Software Update - WD SmartWare Version 1.6.0 for Windows (5/9/12)

[Bill_S]

• WD is happy to announce the release of WD SmartWare Version 1.6.0 for all SmartWare drives.

You may post your experiences in this thread.

[higginsme]

Installed WD Smartware 1.6.0 for "My Book Essential" 1TB.  Works fine so far with Firmware 1.016.  Tried to set backup speed, but the option is not available on settings TAB, Drive Settings selection.  The options seems to have been dropped in the release - yet no mention of this in the relase notes???

WD - any comments?

[Bill_S]

If they had to do any work to the backup engine, in order to fix the resource issue, it may have necessitated removing that feature.  I don't know why it wasn't in the release notes, other than that it wasn't a fix.  And, usually, only fixes get noted in the release notes.

[PsychoZ]

Yes, there are fewer options. I also noticed that the process WDFME.exe is missing and not running. However, reservation is successful. Maybe developers just removed this annoying process?

[francisrf]

Just updated to version 1.6.0 and tabs 'Backup' and 'Retrieve' are disabled.

Is it supposed to be like that? Is the automatic backup still working?

[francisrf]

Oops, solved.

Just clicked (by accident) on the icon "My Passport Essential" at Start tab and all other tabs got enabled again. lol

[BarneyRubble]

Installed and upgraded ok .... however my MBL is shown as locked.

When I click on it to unlock it asks for USER NAME and PASSWORD.

Doesn't matter what I enter it won't unlock ... ideas ? 

[Lucky_Phil]

At last!

I've been waiting for a long time for this memory hog issue to be fixed.

Having installed Version 1.6.0 ... now all seems to be working perfectly.

Spoke too soon.

After logging out as one user and logging in as another user, the WDBackUpManager started running at 50% of CPU and continued to do so ... and continued to do so...and continued to do so...even after all files were backed up and even after stopping the backup.

[Watchful]

I’m running XP SP3 and had all the usual problems with SW 1.5.4.5.

I uninstalled the old software as advised by WD using the Microsoft tool at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/971187) and then restarted the computer and installed SW 1.6 (having previously installed Microsoft .NET Framework 4).

So far (early days I know, and noting Lucky_Phil’s experience), the new software runs incomparably better than the old.  There is no resource hogging and I was pleasantly surprised that the backed up files that were already on the Passport drive were recognised and I didn’t have to go through the whole process again.  The etilqs issue also appears to have been resolved.  However, I have found there were still some issues.

ISSUES:

Updating

When I restarted the computer to finalise the update process, a blank window headed

“c:windows\system32\cmd.exe” appeared and remained on the screen.  Eventually it closed of its own accord after more than 5 minutes and the Windows desktop loaded, but I did wonder if the update had frozen..

As soon as I started SmartWare (from Quick View) I was prompted to upgrade the firmware on the Passport drive.  This required SmartWare to be closed.  It went fine except there was no definite Exit or Finish to say the upgrade was complete.  After a while I tried to repeat the update and got a message to say that the firmware was already up to date.

Use

The external drive is still greyed out when you open SmartWare.  It only needs a text note on the Home Tab saying ‘Click the icon to activate’ to avoid all the confusion this causes.

There are still occasional problems opening or exiting SmartWare from Quick View.

Most seriously, SmartWare does not back up some of MS Outlook PST files correctly (the large ones). 

The Backup tab shows a ‘Partial backup accomplished’ message and the reason for ‘Files not backed up’ is given as ‘File pending backup’.  In fact, on one occasion when the computer was left on for several hours, Windows Explorer showed they had been backed up despite SmartWare saying they hadn’t.

I know Outlook has to be closed for it to backup and I’ve tried stopping and restarting backup, switching the Mail option on and off in the options on the Advance View column of the Backup tab, and restarting the computer.  Other PST files have been backed up, and the PST files were backed up immediately before the update without difficulty.

I think a similar problem occurred with earlier versions.  Does anyone know how to resolve it please?

[TimothyE]

I am also having the same problem with my Outlook 2003 .pst files. All files back up except for these. Nothing I do seems to force them to backup, including closing Outlook.

Tim