I’ve had exactly the same problem. I’m using a 1TB Passport Essential SE USB on Windows Vista and I’ve installed all the updates. The computer slows to a crawl even if the drive is not connected and I’ve closed SmartWare. It is really annoying. I also use an online backup program (Carbonite but I’ve also used MOZY) and it does not cause this problem. As a result I can only assume that the problem is a WD programming problem.
I have come up with a work around that eliminates the slow computer problem without disabling SmartWare or encryption or anything. I go to Windows Task Manager (CTRL + ALT + DEL). On my system I also have to choose “Show processes from all users” even though I’m the only user. When this is done I can see “System Idle Process” which shows how much CPU time is available. This can be a vanishingly low number which is why the computer runs so slowly. I can also see the WD processes and one in particular, WDFME.exe the WD file management engine, typically is eating a vast amount of CPU time, sometimes 50% or more.
I’ve found that if I click on this process then choose “End Process” WDFME goes away and the CPU usage drops dramatically speeding up my machine. When I restart the computer, or restart SmartWare this process reappears so I can recover all of the SmartWare functionality. I can then simply start a backup at my convenience and walk away from the machine.
Other than the aggravation I don’t see any problems with this work around. If anyone knows of a problem please let me know. In the meantime I urge everyone to pester [Deleted] of WD about this problem until they fix it.
