How to backup data of all users?

WD External Drives WD Portable Drives
1

I have been unable to execute the WD SmartWare as a non-administrator user. When I perform a backup as Administrator, it only copies the files of the current user. Files of other users are excluded. Making all other users on the machine administrators is not an acceptable solution…

  1. Can you edit the backup plan to not exclude other user data? Do you only need to modify the BackupRules.xml file, or also each of the DataClad.ProcessingRules.mda files? I suspect that any changes I make may get overwritten or cause problems, especially if I add a rule…

  2. Can you just “drag and drop” the data for the other users after the automated backup is finished? There is a warning not to modify the contents of the Passport partition. Is it safe to create a folder manually anywhere on the disk?

I honestly would prefer to have a “1 click backup” solution in this case, but if it is not flexible enough to do the job right then I will need to format the Passport and use it as a regular disk. From reading the manual I understand that using the “Erase” function from the SmartWare application will eliminate ALL files, including the VCD partition, leaving the Passport a regular NTFS formatted disk. Is this correct? The manual says to look for knowledge base answer #5419, but it does not seem to exist…

2

About the “Erase” function, this thread says it only affects the data partition and not the VCD. However, the manual says the following:

“In addition to deleting all of the data on your My Passport drive, erasing or reformatting the drive also removes the WD SmartWare software and all of the support files, utilities, online help and user manual files. If you ever need to remove and reinstall the WD SmartWare software on your computer, or move the drive to another computer and install the software there, you will need to restore the WD SmartWare software and disk image on your My Passport drive.”

I assumed the part in bold was referring to the VCD partition, but maybe not. Can someone from WD confirm? Thanks.

EDIT: Finally read through the  eight page thread on removing the VCD partition and see that there is currently no complete solution to this problem. :cry:

3

  1. SmartWare cannot back up other Windows user’s profilers so you must log out of your own profile and log in as another to back up their data.

  2. You can drag/drop data onto the drive but SmartWare will only manage data that it copied onto the drive itself.

  3. You can reformat the drive but that does not purge the VCD or its SmartWare capabilities from the drive.

4

Thanks for the reply. Just a couple of follow up questions.

  1. I can’t get SmartWare to work except for non-Administrator users. Is this a known issue?

  2. So if I drag/drop files into the root folder of the Passport drive, this will not interfere with the SmartWare backup in any way? Thanks.

EDIT: Formatting.

5

  1. Is SmartWare only functioning in administrative users or does it only function when you log into users without administrative access?

  2. Yes, dragging files onto the root of the drive will not interfere with SmartWare backups.

6

  1. The first scenario is correct. For me, SmartWare will only load when the active user has Administator rights. Otherwise, attempting to open the program gives no result at all…

  2. Thanks for confirming.

7

What version of SmartWare do you have installed on your computer?  Also, what firmware version does SmartWare identify on your drive?

8

I had the SmartWare version that came pre-installed on my drive installed, which is v1.1.0.7. I attempted to update this to the latest version (v1.3.0.16), which judging by other forum posters is far superior, but the install just isn’t working (see this thread)! I do have the latest firmware installed though (v2.003).

9

What specifically happened on your computer when you tried to install SmartWare 1.3.0.16?  What version of Windows do you have on your computer?

10

Copied from the other thread.

  1. Windows XP SP3.

  2. DotNet Framework3.5 SP1 and KB982524 installed.

  3. Drive firmware 2.003.

  4. While running the installation of v1.3.0.16, I can see a Western Digital folder is created and files are being installed.

  5. At the end of the install, the folder is gone again and the process ends with NO version of SmartWare installed (old version is gone also)! The installation appears to finish normally and there is no error message at all.

EDIT: Formatting.

11

What are the rest of the Microsoft .NET frameworks that you have on your computer? Do you have 1.1, 2.0 SP2, 3.0 SP2 and 4?

12

I had a lot of different versions installed. I uninstalled them all and then re-installed 3.5 SP1 only. Then I downloaded all the recommended hotfixes and service packs from windows update. Now I have the following installed.

.Net 2.0 SP2

.Net 3.0 SP2

.Net 3.5 SP1

Didn’t seem to make any difference.

13

DELETED

14

What happens if you install the Microsoft .NET framework 1.1?