Waking Up Windows 8 for Backup

I’d like to schedule my backup for when my laptop is sleeping.  I am using Windows 8 and require a password when the machine wakes up. I have a WD My Passport and am using WD Smartware Pro.  Am I correct that this requires scheduling a task?  Could you offer detail as to which boxes should be checked in the “Properties” Section of the scheduled task?  What program should I tell the computer to activate when it awakes?

mtnmac001,

While the Task Scheduler can indeed be used to specify particular actions you would like for your system to perform, WD SmartWare will not operate while your system is in sleep mode. The task itself would need to awaken your system from stand-by.

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Thank you jstaff. So I simply create a task to wake up the machine? I don’t have to set it to start the WD Smartware itself? I’ve seen it suggested to simply use “cmd.exe” as the “program” to open. This simply opens the command prompt and, I guess, in the process, wakes the machine. I noticed that when I did this, the monitor did not wake up but when I logged on the command prompt was showing.

mtnmac001,

WD SmartWare itself has been designed to run in the background by default, but it can also be set to scheduled mode for specific backup behavior. On the other hand, your system will also need to awaken your WD external disk drive. Some computer systems do not provide enough power to awaken USB device upon resuming instead of a cold boot (Full power on).

Monitor wake-up behavior may be independent from system wake-up behavior. You may need to verify the power and energy efficiency settings on the Control Panel.

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Thank you again jStaff. That’s interesting about it not waking up enough to activate the USB slot. Mine evidently wasn’t waking up enough because the backup would still not run. So really, the primary method and the one you would suggest is the continuous backup? Does it use a lot of resources running in the background? Is it adversely affected when one disconnects the external drive and later re-connects?

mtnmac001,

The application is designed to give priority to the system itself, and only activate when on idle mode. Disconnecting your external hard drive by means of  safe removal does not affect the backup behavior as the application keeps a log of pending files.

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Thank you very much JStaff! You have been a big help!