Software Update - WD SmartWare Windows Version 1.5.1.6 (8/16/11)

WD is pleased to announce its latest WD SmartWare release, WD SmartWare Version 1.5.1.6 for Windows.

Please post your experiences in this thread.

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Still killing my system by using all of my CPU. Memory usage is still high, currently 1.2GB. 

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What percentage?

Was this after the backup was completed?  During a backup?  We use idle cpu cycles that Windows lets us use.  The slow down wouldn’t be from the CPU usage, but the memory usage.

in my experience, this version lots better than 1.5.0.17 

well i didn’t use back up, so i didn’t know how back up performance 

but WDFME been working nicely (WDFME.exe hovering around 18mb … WDRulesEngine.exe 9mb)

smartware loading faster too 

so far free space issue seems fixed too, well maybe i need more time to make sure it really fixed 

SLYPHNIER wrote:

in my experience, this version lots better than 1.5.0.17 

well i didn’t use back up, so i didn’t know how back up performance 

but WDFME been working nicely (WDFME.exe hovering around 18mb … WDRulesEngine.exe 9mb)

smartware loading faster too 

 

so far free space issue seems fixed too, well maybe i need more time to make sure it really fixed 

 

Free space?

yes, i mean etilsq_* on temporary folder that keep growing 

SLYPHNIER wrote:

yes, i mean etilsq_* on temporary folder that keep growing 

We haven’t changed anything that would have made this go away.  There is a new database generated everytime the WDFME starts.

The upgrade doesn’t complete. I get an ‘Error 1603’ message, and no upgrade. First I stopped virus protection, then attempted to install new version. As I type I’m trying to find version of current install, but I can’t access it. It constantly wants to close and posts a pop-up message: “WD SmartWare has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience”. Whether I send or don’t send, I must restart Windows to actually close WD SmartWare.

Please advice.

> * * *
music wrote:

The upgrade doesn’t complete. I get an ‘Error 1603’ message, and no upgrade. First I stopped virus protection, then attempted to install new version. As I type I’m trying to find version of current install, but I can’t access it. It constantly wants to close and posts a pop-up message: “WD SmartWare has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience”. Whether I send or don’t send, I must restart Windows to actually close WD SmartWare.

Please advice.

try uninstalling previous wdsmartware

even it said updater, it doesn’t need previous version to update 

if needed remove all smartware key from registry (you can use registry fix tools like ccleaner/registrybooster)

Toretto wrote:

We haven’t changed anything that would have made this go away.  There is a new database generated everytime the WDFME starts.

oh ok,

just wondering is it save to delete it, especially few days old files ?

and also i want to know, if smartware have limit for this database ? or it will keep increasing as long there is free space?

2days since i install latest version, so far it collect 63mb

Heh… no improvement here, memory chomped 3GB!!! Renders my system useless.

SmartWare huh? Not so Smart… how bout HogWare

After using the software for a few days now, here’s my report:

(1) It does run much better than before… NOT GOOD yet, but better (which means the older version was REALLY bad). The new software will still completely take over my computer from time to time, but its “better” than before. Still not acceptable as far as I’m concerned.

(2) This software does not delete the database files it creates in windows\temp. Those keep building up, at the rate of 8 new files each time you boot. This is not good, and I consider this a major bug. Your software needs to delete these temp files it creates. The more files that are there, the slower disk access will be, not to mention wasted disk space.

(3) Speaking of temp files… one of them is 64Mb long, and the other is 10Mb long. No wonder the software is so slow, and banging away at my hard drive. What on earth are you storing in these files? The only thing you should ever have to store, is pathname and date/time of last modification, of the files/folders I’ve selected for backup. I can’t imagine that data consuming this much disk space. I almost think you should be able to do that in memory. I would hope you’re not using these files, to store “data” that is about to be copied, and I would hope you’re not wasting time tracking path/dat/time information for files and folders I’m not even backing up.

(4) After all this, if you still need to use temp disk files, they should not be located in \windows\temp. They should be located in one of the \documents and settings\ temp file areas, so disk cleanup can delete them, should the computer be rebooted abnormally, before your software has a chance to delete the files it created.

(5) Is using SQL part of the problem? Is it just a CPU/resource hog? I just don’t know.

1 Like

i also want to add

i want to know how long Smartware doing it backup process while computer idle ? 

i don’t use smartware backup, yet when idle it make my harddrive working full load, and it seems it keep processing until my system back from idle…  i have yet to see it stop working (on idle)… 

for long term i think its not good for HDD life as it keep working on high load

as a user that only want to use “capacity gauge/label”, i personally demand “on-demand backup process”  or small utility like “WD drive manager”

EUREKA! Windows Indexing Service must run to prevent  WDFME.exe of using all the RAM.

I’ve had the exact same problem of memory usage (over 3MB) by WDFME.exe since I installed and used the Auslogics BoostSpeed software to improve the performance of my computer. It was worst than ever !!! I quickly found that WDFME.exe was using all the memory now and was the source of the problem. That was not the case the day before.

Today, I’ve restarted the Windows Indexing Services I had stop to gain performance and everything is okay until now.

Screnshot of Auslogics BoostSpeed suggesting to stop the Indexing Services:

 

So frustrating.  Think Ebay is the best for this [Deleted].  I"ve had the same memory hog issues as everyone else and thought updating Smartware to the current version might fix it.  I’ll never know, because the software updater WONT RUN!!!  After downloading it to my desktop & launching it, it says that it is configuring then vanishes from the screen.

I’m done.  If you are reading this and having smilar issues, it may be time to try another product.

Until the software engineers can figure out 1.5.1.6, this is definately staying off of my computer!!

-Dom

Now What !!!
I have had WD Smart Ware since the beginning and have had the same problem as others with WDFME taking over around 90% of my CPU at startup. This after hours of trying all the solutions  and updates offered. I have learned to live with this by bringing my PC out of standby a half hour before attempting to use it.

I cannot tell if update 1.5.1.6 will fix the issue because something far worst has happened.
I have around 15 GB saved in around 25,000 document picture and music files.
After installing the new update it took about an hour to “Categorize” the files and then SmartWare showed all the above files as backed up. But then when I checked again in a couple of hours, Smartware only showed around 500 kb and 500 files backed up.

I rebooted the PC and watched the process unfold. SmartWare again “Categorized” the files and then after a while showed “Backup Accomplished Successfully” with a complete backup of the 15 GB. But then in around 5 minutes Smartware showed the backup continuing and deleted files that were previously backed up. After a couple of minutes it would show “Backup Accomplished Successfully” again and after a few minutes begin deleting backed up files  again . etc. etc. etc. till my total back up showed only around 500 files.

I have long since learned not to depend on SmartWare. This is just another reason. Shame, Shame Western Digital.

Same error in updating  error 1603   So- what’s the problem and the fix?

JWB1936, please contact WD Tech support, they can help you fix the update error 1603.

To Contact WD for Technical Support

http://support.wdc.com/contact/index.asp?lang=en

This software update does not really fix the issue. Every time I plug the drive in it hogs all the memory. When I go to the software, it re-categorizes my files. It recategorizes them again when I start the back up and every time the drive is accessed. It continually recategorizes and does not remember the previous categorization. And by all means do not try to start the back up. It then recategorizes again. Everytime it recategorizes there are different results. When the back up starts that’s it, the computer freezes up even though it is not using any resources. Frustating once again. No good fix. I am back to the old software and have yet to attempt the back up because I just do not know what is going to happen now that I have to re-back up 10GB worth of data even though 99.9999% of it is already stored on the drive. I would hate to have any larger of a drive to back up. HELP!!!