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

[JayBee66]

Hi LarryG,

if you look on page15 of the MyBook Essential User Handbook http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705053.pdf then you will see that there is an option to run the drive without Smartware and (??without the password).

I am still having different problems from everybody else but have had a message from the 7th Cavalry and I hope to be fixed soon.

John

[george_lol]

wdfme uses 50%+ cpu all the time, currently it is running 24/7 and causes one of my processors to run at 100% all the time because of other things i use my computer for. memory usage fluctuates but stays around 100K. i use file backup, not category backup.

[george_lol]

@Bill_s from a previous thread

"We do actually have a pause button on the software, and we have actually recommended people use it when they need more resources than SmartWare is allowing. "

Where is this pause function?

[george_lol]

WDFME & Firefox (my default browser)

• Why does wdfme get active when I load a browser? I use File backup and do not specify backing up any browser related files except for my downloads folder which is in MyDocuments.
• When I run Chrome wdfme kicks in for a few seconds, when I exit Chrome wdfme runs for just a little bit.
• When I run Firefox wefme kicks in and stays at 50+% cpu useage. Period. Even after exiting Firefox!
  
• I use the same download folder for both Chrome and Firefox.

Win 7-64 sp1 w/latest updates

most recent Chrome 15.0.874.120

most recent Firefox 8.0

Smartware 1.5.1.16

[cuernudo]

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george_lol wrote:

@Bill_s from a previous thread

"We do actually have a pause button on the software, and we have actually recommended people use it when they need more resources than SmartWare is allowing. "

Where is this pause function?

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If you have the latest version of the WD Smartware, just open the WD Smartware, then go to settings, and then setup software, here look for backup speed, just select the option here, "run backup when computer is Idle.

[GerardSamija]

 The problem with this is that the so-called 'pause button' does not do that. At least it would not for my case running Windows 7 Ultimate. The software continued using most of my computer's resources even though I ALWAYS had it set to run ONLY when idle. Not really much of a pause button if the software keeps running at such a highly demanding level. I'd expect a true pause function to run only a trivial routine listening for activity, such as watching the CPU for periods of inactivity of longer than a minute.

[Bill_S]

Actually, I just checked.  Now, this is for the latest version of SmartWare.  Go to the backup page in SmartWare, and you will find a "Stop Backup" button in the bottom right corner.  When you click on that, it will change into a "Start Backup" button for when you're ready to restart the backup.

[Bill_S]

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GerardSamija wrote:

 The problem with this is that the so-called 'pause button' does not do that. At least it would not for my case running Windows 7 Ultimate. The software continued using most of my computer's resources even though I ALWAYS had it set to run ONLY when idle. Not really much of a pause button if the software keeps running at such a highly demanding level. I'd expect a true pause function to run only a trivial routine listening for activity, such as watching the CPU for periods of inactivity of longer than a minute.

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I would try rebooting the computer to see if it changes that.  But use the Stop Button as well.

[GerardSamija]

Rebooting multiple times did not stop this hyper-consumption of resources in my case, as I was finding that it took a full 10 minutes at least before the software would allow me to start my email client or browser, and after that such simple functionalities as polling for email (using nPOPuk, a very lightweight text-only email client) were taking far too long, often several minutes instead of half a second.

Admittedly I have not tried the latest version of the software. That's because of my horrible, time-wasting experience in trying to get rid of the version installed a few months ago. It took me several hours to manually dig down into hundreds of sub-folders in the incomplete backup set on the drive, taking ownership of each layer independently as such rights could not be acquired overall, before I was able to delete this backup set which did not offer me any confidence in its veracity. This was after having uninstalled the software, and finding that two services were still running anyway, requiring some acrobatics to get those uninstalled. I will not be re-installing this software in any version as I've opted to manually copy folders to external media on my own schedule. Such copying must be remembered regularly to work, but it works, and while copying files to external drives I am free to do any other operations without my netbook being slowed almost to a standstill.

[Bill_S]

Admittedly, SmartWare still has some issues, which are being worked on; but I've never really been satisfied with backup software, in general.  I find myself still just using copy and paste to do my backups.  I do like the idea of continous backups, but they all tend to be resource hogs.  If we can get the resource issue beat, I think SmartWare could end up being one of the better continous backup softwares out there.