I hear and feel your pain.
Here’s how it went for me…
I purchased a 1TB passport. Reformatted it to FAT32, connected it to my Macbook, transferred over my video files etc, connected it to my PS3 and it was fine… everything worked.
Took the HD to work and connected it to my work PC, instantly errors started appearing on-screen, requiring the WD Smartware software to be able to access the drive… installed WD Smartware onto the work PC. Everything a-okay. Take it home, plug it into the PS3 and nothing… a brief flash on-screen of a drive showing and then it disappears.
I believe the issue is to do with the WD Smartware software.
I think the steps to resolve this would be the following:
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Copy all content off the harddrive.
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Re-format the device to FAT32 (to remove whatever the WD Smartware auto-installed). (Maybe even write zeros to try and avoid the whole software thing at all, but not sure if the virtual cd’s etc are on protected/hidden partitions).
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Copy the content back to the drive.
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Uninstall WD Smartware from Mac and PC computers.
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Use the device on all platforms clicking “cancel” to the errors that show asking for WD Smartware.
I discovered that if you click “cancel” on a windows PC to the error that shows, it will then load the device anyway… Or at least it did for a colleague here at work.
The downside:
- Annoying errors jumping up on screen whenever you connect the device to a windows PC.
The upside:
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No error messages on the mac.
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Connectivity and usability on the PS3. (One of the main reasons I bought the **bleep** drive).
Now, I haven’t tested the above theory out personally… Because I don’t have enough spare space on any available machine to copy all the content on my 1TB drive over to do a reformat.
However, if you do try the above… and it works for you… please let us all know.
Very, VERY disappointed with the WD Smartware software. Very, VERY disappointed with WD Support who simply reply “FAT32 is not supported” or “PS3’s are not supported” (Or any combination of the two) when you contact them for support.
However, I understand their drivers. Software that limits what you can and cannot do with a drive, such as WD Smartware, opens up opportunities to flog out other products, like the WD Media Player.
