I am having the same issue with my 1TB Elite just purchased from Costco. Taking it back tomorrow morning and buying a Seagate, YOU PEOPLE AT WD ARE FREAKING IDIOTS, I FYOU CAN’T WRITE MAC SOFTWARE THEN DON’T TRY! I shouldn’t waste 3 hours attempting to remove your POS VCD from MY BRAND NEW HARD DRIVE!
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FranklyJeremy wrote:
I shouldn’t waste 3 hours attempting to remove your POS VCD from MY BRAND NEW HARD DRIVE!
You’re right. If you’d looked before you grabbed the first box you saw on the shelf, you could have easily grabbed one of the drives without hardware encryption that doesn’t need the VCD, and then you wouldn’t have had to get your panties in a knot trying to hide the VCD.
The encryptable drives need the VCD to function.
[deleted], why would you assume that I had an option? I bought it from Costco and this is currently the only model that they carry of this particular hard drive. The wife just brought me a Seagate 2TB drive on her way home and guess what? It worked the first time, the [deleted] software was removed with a single format, done. Western digital needs to get their act together, not every consumer is retarded.
Check out all the reviews at NewEgg, this software is sub-par and poorly programmed:
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They give specific instructions as to how to hide the VCD, yet they don’t work for multiple people…looks like WD has a problem, not me.
I made no comment about the “Smartware” software… and I’ve never used it myself.
The fact remains that the VCD, whether it also contains the Smartware software or not, is necessary for the locking/unlocking and the hardware encryption. And due to that fact, WD has repeatedly said that they can’t (and won’t) remove it from the encryptable drives, even though the newest drives just have the lock/unlock bits and pieces on the VCD, without the “Smartware” program.
It doesn’t matter to me whether Passports are the only drives Costco carries, because I know they aren’t the only retailer in the world.
The fact remains that nobody forced you to purchase a product that wasn’t what you wanted.
My issue s that they wasted my time with instructions that absolutely didn’t work and all the forum has to say is rinse and repeat. How about WD just make a decent product or instructions that work in the first place. I own 4 of their external drives and was able to remove the backup software from them with a simple format. There are many ways that this type of encryption could have been achieved without making it a huge waste of time for any prosumer.
I have the same exact problem. We set up external hard drives for end-users all the time. The WD Smartware CD icon is confusing to end users and we need to hide it. WD makes good disks, but this issue gives me the impression they are too big to take care of the details that give customers a great experience rather than just good. Like Apple computer, for example.
Jeff
What is sad is this problem has been there for quite a while and WD has been very slow to do anything about it. By looking at the box there is no way for a average user to know that encryption = annoying virtual CD. Updating the firmware to hide the virtual CD causes it’s own problems. People don’t realize this forum is just other users. Other than the Moderator there is rarely anybody from WD posting here.
Joe
I have just registered here, after reading a lot of other complaints, to give WD my 2 cents about their stupid “Smartdrive” ■■■■. I’m on my 4th WD external drive, and it will probably be my last one. I just got a 500 GB WD Mybook Essential and when I plugged it in the first time it says it has to load drivers and installs the Smartdrive ■■■■. Fortunately I got it stopped before it put the VCD on my desktop. I’ve never had a WD drive do this before. Now it takes over 20 minutes for my computer to shut down!!! There is no visible way to remove the stupid software, and I’m really pissed. What is the point of forcing a customer to install something they don’t want, or need, and then not letting them get rid of it!!! I’ve always been a fan of WD drives, both external and internal. This “Smartdrive” ■■■■ has really made me change my mind about the products you offer now. I was considering getting another 2TB drive for video editing, but I may have to look at another brand if WD can’t do something about giving us a simple and easy way of removing this useless and VERY irritating software.
Just sign me sick of the waiting for shutdown. #@&%!
If you didn’t want the hardware encryption and the locking/unlocking capabilities, then why buy a drive that has it instead of one of the ones that doesn’t?
In response to the previous comment: If the packaging had clearly stated that the drive required the installation of software to be able to use it, then I would have definitely gone for another product. The fact is that it DID NOT, and after having previously purchased 3 other WD external drives that did NOT require any type of software installation to function, why should a customer suspect such an unnecessary action was required? Sounds to me like WD is trying to put the blame on it’s customers for something that they could have easily avoided. Either the packaging should be better marked with warnings about required software being installed (and then not being able to get rid of it easily), or an option should have been given BEFORE the installation to give the customer a choice. Making it sound like the consumer of your products is stupid and should know better is not a good way to keep them as customers. If I take my car to the dealership because it’s not running correctly and the tech tells me I bought the wrong model and that’s why I’m having trouble with it, then I would definitely NOT buy any car from them again. This is the same kind of situation, IMO. If this is the way WD feels about this situation, then I will no longer recommend or use any WD product, and will make sure to warn others on the many tech forums I belong to about WD’s behavior. You have always been a reputable manufacturer of hard drives in the past, but your inept handling of this single matter is enough to prove to me that you no longer care about the people who have kept you in business all these years.
But that’s just it. You don’t have to install or use the Smartware program. The drive will work perfectly well as a “normal” drive without it.
If you didn’t want the hardware encryption, and all the bits and pieces necessary for the hardware encryption to work, then just buy one of the drives that doesn’t offer hardware encryption – they’re generally cheaper than the encryptable drives anyways.
Choosing an encryptable drive over the non-encryotable bare drive sitting next to it on the store shelf (and paying more), and then complaining that it comes with bits and pieces necessary for encryption/decryption, is rather like walking in to Sears and buying a self-cleaning stove, over the cheaper non-self-cleaning stove sitting next to it, and then whining at Sears once you get it home that you don’t want the self-cleaning bits, and Sears shouldn’t offer self-cleaning stoves because it’s not what you want to buy.
If you want an encryptable drive, then buy an encryptable drive; if you don’t want an encryptable drive, then buy a bare, non-encryptable drive.
It’s not WD’s fault that many people want the hardware encryption. But they do sell other drives that don’t have the encryption capabilities.
That’s why the Passports and the MyBook Essentials have the icon plastered right on the box, and the Elements drives don’t. The Elements drives are just plain ol’ drives. They come totally empty. They don’t have the lock/unlock software and bits and pieces because they don’t support the hardware encryption.
So, WD sells encryptable drives, and marks them as such, and sells non-encryptable bare drives and doesn’t put the icon on their boxes. How exactly can WD “avoid” the customer grabbing a drive that isn’t suited to them instead of one that is? Go shopping with you and hold your hand?
Or, are you merely suggesting that WD should stop manufacturing encryptable drives, despite all the people that _ do _ want them, because it’s not what you personally want, and you don’t want to pick up the wrong drive by mistake?
For your car analogy, the situation is closer to going out and buying a Smart car, and then complaining to Mercedes that it’s no good for 4x4 off-roading. Well, Mercedes never said it was. How is the car you purchased being unsuitable for your desired end use the fault of Mercedes and not the fault of you? Sure, you can say you’ll never buy a car from Mercedes again, because this one isn’t suited to what you want, but the technician certainly has the right to point out that it’s unsuitable.
No. You guys have it wrong.
One: there is no clear differnce between this drive and any other on newegg.com or amazon.com
Two: these portable hard drives are comodities; we buy the cheapest name brand device
These “value added” features aren’t used or needed for IT environments. We have Time Machine on the Macs, for example, to backup.
I thought this thread started out being about “when you follow the instructions provided to remove the CD automount, it doesn’t work and their support is no help”?
This is something broken in their documentation and via their support. This is not a hack. This is a support issue that is broken.
How has this de-evolved from that?
Jeff
TAMUESSM wrote:
One: there is no clear differnce between this drive and any other on newegg.com or amazon.com
How is that WD’s fault and not Amazon’s or NewEgg’s fault?
Two: these portable hard drives are comodities; we buy the cheapest name brand device
Yes, and the Elements line (without the VCD) is cheaper than the Passport line. So that excuse doesn’t hold water. And if you’re just buying whatever you can get your hands on, instead of looking at what it is you’re actually buying, that still comes back to being your fault and no one else’s.
I see a 1TB Elements at Amazon as being $69.99, a 1TB Elements SE as being $119.23, and a 1TB MyPassport Essential SE as being $125.99. So, if you really were buying the cheapest drive, you wouldn’t be getting the VCD and the encryption.
These “value added” features aren’t used or needed for IT environments.
Right. So don’t buy a drive that has them if you don’t want/need them. You’ll save money.
I thought this thread started out being about “when you follow the instructions provided to remove the CD automount, it doesn’t work and their support is no help”?
This is something broken in their documentation and via their support. This is not a hack. This is a support issue that is broken.
How has this de-evolved from that?
I’m sorry. I thought any user had the right (within the TOS) to reply to any other user’s post, whether made in the “correct” thread or not. Perhaps in the future you can provide me a list of which topics you will allow me to reply to. I’d appreciate that.
The original problem was answered on the first page by Bill.
