Retrieve data from backup

ok so i bought my dad a “my passport” we backed up his computer (the os is vista) on to the my passport using wd smartware he now has bought a new computer with windows 7 and im trying to use the back up to transfer he files to the new computer but im have trouble fingering out how to do this i can’t install the software that came on the my passport and when i go into the files of the my passport and try to copy and past a message pops up saying  “the disk is write-protected” “remove the write-protection or use another disk” i don’t under stand im not trying to write to the wd passport imtrying to copy from it but it wont let me i don’t understand why this is so difficult i know i could just copy every thing to the new computer my self by saving what i want on to the external hd then just copy and past it to the new computer but the point in a back up i thought was to retrieve  from the backup and put it on the same computer or a different one if my dads old computer was dead and he did not want to repair it how could i get the files from the backup  on to a new computer i can’t seem to figure out how to do this. is this method backing up not capable of doing this

Hello,

Try installing the WD Smartware from the link below.

And then follow the instructions on page #49 of the WD Smartware user’s manual.

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/library/UM/ENG/4779-705057.pdf

You can also try retrieving your files manually. The backup folder is called “WDSmartware.swstor” and is located in the root of your drive. 

If you are still getting the message that your drive is write protected it is possible the drive is locked and you need to use the WD Security software in order to unlock it.