okay chalk another user up to being extremely angry about not being able to remove this vcd smartware stuff, i don’t want it disabled, I want it GONE! Also The fact it still looks for the driver is outta control, for real? it slows my install time on new computers, and really is a nuisance as I use this drive for dj tracks, and need this drive to load instantly. Get it fixed. We want the option to remove it, i’m like two days from returning this drive and getting a seagate.
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Well I thought that SOMEONE with some authority would either reply, bury the thread or solve the problem, I was wrong. They took our money, they could care less. They do not even care enough to bury it and “try to look good” so they owe us nothing. I perceive this as corporate arrogance. They have been successful in taking our money now NO ONE in WD cares if we have a problem with their screw ups. They have screwed us and now rather that pay an engineer to fix THEIR mistake they will let us suffer with their mess-up.
OK so what can we do?
Exactly what we are doing. We will use their corporate arrogance against them. Tell everyone the truth. Post a review everywhere you can saying the drive is garbage and save your money. If you can - return the drive for a refund NOW because they will not fix it. We will use their own servers and message base to spread the word. We may not be able to cost them millions BUT we can be another nail in their coffin.
[text deleted]
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Even though there is really nothing we can do or promise as moderators. I will pass this thread along. However, I would consider posting these complaints as a feature request in our Ideas Lab. Just make sure that someone else already hasn’t created this request. If they have please vote.
Tech support recommended I come here, another moderator recommended I go another place in private email, now you too are saying try another location. This is all just another version of the WD Corporate dance called pass the buck. STOP IT!! DO SOMETHING!! Instead of us, the end user, the people that pay your WD Corporate salary, being told to go elsewhere why not just have the proper people come here, TO US. Your marketing comes TO US WHEN YOU WANT OUR MONEY and now that there is a problem and you can not see how to extract more money from us no one at WD wants to deal with it hoping will will get discouraged in the corporate run around and forget it. I promise you that THE ONLY THING I AM GOING TO FORGET IS TO BUY ANOTHER WD PRODUCT.
DO SOMETHING other than screw every Mac user and the rest of the clone users who HATE THIS STUPID FIRM WARE.
EARN YOUR MONEY … DO SOMETHING.
I just read this before posting and realized that WD Corporate IS DOING SOMETHING - You are ignoring us because there is no profit in it, is Seagate paying you to do this? If not you should contact them because they would pay big bucks for this type of industrial espionage your own WD corporate arrogance is providing Seagate… Maybe the fools that developed this VCD mess are in fact from Seagate trying to destroy WD’s reputation. IF SO - they have done a perfect job and Seagate will be giving them a bonus!!
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LoBofan59, Buy Seagate next time WD has show they do not care now that they have our money. We are screwed.
I’m linking all my favorite tech forums to this thread in order to advise people about the problems of new My Passport drives.
http://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Passport-for-PC/Remove-the-VCD-from-my-drive/td-p/7066
You should do the same.
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I haven’t figured out how to remove the VCD software, but for the time being why is everyone loading more software on to the drive when you already want more space? I am using XP SP3 and all I did was go into My Computer ->right click->Properties then click on ‘hardware’->Device Manager_>expand CD/DVD Drives then right click on the WD Virtual CD and click on ‘disable’. I know, it doesn’t get your space back but saves you from seeing that drive letter and having to download a firmware update! Don’ t know if this works on Vista or 7.
Ok, one more very annoyed WD customer here.
I followed the instructions to hide the VCD drive.
(parso71, your idea only works on that one computer, if you connect to another computer you will see the VCD drive again. follow the complete WD instructions to hide the vcd drive and you won’t see it on any computer again)
However, being prompted for the SES driver is unacceptable! Yes I can install the driver and I won’t be prompted again (on that computer), but why should I have to install the driver? I don’t want the security features, thats why I disabled the VCD drive, why should there be a prompt for SES drivers on every computer I attach this drive? Installing the drivers gets rid of the annoying prompt only on that machine, but I don’t want that SES device at all, and I don’t want to be prompted for it.
WD needs to realize that this is a ultra portable storage drive, customers want to attach it to many machines, we don’t want to be prompted for a SES device every computer we attach it to an new computer, when we don’t use that feature.
Give me a firmware update or expect yet another return from another unhappy customer.
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You shouldn’t have to install software to use external drives on any modern operating system. And having to install software just so you can HIDE the cr@pware on the drive is ludicrous.
I use linux and there is no way to even hide blasted thing in linux. Not to mention that I would have to hide it on every machine I ever use one of these hideous things on. I had been using a different type of WD external drive and decided to upgrade capactiy and bought 10 of these things to do quick server backups in linux. It is absolutely ridiculous that there is no way to completely remove this cr@pware and get the storage back that I payed for.
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I used to be a WD supporter, but this is the breaking point. Please release a firmware patch to remove the bloatware or explain a method that will completely remove it. "Hiding’ this ‘feature’ is NOT a solution. Explain what features/performance hits we will take if we do so, but it is unconscionable to force users to install unwanted software to use a drive. I will be posting your answers to this on every site I can find. Let’s see how social-networking works…
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What a crappy product!
The virtual CD is one thing but requesting a driver each time you plug it into a PC, is ridiculous!
Now one of my staff “put a password on it” I guess she installed the software from the virtual CD even though I told her not to. At the moment I can’t access the drive or even format it.
This could be such a simple elegant product but they have ruined it.
When will hardware companies learn not to try and stuff their software down our throats!
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Yeah, you’re right about that Hitbox. Very disappointing to see that WD has STILL NOT released a patch to get back 300MB of unwanted features that everyone on this thread is complaining about.
Comon’ WD, get your **** together and keep your customers happy or no one will be purchasing WD in the future!!!
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Add me too to the list of unsatisfied buyers! I juts bought my fifth WD Passport but the VCD makes it useless to me. I want to use my Passport as a portable HDD for several computers, NOT as a back-up for a stationary HD!
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Add another dissatisfied customer to the list and it seemd WD could care less and if they dont do something about this I cant see it helping themselves for future sales or purchasing of there products
It says they are listening to there customers but are not giving the customer a viable solution
Software is garbage and causes more problems and I cant even use the drive for my customers now
at least we know why the drives were so cheap before we bought em
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I am trying to avoid letting my anger with WDC over the VCD and Smartware issue force me to cut off my nose to spite my face.
What I have found is that the VCD/Smartware included with all the MyBook and MyPassport drives makes those drives much less useful to anyone with half a brain, AND…the USB interface is integrated into the drive controller board itself, not a separate interface board plugged onto a SATA drive. Removing the VCD may very well be impossible.
If you, like me, really do like WD products in general, I would recommend buying the WD Elements external drive, which does not have the VCD NOR Smartware.
In point of fact, WDC would probably be money ahead, reputation-wise, to offer to replace (with a WD Elements drive), any myBook or MyPassport drive for customers (like me) who unknowingly received the VCD/Smartware package, and HATE it.
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JimBob wrote:
In point of fact, WDC would probably be money ahead, reputation-wise, to offer to replace (with a WD Elements drive), any myBook or MyPassport drive for customers (like me) who unknowingly received the VCD/Smartware package, and HATE it.
Well written and just as well said.
I accept this solution.
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This would be the first (and possibly last) post here, sad that it has to be at the behest of all the strife involved with the topic at hand… that being said, hopefully I can share some insight, and possible do WD’s job for them. As an observer, I see here the common “community” jive coming about: complaints mostly, ideas following, and then a pattering out. Let’s try and stay productive here!
I’ll start out with this: Windows = average user, lower geekiness levels. Linux = somewhat average user, higher geekiness levels. That out of the way, you’ll notice most everyone with the SmartWare problems are Windows users. Per usual, the hardware product is accompanied by sub-par proprietary software. And per usual, it takes a higher geekiness level to best this shoddy investment by the hardware seller.
I recently had a thumb drive die on me. Windows couldn’t do a darned thing about it. No readily available repair utilities I had could help. Popping in a Linux LiveCD (most any distro would work), and running a partition editor? Got my little guy back and shining. Granted, no data recovery took place- but I had a working thumb stick again. This ushers in my idea for solving this problem:
In preperation, we have several tools available to us, to get the drivers for the WD drive. Following the prior advice would perhaps work… that is, letting Windows download the drivers for you. Google “driver back tool” and find a weapon of choice if you like, and of course, backup the drivers for the WD drive.
Also, you’ll want to backup your WD drive. Yes, this can be a pain. We’ll be wiping the WD drive, so just be certain you’ve backed all your data up. You may have figured out my plan here so far. By wiping the drive completely, we should (in theory) get rid of the SmartWare VCD, and get back the space we’re losing. Problem is, the VCD itself seems to be hidden. This is where Linux comes in. The bits that Windows refuses to show us, Linux lifts the skirt on.
We don’t need to actually install Linux, just boot into a “Live” session. I won’t go over that process- this material has been beaten to death all over. Just Google it. If you’re new to Linux, this would be a practical introduction I suppose! At any rate, you’ll need to start a partition editor tool, which is commonly included with the various Linux distros available. Once there, find your WD drive. Delete the partitions on it, and format it to NTFS.
After this step is complete, the WD drive should be at a vanilla state, more virgin than when we bought it. You should be good to reboot and go back to Windows now. Install the drivers for the WD drive, and slap your backed up data on there.
Now, I must advise at this point, that this is all theoretical. Rather, I haven’t done this yet myself. I’m in the middle of a Windows XP post-install pass… and came across this thread when I went to make a clone image of my system drive. Was NOT expecting the crappy back up options. “Smart” backup? Sorry, I’d rather have CONTROL of how I work with my data. Automation should have been an after thought.
Luckily there are a myriad of options for data backup and recovery, some of which actually come from WD themselves. Which is why… I’m really confused as to how the junk that shipped with these drives made the grade. That’s business for you I suppose.
At any rate, if anyone follows those steps above, and has success with them, please share. Any other insights of course should be shared as well! Ah, actually, I just thought of something: it might be possible, when in Linux, editing the WD partitions- to just delete the VCD partition, and extend the main one to fill the empty space. In that case, it would remove the need to backup all the data on the WD before removing the VCD partition (note that, this is for the brave- you should always back your **** up!).
Right, hope this helps somehow. I’ll probably go through this process myself, and when/if so, I’ll come back here and update. Peace.
I don’t know if my problem is related to the VCD but it seems to be the case. I have a new WD My Passport Elite 500GB.
It works perfectly on a PC (read / write), but when I connect it to a “FreeBox HD” (internet TV in France). I can use it to read installed files (JPG or video) but I cannot record on it. Any others USB H.D. works fine (read/write).
So what to do? Could this be caused by the VCD program?
I’m gonna take a wild stab here, and say that the Freebox HD only has read/write support for FAT16/32, but only read access on NTFS?
Is so, formatting the WD drive to FAT32 *should* work. I’m not familiar with Freebox HD, but it’s common to run into filesystem problems between devices (some support FAT32, others NTFS, etc).
Hope that helps.
Thanks Derjyn,
I did try to format to FAT32 but under this condition my Freebox doesn’t see the H.D. anymore. I called the vendor and he proposed me to send it back and it will make an exchange with an equivalent product from other makes. That sound the best to my problem. So bye bye W.D. and I will not try the experience anymore…
