I am using WD My Passport Essential - 500GB USB drive.
When I enable EFS (Encrypting File System) on my Windows 7 computer to encrypt the files, the WD smartware software is unable to backup or restore the data. The files and folders are created on the WD hard drive, but if I browse the hard drive manually, I cannot open the files. Also, if I try to restore the file using the WD application, I get an error.
If I disable EFS (Decrypt the files) on my computer, the whole backup system works well.
aside from the fact that the mb essential drive you have uses hardware encryption, and you’re trying to encrypt an encrypted drive, I don’t see a problem. just kidding. the drive is already encrypted. if you pull the internal drive out of that case, you won’t be able to read the data on it. it’s the case, the bridge board in the case, that makes the drive readable.
I agree with you on the fact that the drive is very secure. However, the data on our computers is already encrypted. We can’t decrypt the files to allow the backup to run. I would expect the WD smartware software to be compatible with the existing EFS encryption… just like the Windows 7 builtin backup/software program.
An official answer wheter or not the Passport Essential USB 3.0 is compatible with EFS would be appreciated… if the error is normal then I will simply return my unit to the store.
