I have been using WD disks a lot… So, when I bought a new HD I went to get a WD My Book essential… only to find it has a vcd in udf format… I tried a lot of stuff to remove that partition, since it would be useless to me. I do not plan on use it to encrypt files nor to do backups of PC files. At all.
After reading a lot in the internet, I found some people who claimed to be able to remove it, only to find they do not work at all. Why isn’t it provided as the last disk I bought? As bonus software in the drive but not in another partition that is closed by firmware? I have the 1 TB My Book, it has a lot of connections and works great in firewire ( IEEE 1394). I didn’t mind that the new one was only usb compatible. But, I do mind that this new software can’t be removed at all. I will sell it and buy another HD … not WD anymore. If this can’t be removed at all, even with new firmware upgrades, you have lost me.
And before I am told that this drive works great with encryption… I picked this because it was cheap and had more space available than other brands. But, if these programs ARE needed, then, I won’t buy any wd disk anymore.
The VCD can’t be removed but at least you can hide it if you don’t want to use the software. Allow me to share this link from the WD website with the intructions about how to disable / hide the VCD. I hope this information is good or is what you are looking for…
and, as I stated. I do not care at all for encryption with password protection or backup. I am NOT going to use it for any of those purposes.
and still, the vcd thing has a detrimental effect on the performance. I noticed it. Comparing it with the other my book, it’s really slow. hidding it doesn’t change that a bit. And no, I wasn’t looking for a way to hide it. I want to ERASE that partition and get the 700 mb back. Seek Remove in wikipedia, okay? It means either delete or erase, not hide it.
And as I already posted, If this ■■■■ cannot be removed, even with firmware updates, I am not buying wd disks anymore.
The WD Community was created for Users, such as yourself, to help one another, and to share your experiences and ideas with one another. Because you are not getting the answer you want to hear or you didn’t like the answer you get, that is not reason to be rude with anyone here.
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I’d like to remember this is an users forum, if you don’t like an answer you can just ignore it and wait for someone else to answer, ( I was just trying to help) you don’t have to be rude, remember you are looking for an answer at this moment you dont have it or don’t know it.
I also have a My Book Essential drive with WD Smartware which i don’t use because I don’t like automatic backups and like I said the VCD CAN’T BE REMOVED ( I already tried it ). If you found how to do it, let me know so I can remove it as well
You are not the only one who has bought WD Smartware enabled drives and found out that there is no way to remove the VCD. Not only does it take up space on the drive, but the firmware will interfere with the boot process.
But complaining on this forum is not enough. WD is not going to respond until its sales go down. I encourage you to go to outside forums and relate yolur experience so that others don’t get burned. Only when Seagate sales rise and WD sales fall will WD release firmware that will get rid of the VCD.
