Surprise, Surprise, or Not!?!?
Smartware MUST be installed to access the WDC MyBook external HDD. Here’s how I found out.
After the uninstall of Smartware yesterday morning, the MyBook was continuously accessible, even after a number of reboots during the day, as I tested backup software with the external drive to see whether the software was suitable for my needs. Then this morning, after uninstalling an app I’d installed to try out, the MyBook couldn’t be seen by Windows. One more reboot, and Windows presented the “new hardware found” dialog. After several unsuccessful automatic attempts by Windows to find a driver for the WDC MyBook, Windows finally presented a WDC SES driver option, and I installed it.
After the reboot, I searched out what had been installed by Windows. Voila! It was the three services that I had UNINSTALLED and thought I had WIPED from my system yesterday as part of removing Smartware. Now in Windows services, Smartware Drive Manager is set to “Manual” and seems content with a “blank” status. Both WD File Management Shadow Engine and WD File Management Engine were set to “Disabled” by the Windows hardware installer.
I cannot find a separate driver file download for MyBook on the WDC web site. So the driver to access the MyBook is installed only by installing the Smartware bundle.
So Smartware LIVES! on my system, again. Fat chance it’s going display its ugly face on one of the screens again. I’m done with this little problem product, WDC. It’s going back to the retailer with a package of my posts to this forum.
My first post about one week of problems getting Smartware to work is here.
My second post describing why I abandonned Smartware is here.
