Violation no Appreciated

This was the first Western Digital I had bought that did not come with the computer. I purchase the My Passport Essential. I plugged it in to my computer an up come this very invasive program called “SmartWare”  It wanted me to install it. I however didn’t want to install it. So I canceled and went into My Computer where I noticed I have a CD of Western Digital Smartware. I did not order this. I searched and searched and searched for a way to remove this vile peice of software. Then I found out that You cannot delete nor remove this Virtual Disk.  I have been informed that I can disable it however I cannot Remove it. This I find to be very disturbing. I purchased this with my hard earned money that by law makes it mine. So what gives this company the right to force their extra garbage on me? I feel really sorry for a company that has to bully people into using thier idea (One reason I really dislike Microsoft) I purchased a hard drive to store my data on not to share with a Corporation. I have sent the following letter to this corporation:

I had purchased (That Means Payed for out of my hard earned money) A Western Digital My Passport Essential. I do not like having the "Virtual CD" that cannot be removed. I do not wish to simply disable it I want it completely removed from my drive. I should be able to do this with out any damage to my data. I do not wish to simply "disable" the software I want to completely remove it. I paid for the drive and wish to use all space that I can on this drive. After all I gave you Good Money for this product. I am offended that you would put such a piece of software on the drive. I feel violated and would not ever recommend a Western Digital Drive to any of my Friends. I don't understand why your company would do such a horrible thing but I do know that you have lost a potential customer because of such. There are plenty of other Hard Drive makers out there that are not offending their customers as you have. I do hope that you will learn to appreciate your customers instead of bullying them by forcing your software on them.

Sincerely
Larry Garing

I am an extreemly dissatisfied customer. I hope noone ever forces ■■■■ down your throat like you have us.

Did you by any chance  read before you purchase…it was not a surprise for about a million other people. Can somebody close this thread due to false acuasation?

Haha, where is the false accusation?  Nowhere on the box does it say that Smartware cannot be removed and that it will always waste some portion of your disk regardless if you want it or not.  Please do share where it says that on the packaging?  Maybe your packaging was special or something, but it sure has heck doesn’t state that on the Costco version.  Beyond that please name another external (or internal) drive that forces their software onto the user in same manner as this?  This ■■■■ is barely a step better than malware.  Every other drive like this I have encountered allowed the user to decide whether to use the software or not.  And if the user didn’t want the software, it sure didn’t stop you from reclaiming the space.  I don’t care how much or little that space is.  It’s the principle of it -  the user always had the choice to delete the software.  Did WD not pay attention to the U3 stupidity a few years back?

Don’t get me wrong, I have bought WD for the last several years. It has always been good hardware.  Still enjoying the passport SE 500Gb that I bought a year or so ago.  But after picking up one of their new versions and seeing where they have gone, I can say I will be avoiding them from here on out.  They have lost me as a customer.  And thank goodness that Costco has a good return policy. 

If you want a normal external harddrive like the hundreds out there, then avoid this turd.  It is a different beast and will act differently than the rest.  And not in a good way, IMO.   Buyer beware - Google up “remove WD smartware from passport” and do your own research.  And don’t get me started about the proprietary nature of the internals.  From the sound of it, you cannot ever move this drive to another enclosure if you damage the external connector or something.  Why would anyone buy such a proprietary unit when there are so many other choices?

Defend it all you want.  But, again, I challenge anyone here to name another manufacturer that does this with their drives.  Or one that forces the wasting of 600Mb of disk space that the user cannot ever reclaim from their disk.

Anyone? 

Actually, SmartWare can be removed.  It’s the VCD that can’t.  And the VCD is necessary for the password encrypted feature of the drive.  You did right by returning the drive if it’s not what you needed.  However, the VCD feature is the only way to password protect and encrypt the drive, while making the drive capable of being taken to other systems and being unlocked without installing software on every system you take it to.  This whole thread is why I posted the SmartWare FAQ that’s at the top of this board. 

http://community.wdc.com/t5/WD-Smartware/WD-SmartWare-FAQ-s/td-p/106470

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I dont appreciate everyone thinking that the only OS’s out there are Windows and Mac OS. I use Linux and The smartware does me absolutely no good nor can I use the drive for its password protection features. Again Big Corportation is Assuming that Everyone is a Robot following the norm. Well There are a bunch of Linux users out there and we do not appreciate being bullied by big business.

As far as false accusations go there are none. I actually saw the drive it was on sale I purchased it and brought it home. I tried removing the smartware cause it will not run on Linux.  Then I found out I cannot. I can only “disable” it well thats like having a bomb in your trunk and keeping a battery out of the remote that sets it off

Ok. I do apologize for the way that you understood the comment let me put it another way. the passport and my book are not the only hard drives wd makes. You can try the element which does not come with any software whatsoever.

check out the website any item with se does not have smartware. there is also a passport se 3.0 that has smartware but can be deleted. As you see there is options. Take a look hope this helps

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/external/portable/

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/external/desktop/

http://www.wdc.com/en/products/catalog/?segment=2

Since you use Linux maybe you should have checked the software compatibility first. Why would any software maker be very concerned about a OS with about 1% market share?

Joe

Joe_S wrote:

Since you use Linux maybe you should have checked the software compatibility first. Why would any software maker be very concerned about a OS with about 1% market share?

Joe

Didn’t want to use the software its a piece of HARDWARE. I should be able to use it as I like without being forced to use something I don’t want. I thought I was getting a deal but instead I got the shaft. On my part it was a bad decision. However Never had I had a company so abruptly force something down my throat with exception going to Microsoft. Which is why I switched to Linux to begin with. I paid 50 dollars for a hard drive that was on clearance with out knowing about the demon VCD that was installed on it. It was a bad purchase I accept responsibility for that I am just appalled that everyone always overlooks us guys who don’t like the mainstream. I also wasnt aware that Western Digital is a software Maker I thought they made hard drives.

@argedion

“We cannot adopt the way of living that was satisfactory a hundred years ago. The world in which we live has changed, and we must change with it.”

Felix Adler

Dont be surprised by software pretty soon there going to be making cars!:smileyvery-happy:

Lawrence wrote:

 

@argedion

“We cannot adopt the way of living that was satisfactory a hundred years ago. The world in which we live has changed, and we must change with it.”

Felix Adler

Dont be surprised by software pretty soon there going to be making cars!:smileyvery-happy:

 

not all change has been for the best. and as far as Joe goes:

Why would any software maker be very concerned about a OS with about 1% market share?

Joe

I’m sorry we are not important enough to matter to big business. I Wonder how all the other Linux users will feel knowing that Western Digital thinks we’re just insignificant and dont matter. Maybe I should post this thread in every linux distro forum I can, so that the people who use Linux know that we are insignificant to Western Digital. I wonder what would happen to Sales then.

You probably won’t fare any better at Seagate either. Since you are using Linux I would have thought you knew enough to check for compatibility before buying any hardware or software. Linux is as about as important to manufacturers as obsolete versions of Windows like 95 & 98. A lot of software hardware isn’t compatible with Mac either. Their share is huge compared to Linux but puny next to Windows. You want to use an oddball system you have to deal with the compatibility on yourown. The number of posts here from Linux users can probably be counted  on your fingers.

Joe.

Obviously you have no clue as to what is going on in the real world Joe. I have Seagate with Linux and I am having no problems because I’m not using the software. Both of my Seagate’s are working just fine with Linux. As far as checking for compatibility goes the drive itself is compatible just not the junk software which I DON’T WANT ANYWAY. With Seagate, Hitachi and other drives I have there is no issue cause I simply zip up the software that comes with their drives then I format it to my needs. I did the same thing with this one except getting rid of the VCD. Which is the whole complaint anyway that this piece of Hardware is a nuisance and That is what my complaint is about. You sir on the other hand seem to be attacking us who use Linux stating that your not intrested in a Group that only has 1% of the market share. I was simply pointing out that there are other systems out there and that we buy hardware just for that its ability’s to do what we want which is Storage, Video, or what ever other hardware is for. The Western Digital Drive as in the Hardware I have no problems with I can access the drive. Read and write to the drive and do everything I wish except get rid of the VCD. You however have felt the need to insult me by saying I’m a minority and my opinion doesn’t matter. What A WAY TO WIN A CUSTOMER. I do hope for Western Digital’s sake you are not the official spokes person. I see your a “RESPECTED CONTRIBUTOR” to bad you have no respect for those of us who are different. So far your contributions here have reinforced the fact that I need not do business with Western Digital Again

@argedion

simple soulution I think you should contact WD and ask them to exchange that passport for the new one. I work at best buy and I see they have a new passport that is exactly like the other one which comes with smartware but can be erased.

I erased mine. I can tell by your comments that you are frustrated. Sorry about that but give them a call and talk to them they understood me when I called. You bought the hard drive already so now your part of the family. remember they are people too:wink:

argedion wrote:

Obviously you have no clue as to what is going on in the real world Joe. I have Seagate with Linux and I am having no problems because I’m not using the software. Both of my Seagate’s are working just fine with Linux. As far as checking for compatibility goes the drive itself is compatible just not the junk software which I DON’T WANT ANYWAY. With Seagate, Hitachi and other drives I have there is no issue cause I simply zip up the software that comes with their drives then I format it to my needs. I did the same thing with this one except getting rid of the VCD. Which is the whole complaint anyway that this piece of Hardware is a nuisance and That is what my complaint is about. You sir on the other hand seem to be attacking us who use Linux stating that your not intrested in a Group that only has 1% of the market share. I was simply pointing out that there are other systems out there and that we buy hardware just for that its ability’s to do what we want which is Storage, Video, or what ever other hardware is for. The Western Digital Drive as in the Hardware I have no problems with I can access the drive. Read and write to the drive and do everything I wish except get rid of the VCD. You however have felt the need to insult me by saying I’m a minority and my opinion doesn’t matter. What A WAY TO WIN A CUSTOMER. I do hope for Western Digital’s sake you are not the official spokes person. I see your a “RESPECTED CONTRIBUTOR” to bad you have no respect for those of us who are different. So far your contributions here have reinforced the fact that I need not do business with Western Digital Again

Nobody can get rid of the VCD.  And even for many Windows users it’s a pain in the rear.  So, don’t feel too bad.  But just for you to know, Linux is gaining ground as being important.  I have it and like it.  But no matter what, your drive should work on your Linux machine.  The problem is that SmartWare won’t and you don’t like the VCD.  But you can hide the VCD, and it is NOT a ticking time bomb.  I use SmartWare drives all the time, and I don’t have any problems with the VCD.   But it’s up to you.  I think you’ve made your point really well.  And I don’t believe WD is intending to ignore the Linux market, forever.

Just so this thread doesn’t get any further out of control, I will lock it now. 

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