Software Update - WD SmartWare Windows Version 1.5.1.6 (8/16/11)

[GerardSamija]

It was a huge waste of my time, but I got through the registry deleting anything to do with SmartWare and did searches for, and deleted, anything Western Digital which wasn't simpy a system USB device reference. That and a bunch of leftover file hunting after a deep RevoUninstaller uninstall and it finally seems my system is cleaned of that mess, and my Asus 901 running Windows 7 is ticking along happy as a clam, just like it was before that bloated WD nonsense made it like wading through deep mud.

The worst part was finding a way to delete the now-disabled services. No, actually the worst part was getting ownership of each and every layer of folders in the bogus, incomplete backup on the drive after uninstalling the SmartWare program. That took ages. But getting rid of those ghost services - WDDMService, WDFMEService, and WDRulesService - out of my services listing was hard. That's because most sites list bogus syntax. I kept getting errors about syntax or service not being found. Finally found this page:

http://www.ghacks.net/2011/03/12/how-to-remove-services-in-windows/

And the guy spelled it out right. So what you need, or at least what I needed, is to follow these steps:

- open a command prompt window (Start Menu > type the word command) and right-click on it and select 'run as administrator'

- it'll start in a User directory, so you need to get root - type cr.. then hit Enter, then cr.. again and Enter again, and you should have just C:/ drive or whatever

- type sc delete "WDDMService" and hit Enter. That's it. Do the same for the other two and in mere seconds you'll be free of these services.Worked a charm, where brackets or putting on a .exe suffix or whatever just didn't.

I wish WD would stick to making better and better portable drives. I actually liked my last, rather boxy Elements drive a lot until I clumsily dropped and destroyed it. That's why I got this slicker-looking model. Just shouldn't have naively installed the nice-sounding SmartWare. Such a bad idea.

[booshmahn]

update [Deleted] won't install have been trying for two weeks was on the phone with wdc support and still will not [Deleted] UPDATE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what [Deleted] software!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[ynpmoose]

I'm still having high CPU and memory usage from WDFME.exe. Shortly after boot, it runs up to about 48% CPU and 900Mb RAM. Sometimes it will drop a bit after the backup is complete, but not much.

PC Specs:

Win 7 64bit

4Gb RAM

Quad core AMD Phenom II x4 840 3.2 Ghz

[thannai]

Memory usage is better than before this update -- 380 MB while running SmartWare, 195 MB after closing SmartWare.  It's still keeping memory usage up around 72% (including other running processes), which is down from 92% before the update.  Still seems high.

[wagnerm25]

Still no news about some fix for high memory use?

[JayBee66]

Ok people,

(please see my earlier post in this thread)

everybody seems to be complaining about high CPU and/or RAM usage with 1.5.1.6 but I have not noticed this as a problem as yet. Does anybody have my problem???  In Category Backup The content gauges To Be Backed UP and Backed Up seem to go haywire over a period of time. Sometimes they show "Backup completed successfully" with what I think is the correct number of files and GB showing in both columns. At other times it shows Backup completed successfully with an obviously wrong number of files and GB in both columns. And at other times they show "Partial backup completed" with disparate numbers of files showing in both columns.

If the purpose of Smartware is to give reassurance that all your files are backed up in the event of a disc crash then this behaviour signally fails to do this. 

I would be very interested if anyone else notices this with 1.5.1.6  as, irrespective of the resource usage, this hits at the heart of what Smartware is supposed to do and I think is a fatal flaw.

John 

[Robert_C]

Yup. I see the same things.. I do not trust those gauges at all.

[JayBee66]

Hi Robert C,

we bought our WD external HDDs against the day when our internal HDD went defunct. It is plainly beyond the ordinary user to practice data retrieval we just hope that the WD HDD and Smartware will work as advertised and that we will be able to reload any new HDD  installed after a catastrophic failure.

Given that the content gauges are our only indication that everything is working ok and our files are being backed up then why is everybody not complaining about their failure to properly indicate the current backup state. Earlier versions of Smartware did not show this problem in my modest system. With 1.5.1.6 I have no idea what is happening. What would happen if my internal HDD crashed and the content gauges showed only a "partial backup" or a "full backup" with only a quarter of my files backed up. Would my system be protected? I really don't know and that is my problem.

WD need to fix this or at least tell me what would happen in the above situation.  Otherwise the kit does not do what it said on the box.

John

[palo5545]

Hello, my CPU is 100%, too...

They write that smartware is also available in 7 new languages, but I can not find the languages...

release notes: 

WD SmartWare update highlights:

Windows release 1.5.1.6 (updated 8/16/2011)

• Fixed inaccurate information displayed when destination drive is full.
• Fixed high memory utilization on certain systems.
• Backup only the files and folders that you want. Users now have the flexibility to backup either by selecting pre-defined file categories or selecting individual files and folders.
• Available in 7 new languages: Czech, Dutch, Hungarian, Norwegian, Polish, Swedish, and Turkish.

[SLYPHNIER]

Dear all

to all people having trouble with smartware

If you don't need backup function (just want usb storage), you don't need SmartWare 

you can uninstall SmartWare and just install mybook driver (look for SESdriver on download page) OR use SmartWare installer (on mybook smartware autostart) you should see option to install driver+utility (drive password) without backup 

If you insist using SmartWare, please try :

1. uninstalling previous version of SmartWare before installing new version

2. excluding WDFME.exe and other SmartWare software on your AntiVirus/Security software, because WDFME running in background there is possibility conflicting with your Security software

3. [this not related but no wrong to try] for Windows vista/7 user, in power setting, try disable "USB selective suspend"

※ some people might already tried this and still getting the issue, this not guarantee will fix your issue but for people haven't, please try and hopefully it fix your issue