I have noticed that My Passport 500gb is making a backup of the content of my desktop media drive to WD “SmartWare.swstor” folder without me ever telling it to do so. This have happened several times, and every time I have removed that specific folder, it just makes a new backup next time I plug in the drive.
I use another program to backup my files and thus putting everything in another folder on the external drive. The wierd thing is that the WD SmartWare is never started or running, I have allowed the program to only start when I choose to run it, never on computer start up.
This is extremely annoying because it takes up double the space of my Passport, and it takes time to delete the 140gb folder every time.
Um, if you don’t want Smartware, then don’t install it, or uninstall it.
The Smartware service runs continuously in the background… you don’t have to “run” the application itself.
While it’s running in the background, it continuously checks for folders that need backing up… if you keep deleting the backup, of course it’s going to keep replacing the files.
If you use other backup program(s), just uninstall Smartware altogether.
But I want the ability to set a password on my passport. Is there any other (better) program for tha? And if I choose to unistall SmartWare, can I reinstall it later if I want to?
My understanding is you can still use the password without the Smartware application. You need the “Unlocker” application.
So, what you _ can’t _ do is hide the “Smartware” VCD partition if your drive came with one. (As far as I know, the “Unlocker” VCD on newer drives automatically hides itself… if you set a password on the drive, then the VCD becomes unhidden. If you remove the password, then the VCD hides itself again.)
As long as the PC has access to the “Unlocker” application in the VCD (whether the VCD is the old-style “Smartware” or the new-style “Unlocker”), through AutoPlay, the drive can be unlocked.
That’s basically why the unlock bits and pieces were put on a VCD in the first place – so that a locked drive could be connected to a different PC that isn’t running Smartware, and still be accessed.
From what I can see from all WD’s answers, you need either Smartware running or you need AutoPlay enabled, so that the unlocker runs when the drive is mounted. Of course you also need the SES driver installed and working, so that the PC can communicate with the drive about the password stuff.
And yes, if you uninstall Smartware, you can always re-install it at a later date.
