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

I kept noticing my CPU usage was way up in Task Manager and finally figured it out that it’s the Smartware bloatware.  WDFME.exe keeps pounding the CPU and adds 1 gig of memory usage.  I have a I7 and 6 gig of RAM (64 bit) but my preference would be to use it for applications not backup software.  WDFME.exe is the number 1 cpu user and number 1 memory user on my laptop.  I simply have shut it down in startup so my CPU doesn’t get cooked.  I have set both WD services to manual startup.  When turned off the CPU sits at 1% usage.

Bill

Soooo glad (and sorry) to hear I’m not alone in this problem.  I finally uninstalled SmartWare and will wait for a better version.  The problem is 2 months old, correlating nicely with the last update.  Not only was the backup shadow using 98% of my functional capacity, it wouldn’t let the drive shut off after a backup.  That’s just annoying.  I can’t leave the unit plugged into the USB as it screws with my boot sequence and nothing I’ve done has corrected that, so I have to unplug the drive between backups.  How irritating to have to wait an hour and still use a forced shutdown!  I’m not as tech-savvy as most here, but I know enough to understand when a program is creating more problems than it’s solving.

Meanwhile, the Passport works nicely as a backup hard drive and it’s already got two full copies of my drive on it, so I’ll use it to back up specific folders while I wait for you guys to fix the problem.   At least I can access the files on the Passport, which puts it ahead of my last two backup externals that did something bizarre to the files making them inaccessible for reloading after a crash.  Der…really?  Isn’t that the point?

I have My Book Essential 2 TB I just got from Office Depot, It did a full back up but  when I’m directed to update Smartware 1.4.5.2  to 1.5.1.6  I get this dialogue box: “WD SmartWare cannot be installed. Installation unseccessful (Error Code: 1603). Please try again or contact WD support for assistance.” 

WD Email tech told me to uninstall the old Smartware which failed since “The setup was unable to close all requested applications, etc.”) altho I’d turned off anti-virus. Tech wrote me to update my firmware and when I tried to do that I was informed my firmware is  up to date.

I’ve read through all the comments, thanks everyone. I am hesitant to start whacking away at my Windows7 registry. I’m hesitant to simply delete all WD Smartware directories both on the “My Book” and my internal drive.

I started out happy to have everything backed up on “My Book” but as soon as I was forced to try updating Smartware this has turned into a nightmare. I hope Office Depot will take this product back.

WD must provide us with a simple user-friendly method to completely eliminate all vestiges of Smartware OR

this product, as pretty as it is, is cumbersome & useless. 

I’m open to a solution to this but I don’t see it.

Smartware is more like a virus than useful software: I can’t get rid of it!

i have just bought a new WD my passport essential usb3 and i tried to install the 1.5.1.6 software update instead of the original 1.4.5.5 that it came with. But on the new software it simpy does not work. You can see it but the software will simply not see the files on the computer or the WD disk. You just see 0 bytes on both sides. I tried to remove and reinstall but to no avain. With the original software it runs fine, but the back up is nowhere near as fast as the manual suggests for a usb2. I think that it actually runs slower than a usb1.1 . And my computer runs on widows 7, has the latest servicepacks and updates and has a 8gb Ram and an intel i7 processor, plus an  SSD.

Does anyone have the same problem as me?

Homer.

Hi Homer,

read the 7 pages of posts on this topic and look for other related themes on the community. You will see a lot of people are having problems with 1.5.1.6. I have no solutions for you and have big problems myself. If I find an answer then I will post it here.

John

thanks for the reply. I will keep n reading as it seems!

Homer

How can I remove WD Smartware from my computer? Wd I cause problems if I simply delete all directories?

Yes, it would cause problems if you just started deleting directories.  Go into Add/Remove programs (XP) and select it from the list, then click on Remove.  I would make sure the drive is not connected, and I would also put the program on pause, though you probably don’t need to do that.

Ok, I guess this is more of the same, but I figure the more people complain about this piece of junk software the better the chance they’ll actually fix it.

After installing smartware several months ago, my laptop has slowed to a crawl. I just checked, around half an hour after rebooting my machine and after the backup process finished, and WDFME.EXE deems it necessary to still use 71% of my CPU and over 300+ MB or Ram. Now I know that’s not nearly as bad as some other posters here but still. I run a database engine on this laptop and it doesn’t nearly consume as much as this program! It’s insane!

On top of that I strongly suspect that the blue screen of death that both my wife and I have been getting on our respective laptops is related to Smartware. My wife’s ICT department actually confirmed this and disabled the services to prevent it from happening (with some success…).

In other words, what [Deleted]  WD thinking! So many people complain, and nothing changes! I haven’t seen a software update in more than a month! I don’t want to remove the smartware as the auto backup was a big part of the decision to buy this drive, but if something doesn’t change soon I’ll vote with my feet. WD will lose another loyal, good customer to Seagate.

I called WD tech and with his help thru direct assist (that is, directly removing the smartware) my problem was and is solved. He was efficient and courteous. I should have called days ago. I’ll probably use the Windows7 backup program from now on . . . thanks WD tech.

larryg wrote:

I called WD tech and with his help thru direct assist (that is, directly removing the smartware) my problem was and is solved. He was efficient and courteous. I should have called days ago. I’ll probably use the Windows7 backup program from now on . . . thanks WD tech.

 

 

Larry, I am glad we were able to help you out.

I wanted to post an update here for everyone as there was a large amount of feedback due to a few problems.

There is quite a bit of feedback due to memory usage in some machines.  We are addressing this in a future release (not the next release due to such a major change).  This total overhual will drastically improve performance.

1 Like

However one problem remains: I need to remove the “unlock” feature. I made the mistake of setting up a password to unlock Mybook. 

Do I have to format the drive to get rid of the unlock/lock feature? I don’t need it at all. Almost all vestiges of Smartdrive have been removed by WD tech.

thanks,

larryg

Larryg, I think when you install the Smartdrive software there is a install option only to install the administrative stuff, and not the backup part.  That then will at least give you the option to change passwords I know.  Not sure if you can eliminate it.  So I if it allows for no password, then you can uninstall it and hope have a plain USB drive.  I am thinking of doing the same here too. 

It is a shame that a long time hardware manufacturer with a great rep is brought down by a lack of quality control on what is pretty simple software.  And then compounds the issue by not addressing the problem (mabey it will be fixed in not the next release but the one after that).  It is not enough to make good reliable hard drives if you don’t provide the software that makes them work.  Never a WD drive again.

Hi LarryG,

if you look on page15 of the MyBook Essential User Handbook  http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705053.pdf then you will see that there is an option to run the drive without Smartware and (??without the password).

I am still having different problems from everybody else but have had a message from the 7th Cavalry and I hope to be fixed soon.

John

wdfme uses 50%+ cpu all the time, currently it is running 24/7 and causes one of my processors to run at 100% all the time because of other things i use my computer for. memory usage fluctuates but stays around 100K. i use file backup, not category backup.

@Bill_s from a previous thread

"We do actually have a pause button on the software, and we have actually recommended people use it when they need more resources than SmartWare is allowing. "

Where is this pause function?

WDFME & Firefox (my default browser)

  • Why does wdfme get active when I load a browser? I use File backup and do not specify backing up any browser related files except for my downloads folder which is in MyDocuments.
  • When I run Chrome wdfme kicks in for a few seconds, when I exit Chrome wdfme runs for just a little bit.
  • When I run Firefox wefme kicks in and stays at 50+% cpu useage. Period. Even after exiting Firefox! :angry:
  • I use the same download folder for both Chrome and Firefox.

Win 7-64 sp1 w/latest updates

most recent Chrome 15.0.874.120

most recent Firefox 8.0

Smartware 1.5.1.16

george_lol wrote:

@Bill_s from a previous thread

"We do actually have a pause button on the software, and we have actually recommended people use it when they need more resources than SmartWare is allowing. "

 

Where is this pause function?

If you have the latest version of the WD Smartware, just open the WD Smartware, then go to settings, and then setup software, here look for backup speed, just select the option here, "run backup when computer is Idle.

 The problem with this is that the so-called ‘pause button’ does not do that. At least it would not for my case running Windows 7 Ultimate. The software continued using most of my computer’s resources even though I ALWAYS had it set to run ONLY when idle. Not really much of a pause button if the software keeps running at such a highly demanding level. I’d expect a true pause function to run only a trivial routine listening for activity, such as watching the CPU for periods of inactivity of longer than a minute.