Software Update - WD SmartWare Version 1.5.4.5 for Windows (3/20/12)

Installed the new version, which went smoothly, but it hasn’t corrected my issues with this software.  As soon as I  open IE and browse to a site with streaming video,  WDFME grabs my CPU, using at  least 50% of it (see below). Memory is not an issue for me but CPU usage is killing me. This occurs whether I have the drive connected or not. Any other suggestions before I permanently uninstall this software?

Vista Home Premium SP 2 - 64 Bit - 4GB RAM

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Really unhappy about update. The drive works, but after the reboot, accessing WDSmartware, the backup tab is ghosted out which pretty much makes the drive NOT fit for purpose.

ipw133 wrote:

Really unhappy about update. The drive works, but after the reboot, accessing WDSmartware, the backup tab is ghosted out which pretty much makes the drive NOT fit for purpose.

On the Home tab, click on your remote drive icon. That will activate the Backup and Retrieve tabs.

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I can’t understand why this thread is not getting any attention from the people at WD. They must be monitoring, right?

I have been waiting patiently a long time for this software upgrade because in principle Smartware is just what I want: it is simple, effective and free. Unfortunately it is also driving me crazy because it slows everything else down unacceptably.

I think that if WD can’t get it right they should withdraw it because releasing poor software is bad for the company’s reputation. The best of all worlds would be to do a deal with a good piece of backup software and bundle that with their drives. Such a deal would probably not cost more than the money they spend on developing Smartware.

One of the main reasons I purchased the WD My Passport was for the integrated automatic backup solution.  Boy, was I snookered.

I upgraded last night to the latest version of SmartWare 1.5.4.5.  It took a while to install, but happened without complications.  The software then took over 12 hours to categorize and backup 3.5 Gbytes of data.  Not exactly the performance I was looking for.  I then looked up information on this forum for version 1.5.1.6 and determined that the problem is systemic and not likely to be fixed anytime soon.

The solution I have found that works perfect for me is Synchronicity available from sourceforge at  sourceforge.net/projects/synchronicity.  It allows me to backup entire directories, then subsequent backups will only copy the files that changed.  The software is free and very straightforward to use.  I love the My Passport drive, and this allows me to use it effectively.

I love my WD drive but, really am completely dissatisfied with the Smartware software. I’ve been using the software for a couple of years now and it has been a major resource hog from the beginning.  The code is clearly not well written and WD appears completely insensitive this issue/problem/bug since they have had multiple opportunities to tune the code to make it much more CPU friendly.  It’s inexcusable for such a highly regarded company that makes great hardware to completely ignore the continuous complaints from its users regarding its poor software application.

The web is full of negative comments about the Smartware application but, sadly, WD is not listening.

I’ve decided to abandon the application and find another one that is much more CPU friendly.

This update has continuously failed for me. I have been trying to backup my hard drive for the last few days but whenever I open the software, it tells me there’s a software update. I follow all the steps to install the update and reboot my computer to finish the update. Upon rebooting, the software tells me it’s still the same version as it was to begin with. In other words, I spent all that time trying to update and it never installed. I’ve contacted customer support but they’re basically useless. I can honestly say that once I run out of space on my 2 terabyte drive, I will NEVER buy a Western Digital again. I prefer to buy products that work and work when they say they will.

you’re not alone. I’m having the same exact issue. It tells me it installed correctly and everything. After I reboot my computer (Windows 7 64 bit 4 gigs ram) and open the software, it still shows the same software version I had to begin with.

Installed 1.5.4.5 for Windows. Restart my system. Before my system loads my desktop, a black screen appears along with the Command window. The Command window remains completely blank. After around 15-20 seconds, my desktop loads and all of my Startup components show up.

I then open SmartWare, which recognizes 0 files to be available for backup (although SmartWare recognizes C: and the WD external drive). My SmartWare version number is also the same as it was out-of-box: 1.4.x.x.

I have done this several times and each time leads back to the same two issues: 1) the installation of 1.5.4.5 never seems to occur and 2) no files are recognized for backup. Both these issues render the software 100% useless. Any help?

I have the same issue, I’ve been speaking to tech support for 3 days now and they still don’t understand they have a problem with their update on their end. They still firmly believe the issue is on my end with my hard drive despite everyone else complaining on here about it. I actually uninstalled the old software as well as the update, rebooted the hard drive and re-installed whatever the latest firmware was. I haven’t turned the hard drive back on to see if it actually worked yet or not.

I have never in my life seen a company as inept and incompetent as the software people in WD.

As predicted, it did not work.

They have no clue what’s going on within their company. They honestly do not read the support forums they provide to get just that. They keep trying to basically blame me for their error and refuse to accept that they have a MAJOR issue with their software and it needs to be addressed immediately. I’m about to threaten them to throw this in the garbage and buy a seagate or something else from one of their closest competitors. This is absolutely ridiculous.

I suppose I should clarify a bit. When I first opened the SmartWare program as it comes out-of-box, it recognized my various file types for backup and made suggestions of what I should back up. Then the “update” window popped up and I went through the described updating process (nothing out of the ordinary). It was after this first update–supposedly to 1.5.4.5–that things never worked as they should. I had only had the hard drive for 2 hours before there was a problem with this software. I love WD hard drives; I have no idea why this program is such a dud.

I’ve had this hard drive for about a year and has had a few software and firmware updates. I’ve never once had an issue with it until now and now it’s causing nothing but problems. I can’t back anything up because the software is technically outdated. I will be on the phone again with tech support tomorrow.

UPDATE:

It is now working for me. Here is what I did:

I went to Control Panel → Uninstall A Program → then I uninstalled the two (no idea why there were two) WD SmartWare programs shown. I restarted my computer. Then I went straight to the update website, bypassing the WD SmartWare that is loaded on the hard drive. I downloaded & installed the update, then restarted again.

Now everything works perfectly and I have version 1.5.4.5 installed correctly and the backup appears to be available to run. Fingers crossed and good luck.

I’ve tried that several times and it still won’t work.

t82_fair wrote:

When I first opened the SmartWare program as it comes out-of-box, it recognized my various file types for backup and made suggestions of what I should back up.

 

 

About two years ago, that was the subject of a LOT of complaints, too. It was because of that, that WD came out with the “select your own files” feature.

 

“Out of the box”, their “Category” method of backup only backs up files in certain areas on your hard disk, if they have certain extensions. This was VERY misleading, because it would NOT back up everything that you might change on your hard drive. Their user manuals, and website at the time even said that their software “Works quietly in the background to protect your data using minimal PC resources. Whenever you add or change a file it’s instantly backed up.”

 

Well, that turned out to be false and misleading. Thankfully, WD agreed, and gave us the “Choose your own files” method of backups. Now, if they can make their software actually work, we’d have something.

 

Here’s original threads from those days:

 

http://community.wdc.com/t5/ideas/v1/ideapage/blog-id/software_ideas/article-id/26/page/1#comments

 

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-Smartware/Smartware-enhancement-request/m-p/154176

 

http://community.wdc.com/t5/Software-Accessory-Ideas/SmartWare-Enhancement-Less-Restrictive-Backups-Must-Have-for/idi-p/15760

 

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I’ve escalated this issue.

Thanks for escalating. Ok, I realize this is a “user forum”, but there appear to be some WD people here.  The “official” answer for support, is most likely to contact WD, and not rely on this forum.

But… as you can see, there are new people in this forum, having come here from doing a Google search on WD Smartware. Having all these complaints available to anyone who searches, can’t be a good thing. As a software developer, if I allowed my software product to be the subject of so much negative  public debate for such a long time (without fixing the problems in a timely manner), my company would crucify me. Folks will surely base future hardware purchases on the reputation and reviews they read online. Yes, so far, the hardware works great. The software doesn’t. Buyers won’t separate the two when making decisions.

I also can’t imagine it being cost effective for WD to answer numerous calls from people one-by-one, going thru a bunch of steps on the phone, where the same answers could be posted here. Seems to me, that would save a lot of time on WDs end.

Bottom line: I think WD needs to pay more close attention to the forum, and start to answer people here, or at least keep people informed on what’s happening. This shouldn’t have to go on for months, before someone “escalates” the problem. I get the impression WD doesn’t even think there is a problem.

I have never used any of the other commerical backup products that have been mentioned here, at least not yet. I can only base my opinions on what I see with this software, vs the only other thing on my computer that might be inclined to use as much resources… which is my anti-virus software.

When my anti-virus softrware does its “full scan”, that means it’s finding and actually reading the contents of every single file on my hard disk, looking for patterns, and viruses. If it can do this without significantly hogging resources on my computer, there is no reason your software can’t do the same, because you’re doing very similar things (looking for all files, then copying the ones you decide need to be backed up).  And Norton can finish its “full scan” of my entire hard drive in less than an hour.

We’ve all said this for months… even when only a “few” folders and files are selected for backup, your softrware appears to hog the system forever, as if it’s constantly looking for ANY file in the entire system (whether its marked for backup or not). System files, like “profile” files or “cache” files IE and Firefox use, should never even be looked at. And the responses we’ve heard from WD about “SQL Lite not allowing us to delete files”, and “this software is working as designed” is nonsense. This “try uninstalling and re-installing the software” is also not acceptable, because as someone else pointed out, it’s also a WD software problem.