WD SmartWare issue - what software do you recommend for backup?! please help :S

WD Software & Mobile Apps WD Software
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Hi Everyone

I have a My Passport Essential since 2009. Unfortunately, it came with the WD Sync software on the VCD, which I logically assumed was to sync or backup your data. This worked fine for just over a year, until the program just stopped working (trying to open just gives a “corrupt file” or “windows is closing the program” error message). I tried asking WD and the forum what to do, but I still couldn’t resolve the problem. Then reading in the forums, I found out WD Sync is not meant for backup (why i am still wondering… i just want to have a software that helps me put my data on a hard drive to back it up from my pc).

So yesterday I just decided to zero the drive and start over. Obviously it was a software problem, and after doing a full Diagnostic Test with the WD tool, my drive was said to be in good condition. So I zerod, re-initialized the drive since the PC didn’t recognize it anymore, partitioned and reformatted with NTSF. Now it showed up again; good. I then downloaded WD Smartware and the installation was a bit weird, I double clicked the file and it said initializing, but then never showed something like “successful or finish installation”. I was immediatley prompted to upgrade to 1.4, which I did, rebooted, and then the program was actually on the tab and opened up. Everything looked/seemed ok. However, now I have the problem, which I read a lot in the forum, that the  backup, retrieve, and drive setup tabs are greyed out.

So now my questions are:

  1. do you even recommend this software? It seems like a lot of people dislike it. If you don’t recommend it, what should I use for backup?!

  2. how do I get the backup and retrieve tabs working?! The only thing I found in discussions was to repartition and format your drive. But I have literally just done that.

At this point I am just tempted to go out and buy a new hard drive from another vendor. Any recommendations maybe? Or a software that works?

Thanks a lot.

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Hi there, here are a few things to note:

1- If your drive came with WD Sync then you won’t be able to use Smartware as it only works with the drives that come with it.

2- There are people who hate it, who like it or have for other things rather than backups as Smartware has a lot a of options related to the drive management (Like the encryption and sleep timer).

3- The backup and retrieve tabs (As well as the drive settings under settings) only work when Smartware recognizes that you have a compatible drive (A drive that comes with Smartware) and that it is formatted for your operating system (NTFS on Windows and HFS+ on Macs).

4- I use Windows Backup on my Windows 7 computer. But the drive works with ANY non-branded software. You can Google “free backup software” and it will be a matter of choosing the only you like, Microsoft SyncToy seems to work well and it’s free.

:smiley:

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Ok, thanks! I’m trying to figure out how to salvage my drive (maybe just use the copy/paste or drag and drop). After reading your message, I was also trying to figure out how to uninstall the smartware because there was no uninstall file (as with my WD sync…). But I just found out that “programs and features” could do it successfully! Yey! :slight_smile:

Thanks again for the advice! I’m really starting to get stressed out becuase my computer is overheating, getting the blue screen… it’s time to have this data backed up!