Software Update - WD SmartWare Version 1.6.2 for Windows (7/30/12)

WD Software & Mobile Apps WD Software
21

I am not sure if this will help but if you have an older version of smartware, all I could think of doing is uninstalling all smartware files and remove the swstor folder from your backup drive providing there is no files there that you no longer have access to.

Download and run ccleaner to both remove unwanted files and also use the registry function to remove broken registry entries. you need to run the registry function several times to ensure everything is corrected.

http://www.piriform.com/CCLEANER

make sure you run the other programs installed as above, net framework and flash etc.

install the original version of smartware that came with the drive and see if that works ok.

make sure the automatic update notification function is enabled in the settings

when prompted, run the update and follow the instructions at the download site

my device is a passport !tb so not sure if this is relevant to you

hope this helps

22

Same story as you.

Updated & been waiting 3 days for Outlook to back up.

This Outlook thing has been a battle for I don’t know HOW many versions and retrogrades.

Too bad that WD won’t /can’t/doesn’t have the ability(?) to fix it.

This must be a REAL embarrassment for the company. Or maybe it isn’t
 they’ve got our $ and it’s mission accomplished for them?

How do we save others from this misery?

23

Trying to follow the thrust of the discussions, I’ve “subscribed” to this thread – and yet I’m not getting email notification of new posts.

???

I now see in typing this that an “Email me when someone replies” box can be checked, so I assume that will fix the problem.  I’d wondered if I had to check “Subscribe” under “Options” on my OWN post in order to get the email notifications (which led me to make THIS post), but it now looks like – even if THAT works – that what I did now will solve my problem anyway.

24

hi, i think you may have answered your own question, but if you click on the options tab and select subscribe, and also click on your username at the top left ofthe page next to ‘log out’ and check your email address is correct, and then finally check your spam or junk setting to make sure emails from ‘community mailer’ are not blocked

also under the ‘my settings’ tab, scroll right to the subscriptions and bookmarks’ tab and check your email preferences

hope this helps

25

I have just updated my My Book Live to version 1.6.2 and now WDbackup engine is taking 60-80% of my CPU so for me the problem is just beginning as with  the previous version was not CPU resource hungry.

The smartware is also reporting on MBL that it is backing up my old computer which is no longer connected to MBL. ( I backed up my old PC to MBL prior to connecting my new Desktop )

Anyone any ideas

Thanks

26

i have experienced high cpu usage with all but 1.6.2 version, although 1.5.4.5 was ok, but starting showing high cpu.

i think the 1.6.2 is good providing i keep the passport plugged in, accept it will use a bit of cpu when i first start up as its checking to see whats changed, but still only takes about 15%, and after a few minutes it settles to zero and also it will only back up my mail pst files once a day, but if you open outlook and then look at smartware it will always show us a failed backup as its changed or in use.

it does seem to back up the pst once a day which is fine for me but it picks it moment while outlook is shut as far as i can tell

i did a clean install, uninstalled everything WD related, and deleted the swstore directory on the drive, ran all the relevant updates and cleaned the registry using ccleaner,  installed the SW version that came with my passport, updated when the auto update advised me to, left the pc totally alone to run a complete backup and now it only takes a few minutes to sort is self out when i start and i only show cpu when the SW is open or its backing up

keeping in mind i am using xp home

what version of windows are you running.

have you followed the advice in the earlier part of this post regarding installing flash and net framework 4 etc and cleaned your registry?

27

I just bought the WD Passport Essential. The software is 1.4.5.2 and I upgraded to 1.6.2 immediately. However when I run the new version, there is no backup button and the backup tab is greyed out. I have not even started backing up my files yet!

 Where can I get the 1.5 version?

Thanks

28

dont panic, just click on the passport drive icon and the greyed out tabs will appear, stick with the 1.6.2, believe me i have been round the block on this one, although i am running xp, but this version is the best i have had as long as you realise the pst files ‘are’ being backed up but as soon as you open outlook it shows as pending backup until the same time the next day as the files will have changed.

if you check the swstor folders the backups are all there but up to 1 day old

29

Thanks painful, the Backup tab magically ungreyed when I click the Passport device.

Still trying to get used to the Interface where I need to trigger some “switch” to bring out the hidden icons :frowning:

The setting tab is really amazing, it is totally different depending on whether the Passport device is attached or not.

(ya, I forgot to attach the Passport device when I launch the WD Software and spent some time searching for the missing options in the setting tab :p)

30

hi sllim, dont worry you are not the first and i am sure you wont be the last, it can be a tricky bit of software to get right, mine still does some things that i dont understand compared to the older versions of SW

 having to select the icon is maybe there incase you have more than one passport attached, who knows!!

good luck

31

After MANY attempts to update to 1.6.2 on windows XP, my WD dumbSmartware continues to revert back to Version 1.2.0.20.

I click update software and it says update available, runs through the whole process, then during install it stops and says version 1.6.2 is already installed. Restart computer and version 1.2.0.20 is still there saying update available. I have repeated this process over 5 times with same result.

My experience has been horrible with this WESTERN DIGITAL SMART product since it was purchased. Don’t get me started on the MEMORY HOG issue.

Can some one enlighten me on why this is the only computer device I have ever had trouble with, is it me this time or the product?

Is there a fix for my issue, WD Smartware? I need to update to 1.6.2 to see if this product will ever work properly.

Please let me know what other CPU information you may need to diagnose my issue with your product

Thanks,

32

hi, ill have a look a bit later as im going out but it sounds like you need to totally uninstall all smartware software, clean the computer, ccleaner, using the  registry cleaner may do this, but i have seen a post somewhere that relates to a microsoft program that also cleans out the registry. something like driver cleaner also may work.

i will then see if you can install the 1.6.2 as a clean install rather than update.

have you followed the earlier part of this post regarding netframework 4 and flash etc?

i am running xp and 1.6.2 and its working as near to perfect as it will get so i am sure it can be sorted on yours

33

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-Software/Software-Update-WD-SmartWare-Version-1-6-0-for-Windows-5-9-12/td-p/403776

there is a post by watchful on the link above which linked to a microsoft page for uninstalling updates but being honest i cant really follow it

if you have  look at my post on page 2 of the link below  ‘hi giribit’ that might help

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-Software/Software-Update-WD-SmartWare-Version-1-6-2-for-Windows-7-30-12/td-p/445992/page/2

if you get stuck, let me know i and ill list out the recommendations again from the start

34

I really thought version 1.6.2 had finally fixed the issues the previous versions had, but
it seems they are all pretty much back again and a few new issues also.

I running Windows 7 Home Premium, with 8GB of RAM and quad i5 - 2400S processors. Following some advice in a previous thread for 1.6.0 issues, I have updated my Adobe Flash Player to the latest version, latest Java Runtime Environment, latest .NET framework and .NET Framework Client Profile Standalone. All latest Windows updates installed. 

Despite all that, WDBackupEngine is now constantly hogging 50%+ of my CPU. It is failing to complete a backup - despite running for over 24 hours it will not complete more than about 50% of my data backup. And finally it is not letting Windows enter power saving mode (including by not even letting the screen turn off).

My earlier versions of SW caused my CPU to run at maximum for hours on end if I happened to let it go and not kill the process. I was concerned at the time it was going to fry the CPU. Well, a few months ago the CPU fried and I ended having to buy a new PC. Of course I can’t categorically say it was this software that did it, but SW was certainly the biggest consumer of CPU resources by a long, long, way, and caused the CPU fan to reach speeds I didn’t know were possible. Now this version seems to be doing the same thing. The fan is running very fast, and the CPU usage is high (50% +) for extended periods of time once again. And I can’t complete a backup. And the computer won’t enter standby mode without intervention.

Disappointed. 

35

hi,

not sure if i will be much help as i am running xp, my smartware is running ‘ok’ , still uses an amount of cpu, wdbackupengine and wdrulesengine processes in windows task manager, but they settle to zero after a while while it decides whether to backup up my outlook pst files, in fact it is now at zero in the time it has taken me to write this

is it always the same files that dont backup, ie if you select the backup tab and it should show you on the right hand side what files have failed.

also what processes are running in task manager using cpu

have you emailed western digital support, which admittedly is a bit of a lottery ?

the only difference from an installation point of view is i uninstalled everything and ran ccleaner registry cleaner and reinstalled my original version and then installed the update when prompted by SW.

have you also updated your device firmware?

36

Thanks painful.

I ended up doing an uninstall of WD Smartware, used CCleaner to do a registry clean, and formatted my WD drive (I have a secondary backup that I keep off site done with Windows Backup) after I saved the original application setup files
v.1.5.1.6. The drive was already running the latest firmware and I had updated everything else.

I then reinstalled the Smartware, and let it auto-detect the new version which I downloaded and installed. 

Now it seems to be running okay again. CPU usage at zero while I’m working, and most files now backed up.

I’m not sure why it fell over after working fine for a period of time. Anyway, all seems well now.

Thanks for the reply.

37

I reported on prior posts that the new software 1.6.x does not let windows 7 64 bit pro go into sleep mode and saw that you had made the same comment.  Were you ever able to resolve this and find a way to schedule windows sleep mode?  I can manually click for PC to sleep but nothing seems to alow the windows power management to schedule sleep mode once the 1.6.x software is loaded.  A WD tech posted on my link that  they “disabled” this feature when running their 1.6.x software which seems pretty amazing to me.  How can someone write a program that directly conflicts with MS Windows 7 power management utility and think that would not be an issue with users?

38

No - the computer will no longer enter sleep mode. The monitor however does turn off, but the computer stays on. Have tried various power option settings to no avail.

39

hi again, glad that worked out, i am not sure quite what gets it confused but even my trusty sw 1.5.4.5 went a bit cpu mad at one point, regarding the sleep mode, i haven’t tried this myself, but certain features were disabled in SW 1.6 onwards but were replaced by a separate apps and utilities program i think, one of which is a sleep timer.

not sure if that will solve your issues but worth a crack

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?groupid=218&sid=171&lang=en

good luck

40

The sleep issue is not with getting the external WD drive to sleep- that is fine, it is with getting the entire PC go sleep using the Windows 7 power management to schedule sleep mode (where you set screen saver to come on, the monitor shut off, the hardrive powerdown and system sleep mode).  The utilities you mention are just for the WD external drives.