Software Update - WD SmartWare Version 1.6.0 for Windows (5/9/12)

WD Software & Mobile Apps WD Software
41

Hi Watchful,

Thank you for your reply.  I will explore the options you have communicated.  I will tell you when I contacted Tech Support via telephone I was told that the new 1.6 version just "doesn’t " back up .pst files.  That seemed very unlikely to me and I am sure there are thousands of WD customers that would be very unhappy if that were truly the case.

42

Just installed the 1.6.0 update, and now I sometimes can’t find the options to do any of the drive tests.  When I go to the Home tab, it shows “My Passport Essential,” and I can click on it to highlight it.  But whether or not it was highlighted, the first few times I went to the “Settings” tab, there was an icon representing my laptop computer, and  the Settings tab had options to change the *software* settings.  Then, as I was writing this post, I went back to my Smartware window, and this time when I clicked on the “Settings” tab, it took me to the settings options for my WD drive.  Huh?  Has anyone else seen this?  Any idea what’s going on?

43

I’m running fully updated Vista on a 4Ghz dual-core (and that’s about all I know about that).

1.6 still grinds to a halt.

When I attempt to manually turn it off through task manager (the old trick once backup was done), I CAN’T DO IT.  

I uninstalled it this morning.  Unless there is a serious upgrade, rather than a soul and cycles killing “SmartWare” (or as my daughter calls it, “FartWare”), I will be using something (anything) else.

This is my last purchase of a Western Digital product.  I’ve never really thought about “The Cloud,” but Wesern Digital has made me seriously consider it. 

44

Hi.  Just installed 1.6.0 on Win7 Home PRemium SP2.  Works fine, but just concerned that the option to backup whilst idle has been removed.  Not had time to see what happens with the backup whilst working but under only version I had to have that option set therwise the CPU chugged away all day.

Also like others with OUTLOOK, I have 2010 PRo and often I have found that when I check the retrieve files the Outlook.pst file is 2 or 3 days old despite computer being on and Outlook being open and closed during those days.  Any ideas WD.

Would be good to see WD reply to some of the posts, seem to be sadly lacking.

I have 3 Ext WD drives, very pleased with them but do sometimes question if the backup is actually working.

45

I updated WD smartware and now am not able to bakup or retrieve.  They show but I cannot click on the tabs.  I uninstalled and reinstalled and still the same.  I only have the Home and settings.  I cannot even backup.  I would like to know what to do or get a link to the previous version because It worked then.  I am using Windows 7 64 bit.  It has alway worked and backed up great until now.  I am very frustrated.

46

This may help.  I had same when I first loaded after updating to 1.6 this monring.  Initially both Backup and Retrieve Tabs are greyed out.  On the Home Tab, select the drive you weant to back up and the WD device you want to back up to and both tabs come to life.  However, when you exit and go back in I noticed they are greyed out again and you need again to select the correct WD device.  Additionally it will not back up the Outlook PST files.  Using 2010 version.  I have placed a message on the board for help. Seems to be a few glitches.  Good luck.

47

Hi ANDYSPK,

I’ve also found that my backed up PST files  are several days out of date.  In my case I think the reason is that I don’t normally open SmartWare from Quick View, but simply rely on the automatic backup.  However,  on several occasions I’ve noticed in Windows Task Manager that WDBackupEngine.exe and WDRulesEngine.exe do not start when I turn on my computer, and therefore no automatic backup is performed during that session.  They can be turned on by opening SmartWare from Quick View.   It only needs this to happen several times in succession for complete days of PST backup to be missed. Another little bug.

I made some other observations about PST files in my post on [Edit] Page 5  Page 4 of this string.

48

I was not having any issues with prior versions. Now 1.6 has the following issues;

  1. The outlook.PST file just stays pending backup for days. There is no feature to force the backup.

  2. If I cannot find a way to backup my outlook files I will need to do this manually since the PST is critical to my business.

  3. The WDBackupEngine.exe runs constantly between 13% and 25% of my HP Quad Core laptop. This forces the CPU fan to run almost constantly  as well.

Please Help!!!

49

Hi msklein

Seems many of us have identified the same issues, shame WD haven’t got to grips with a clear set of programming problems.  I installed yesterday, cannot, like ypou afford not to have the PST backup so this morning I unistalled Ver 1.6 and resintalled previous version 1.5.1.6   This works fine, has option to backup when idle, immediately backup all PST and other previously shown as ‘pending’ files.  The only thing with installign the previous version is that it did a full backup, but left all the previous versions there too.  A little price to pay for satisfaction.  I have little confidence in WD unless they tell us they have fixed the issues in the release files.

Good luck.

50

Thanks Watchful.  I decided this morning that version 1.6 is Untrustworthy and have deleted and reverted to previous 1.5.1.6   Now all working as I want it.  Until WD confirm they have resolved the problem I will not upgrade and not recommend other people to buy or use WD software.

Regards.  Andy

51

If WD doesn’t care enough to jump on this and get us a fix, quickly, I’m taking this whole **bleep** problem back to Best Buy and getting something that actually performs the function I bought it for.  It was working fine untill they urged me to upgrade.  I will not recommend WD to anyone again.

52

Hi msklein,

I agree the handling of PST files is quite unsatisfactory and confusing. 

You may find that your PST files have in fact been backed up if you look in your external WD drive somewhere in a folder in WD SmartWare.swstor.

Please also see my post on Page 4 of this string.

The ‘File Pending Backup’ message will always be displayed by SmartWare if Outlook is open because, even if the PST has just been backed up, the PST will have changed immediately Outlook is opened and cannot be backed up again until Outlook is closed (and even then not until it meets the 24 hour rule).  I don’t recall seeing this with 1.5.4.5.

I don’t have a CPU problem with WDBackupEngine.exe, but did with WDFME in the previous version so, for me, SW1.6 is better.

53

Thanks for the reply. However, the backup state of critical data cannot be guessed. The backup software needs to provide clear status of the backup at all times. This software does not provide enough information and it appears that there is something very wrong based on how much CPU it is taking for an I/O process. I am hoping to hear something definitive from WD soon.

54

I’ve updated to SmartWare 1.6.0.  Now on the Home tab the MBL icon includes a lock.  A username and password are now required that were not before the upgrade.  Owner password doesn’t unlock.  I don’t use a password on my PC.

 Any suggestions?

55

I have rebooted both computer and the My Book Essential 1TB a million times, clicked on anything and everything. NOTHING works.

I have read all you good suggestions and it still doesn’t work. There is no password on the drive.

Why would any company want to release any new software that makes your life MORE difficult. Which person in their right mind in the IT department came up with the idea: “hey wouldn’t it be cool if we made it really hard for loyal customers to use our software?”.

I am lost. Unless this forum can come up with a solution, I am deleting the whole thing, installing my own 3rd party software, and never buying WD again.

56

BarneyRubble,

DId you work out a solution for MBL being locked …getting the same problem and nothing seems to resolve … why did I hit the upgrade to WDSMartWare 1.6.0 ?

57

Amen! and Why did I buy western digital?

58

The SmartWare Version 1.6.0 seems to have issues on my computer (Windows Vista 32 bit) backing up QuickBooks files.  First, I only have the message “Partial backup accomplished” whenever I look on the Backup Tab.  When I look at the “View Files - Files Not Backed Up” link, I will see Outlook.pst, archive.pst, plus a number of variants of the *.qbw (QuickBooks) company files with either “Access is denied” or “File pending backup”.

When I go to the Retrieve Tab, I see older versions of some of my QuickBooks files.  For example,  ET.qbw shown as “ET” with no visible file extension, but the complete path appears at the bottom of the window where the Original File Location is displayed.  However, the “ET” file that can be selected is dated "Friday, June 01, 2012.  The actual file on my hard drive has been updated multiple times since then.

To further confuse things, when I use the explored to view the files in WD SmartWare.swstor, I see files with the filename “ET@” which appears to be the “ET.QBW” filename on my hard drive, however the “ET@” file shows the date 6/2/12 7:07 PM (This does not match any time that can be seen in the WD SmartWare Retrieve Tab.

I have multiple QuickBooks Company files which are continually being updated during the day, I need to know that they are being properly backed up.

Any ideas, help?  Please.

Thanks,

JDB

59

Version 1.6.0 seems to be useable, unlike earlier versions.  It still seems to use approximately 12% of cpu in my 8-processor laptop (i.e., a whole processor) much of the time, but less memory.  I have the following three problems/questions:

1.  I would like to reduce cpu usage when I am on the road (no external HD, want to conserve batteries).  Is there a way to reduce the program’s priority or kill some processes or services to achieve this?  If I kill those processes or services, will all files created during the time-out be backed up when I re-connect to the external HD and re-start the computer?

2.  Some files (not the pst and ost; which are a separate issue) are not backed up because of “access denied” or some such excuse.  I checked the files and they seem to have the same owner & protections as other files.  Any idea on how to get around this?

3.  I would like to compress all folders in “WD Smartware.swstor” (where all BU’d reside) using the Windows Explorer compression capability (Right Click|Properties|Advanced|compress…).  Will this cause problems?

Thanks

60

I am having the same issue with backing up Quickbooks files.  Please let me know if there is a solution to this problem.  Thanks!