After instaling WD SmartWare Version 1.6.4, scheduled sleep mode in power management for windows 7 pro 64 bit doesn’t work any more. It is still possible to manually set sleep mode but the computer never runs itself into sleep mode.
Uninstalling Smartware or stopping the process WDbackup reenables sleep mode.
The problem seems to exist since 1.6.0. as i found this thread with exactly the same symptoms:
I am having the same problem on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit. My system was able to go into sleep after a period of inactivity without any problem, but it stopped go into sleep after I installed SmartWare that came with My Book Essential.
Here are some observations of the problem:
Even with My Book Essential safely removed and disconnected, my computer still wouldn’t go into sleep mode.
No backup task running because I didn’t set up any yet.
Upgrading My Book Essential’s firmware didn’t help.
Upgrading to the current v1.6.4 didn’t help.
After uninstalled SmartWare from my computer, the automatic sleep works again.
My Book Essential itself has no problem goes into sleep mode with or without SmartWare.
(With SmartWare installed) My computer could be put into sleep mode from Start menu, but it almost always woke up after less than 1 hour. Afterward it wouldn’t go back to sleep automatically even the computer had been idle.
All the observations seem to suggest that SmartWare is the source of the problem. WD’s software engineers should take a serious look into this problem. One reason I purchased My Book Essential is that it comes with backup software. Lacking the proper function of the backup software, the value of My Book Essential is significantly reduced.
I have finally made the decision after a year and a half of fighting with Smartware, to remove it completely from my system so that I can run sleepmode in Windows 7 64bit. I will just do a weekly backup and image using Windows 7 backup software and manually copy my library of my documents, photos, music, etc. for recovering individual bits of data vs complete system re-image/restoration. I have set MS Outlook to automatically backup the .pst files into my documents on the c drive so it is pretty simple to back them up now manually to the external WD Drive.
The excessive CPU hits on 1.6.4 smartware and lost functionality of automatic scheduled windows sleepmode far out way the desire to have “continuous” backup with smartware. I am happy to report that my system now uses about one percent of CPU when idle versus 5-25 percent of CPU with 1.6.4 running constantly in the background while the system is doing nothing. It is also nice to save on the power bill again by being able to run sleepmode in Window 7 64bit. With a 1000 watt power supply in a a gaming PC, I figure the power savings in one year alone will be able to pay for a new external drive if my dual WD ext 1TB drives ever fail.
