External storage without backup ability, i just dont want to lose my data.

[Aziel]

Managed to disable the VCD and turn my External into a  regular storage device with the help of 2 posts, 2 drivers on the WD sit, and a Smartware uninstall. No matter what i did seemed to eat up my CPU. Sigh, guess my Vista didnt like the program. to anyone else who is uninstalling VCD/Smartware and hasn't seen the appropriate post, dont forget to copy over the drivers from the extra folder before the uninstall, or you will have to install all over again to get them. Good luck everyone.

[HankJ]

Good for you. I have had the same problem with excessive CPU and I/O usage for hours on end. I was about to disable the VCD when suddenly the drive became unusable due to a Corrupt file or directory. WD couldn't find a solution so I have a new paper weight on my desk.

Good bye WD (forever)

[OZZLAND]

Yep,

using 22% CPU on a top Notch Quad ( Intel Core i7 960 3.2GHz (Bloomfield))  processor. This thing is fast......But ithe WD actually has slown the entire system down a lot more than what 22% useage would normally do.. browsing the web, wokring on other programmes is incredibly slow. I have a  very fast machine, that is until I plug this thing  in.

Great job WD!

[ac603]

Aziel,

The SmartWare Backup program really slowed down my machine too. I even tried to unplug the external drive to see if disconnecting it would speed things up.  I have the 2TB My Book Essential.

SmartWare  (ie WDSmartWare.exe) still runs on your PC and it takes from 10 to 32% of my CPU time, even when I 'exit' the program and the external drive was unplugged/off.  It seems that WDSmartware is still running something in the background and you can't stop it. SmartWare can take up to 75% of my CPU time so that I am waiting up to 20 minutes from logon before I can use my PC.  Even when you disconnect everything, it still takes 8 minutes for all my other programs to load.  I therefore removed the WDSmartware program (use Add/Remove Programs) completely and now it takes 3 minutes for my usual programs to load. 

It seems obvious that there are 4 SmartWare programs running which take up a lot of your CPU time

WDDMStatus

WDSmartwareBackgroundService  18-25% CPU time

WDSmartWare.exe   50-75% CPU time

WDDMService

I read a post somewhere that suggests using the WD External Drive but with a free backup software called Macrium. If anyone else reads this, is there a better free backup software that should we should all use? There seems to be a lot of them available.

I don't plan on using the WD SmartWare software until WD fixes this problem with a better version of backup software.

[Electro]

What do you mean by "extra" folders ....... I might have to do this myself unless I can figure out a better way of getting Smartwear to work properly........Les

[Bill_S]

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ac603 wrote:

Aziel,

The SmartWare Backup program really slowed down my machine too. I even tried to unplug the external drive to see if disconnecting it would speed things up.  I have the 2TB My Book Essential.

SmartWare  (ie WDSmartWare.exe) still runs on your PC and it takes from 10 to 32% of my CPU time, even when I 'exit' the program and the external drive was unplugged/off.  It seems that WDSmartware is still running something in the background and you can't stop it. SmartWare can take up to 75% of my CPU time so that I am waiting up to 20 minutes from logon before I can use my PC.  Even when you disconnect everything, it still takes 8 minutes for all my other programs to load.  I therefore removed the WDSmartware program (use Add/Remove Programs) completely and now it takes 3 minutes for my usual programs to load. 

It seems obvious that there are 4 SmartWare programs running which take up a lot of your CPU time

WDDMStatus

WDSmartwareBackgroundService  18-25% CPU time

WDSmartWare.exe   50-75% CPU time

WDDMService

I read a post somewhere that suggests using the WD External Drive but with a free backup software called Macrium. If anyone else reads this, is there a better free backup software that should we should all use? There seems to be a lot of them available.

I don't plan on using the WD SmartWare software until WD fixes this problem with a better version of backup software.

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We've just released an updated version of SmartWare that you can try if you want.  However, if you're using Windows, it has a backup utility already in it.