I had this problem too and was really upset. But I did “Alt + Ctrl + Delete” and went to “TASK MANAGER” and then clicked the tab “Processes” and then clicked the tab labled Image Name to catagorize them by name and found “WDSmartWare.exe” in the list and clicked on it once to highlight it and clicked end process. After I did that I unplugged my WD Passport Essential and plugged it back in and it came back on and was recognized and all my files were still there. I hope this helps. I use Windows XP. p.s I don’t know if that is the safest thing to do but it worked for me.
1 Like
