I’ve been building systems for going on ten years now. I have ALWAYS exclusively used WD products and actively encourage anybody considering a new drive to go with WD. I can’t even tell you how many I’ve bought over the years.
I just want to express my disappointment with this thread
as I am facing the same problem. Ironically this is not a drive that I purchased. One of my friends (who I recommended buy WD btw) gave me this drive as he has several new ones and this “tiny” 1TB drive just isn’t shiny enough for him anymore 
Anyway, back on ponit. I am running 64 bit Vista and can not install firmware for this device. After reading the thread I linked to earlier I have the feeling of being snubbed. I never expected this from WD.
Many of my complaints are addressed by Heavydpj in his post on the second page and the responses made by the WD employee Bill_S are nothing short of dismissing.
So Bill_S says we shouldn’t expect it to run on Win 7 64 bit since that came a year after the firmware update. OK fine. I don’t agree with that but that’s the way it is. So what about Vista 64 bit? That particular OS, (and the emergence of 64 bit consumer awareness) had been going strong for three years PRIOR to the firmware update. So what’s the excuse for not supporting Vista 64?
I’m sitting here looking at a drive that can only manage 1.7 MB/s transfer rates, and am being told to bugger off and go buy a new drive by a company that I have trusted for the last ten years.
I’m not a coder but I’m pretty sure all you have to do is recompile the installer for 64 bit OS. Someone correct me if I’m wrong but we ARE talking about firmware which resides on the drive and once installed will be x86 compliant so it’s simply the installer itself that needs a tune-up and not the code residing within the firmware.
Now this isn’t enough to prevent me from buying or recommending WD as I consider ten trouble free years worth more than the consumer angst I’m experiencing atm, but that nice shiny WD logo has a big ding on it now.
Can the bean counters really be right in forcing the company to take this attitude? I don’t think so.
