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

[JayBee66]

Hi Homer,

read the 7 pages of posts on this topic and look for other related themes on the community. You will see a lot of people are having problems with 1.5.1.6. I have no solutions for you and have big problems myself. If I find an answer then I will post it here.

John

[homer1269]

thanks for the reply. I will keep n reading as it seems!

Homer

[larryg]

How can I remove WD Smartware from my computer? Wd I cause problems if I simply delete all directories?

[Bill_S]

Yes, it would cause problems if you just started deleting directories.  Go into Add/Remove programs (XP) and select it from the list, then click on Remove.  I would make sure the drive is not connected, and I would also put the program on pause, though you probably don't need to do that.

[kvwielink]

Ok, I guess this is more of the same, but I figure the more people complain about this piece of junk software the better the chance they'll actually fix it.

After installing smartware several months ago, my laptop has slowed to a crawl. I just checked, around half an hour after rebooting my machine and after the backup process finished, and WDFME.EXE deems it necessary to still use 71% of my CPU and over 300+ MB or Ram. Now I know that's not nearly as bad as some other posters here but still. I run a database engine on this laptop and it doesn't nearly consume as much as this program! It's insane!

On top of that I strongly suspect that the blue screen of death that both my wife and I have been getting on our respective laptops is related to Smartware. My wife's ICT department actually confirmed this and disabled the services to prevent it from happening (with some success...).

In other words, what [Deleted]  WD thinking! So many people complain, and nothing changes! I haven't seen a software update in more than a month! I don't want to remove the smartware as the auto backup was a big part of the decision to buy this drive, but if something doesn't change soon I'll vote with my feet. WD will lose another loyal, good customer to Seagate.

[larryg]

I called WD tech and with his help thru direct assist (that is, directly removing the smartware) my problem was and is solved. He was efficient and courteous. I should have called days ago. I'll probably use the Windows7 backup program from now on . . . thanks WD tech.

[BBBBBrandon]

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larryg wrote:

I called WD tech and with his help thru direct assist (that is, directly removing the smartware) my problem was and is solved. He was efficient and courteous. I should have called days ago. I'll probably use the Windows7 backup program from now on . . . thanks WD tech.

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Larry, I am glad we were able to help you out.

I wanted to post an update here for everyone as there was a large amount of feedback due to a few problems.

There is quite a bit of feedback due to memory usage in some machines.  We are addressing this in a future release (not the next release due to such a major change).  This total overhual will drastically improve performance.

[larryg]

However one problem remains: I need to remove the "unlock" feature. I made the mistake of setting up a password to unlock Mybook. 

Do I have to format the drive to get rid of the unlock/lock feature? I don't need it at all. Almost all vestiges of Smartdrive have been removed by WD tech.

thanks,

larryg

[Sammy56]

Larryg, I think when you install the Smartdrive software there is a install option only to install the administrative stuff, and not the backup part.  That then will at least give you the option to change passwords I know.  Not sure if you can eliminate it.  So I if it allows for no password, then you can uninstall it and hope have a plain USB drive.  I am thinking of doing the same here too. 

[LeovinusHM]

It is a shame that a long time hardware manufacturer with a great rep is brought down by a lack of quality control on what is pretty simple software.  And then compounds the issue by not addressing the problem (mabey it will be fixed in not the next release but the one after that).  It is not enough to make good reliable hard drives if you don't provide the software that makes them work.  Never a WD drive again.