Hello: I am new at this. I posted it but received a reply that suggested I post it here. Sorry, but don’t have any idea how to move it, so I copied and pasted it. Hope that’s ok.
I do hope that I get a good reply since I will return the drives if I don’t get some help.
Thank u, raffco
WD FORUM POST FEB 19, 2015
http://community.wd.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/327447
I just purchased 4 of these drives, assuming that their operation would be cut-and-dry. Unfortunately, not the case. I would appreciate it if WD developers would look at this, & hope I am able to be clear on my concerns. As of this writing, I have installed only one drive to make sure it does what I expect it to do, so here goes:
1) I named the drive so that I will know which one I am looking at. Using the WD Unlocker, am able to open the drive. The screen ID’s the drive with the Serial Number (SN), but I would rather see the name I assigned to the Drive & would not mind if the SN also appeared.
2) There is no way to close the drive, unless you shut down the computer or use the “safely remove hardware” icon. Fyi, I also have a 3rd Party encryption software program that I use which is much easier to use & will list all open drives with their particular names reflected. I can merely select a particular drive, & select “close the drive”. It has no effect on the several other ones that remained open.
3) I own another password protected drive that has a keypad on it, so no matter what PC or notebook I attach it to, I merely have to enter my assigned password.
You are probably wondering why I don’t just use these other ones if they’re so much easier to use? Well, I will explain.
By using more than one type of encryption software, password protected drives, etc., it’s a good protection against a particular program crashing, or in the case of a total PC Crash, afford the ability to launch saved files from another PC.
Lucky me just had to do a complete re-install of the OS, plus a zillion other programs, settings & anything else involved. At 73 yrs of age this was absolutely no fun at all.
The encryption program I have has to be installed on the PC that the drives will be used on. I am not willing to pay over and over again for additional licenses on our other PC’s, so I am not able to use the drives on any other PC.
The drive with the Keypad on it does not contain any symbols, so you can only use letters or numbers, which any hacker with a brain could probably open in about 1 minute or less, no matter how many characters you use.
I am further concerned that WD might actually read this and come out with a portable drive that is simple to use on any PC, without having to install any software at all. Then I would be stuck with the 4 drives I just bought. Perhaps they can come out with a “fix” that would be more complete than their current setup?
To WD developers, feel free to contact me if you require any clarification to my concerns. I will be very happy to discuss them with you, and if you decide to do so, I will give you my current case numbers.
raffco
