In their last email back to me today they said this:
(May 6th - today)
"…We’re currently working on a firmware update that will remove WD SmartWare from the drive, but we don’t have a release day yet.
If you have any further questions, please reply to this email and we will be happy to assist you further.
Sincerely,
Kimberlin
Western Digital Service and Support
So, there it is, funny though they previously emailed me this:
(May 3rd)
This are some pointers you need to know about this product _ first, the WD SmarWare VCD cannot be removed from the drive under any circumstances _, second, the VCD does NOT consume space of the hard drive is built-in not added on (different partition you CANNOT modify) _ Third, this is the 4th generation of drives from this one and on ahead ALL of them will include the built in software. _
Sincerely,
Jose R.
Western Digital Service and Support
