We just want to buy a working drive! But with all these ■■■■ softwares, the drive dies or couldn’t be recognized from time to time by windows. How dare I put the important data into it?? Stupid and horrible WD!
Dude, not to contradict you but WD has plenty of drives without any software and can work for general purposes, such as:
So if you want to “just buy a working drive without software”… Well, there you go I guess?
Oh well I agree. But what’s the purpose of this ■■■■ WD My Passport Essential SE? It is not even working properly, and WD should let people know ahead before they buy it. It’s my first WD drive, and the last one too.
It is again obvious that WD is at the wrong side by not fully and correctly informing its customers BEFORE THEY BUY THE PRODUCT.
Most of the customers think that they buy a plain disk with some free software (which can get rid of if they don’t like).
Nowhere they are ever warned (or informed) that they are going to buy a disk with VCD,need for SES drivers etc. and all these “features” which are PERMANENT.
The annoying thing is these plain drives frequently cost more at Best Buy and Walmart if you can find them. And the help at both places are pretty clueless about what they are selling.
That’s why I _ called _ WD for guidance before buying my Passport Essential.
I can’t even start to imagine how you guys ended up buying the wrong drive. You keep on saying “WD did not inform […]”, however, they DID tell me about all of the features of the drive I Chose to buy, they answered all the questions that I had and even gave me comparisons between the units faced-off on different circumstances when I called them! You could have easily done the same thing!
So literally, contextually and explicitly, WD told me about what I was buying when I decided to give them a call since I was not fully satisfied with what was posted in their main page. How can you guys obtain any info from any company if you don’t even bother to try to reach them? Most salesmen in retailers just want to sell things and can even promise you a car that washes your teeth just to sell you that car, however, you would not be told the same thing by the manufacturer if it doesn’t do it when you reach them directly. Or were you expecting WD to call you and send you an E-mail telling you “Hey listen, this is not the product for you” just when you looked at it? -_-u
And as for the “crucial information on the box” thing, I have (And most people have) purchased stuff on featureless cardboard boxes that just say the name of the item inside the box and NOTHING ELSE, yet I knew what that item was because I researched what I could before buying it. The only thing that is indisputably crucial on a box is the name of whatever it is that is inside, all else can be left aside since it is nothing but decoration to make it look prettier. Sure, you can find helpful information on the box, however, it will never be enough to give you a reason to compare with other products or even other brands, only research will grant you that right.
Do you want not only WD, but each single company in this big world of ours to give you all the details, information, limitations, features and the so-called “crucial data” that you want, request and need? Then NEXT TIME, just take 10 minutes of your time to contact them before you buy from them so you won’t regret it later, end of the story.
P.S.: You can also be happy with a product, or not ever even seen it once before in your entire life and still trash it just because you’re a troll with nothing better to do.
ThePizzaMatrix wrote:
That’s why I _ called _ WD for guidance before buying my Passport Essential.
What a remarkable suggestion !
That every customer must call WD before he buys an external disk !
By this also you admit that there are not enough information about the abilities and (possible) restraints of the product where they should have been. Outside of the containing box, as most respected companies do.
In most civilized countries the maker of a product is obliged by law to inform the customer about the main capabilities and restraints of a product. Certainly incorporating “special features” into your drive (like permanent VCD,need always for SES drivers etc.) is something that the customer should be informed before he buys your product, as these “special features” restrain the use of the drive. This information should have been at the point of sale. If the point of sale is the internet than it is enough to have all the information at the site, but if you sell to the general public than the information should be clearly written at the containing box.
The whole problem is very simple. If WD had just written 1 or 2 lines about VCD,SES etc. everyone would have been warned and helped to decide about the product.
Finally there are good and bad (or wrong) business practices.
The general public will decide who is wrong and who is right.
P.S… Please stop accusing so many complaining customers for not doing the right thing (to your opinion). Phone the company before buying the product !!!
Akala!! You’re still alive!!! 
I thought you said “Good-bye” to the community, figures…
You fail to consider products sold on featureless cardboard boxes, which you need to know what is inside before buying, also, don’t play with my words, I said I called them when I was not satisfied with the info on the main page, I don’t need to look at a box, it’s just decoration. What about when you buy a product as OEM and just comes on an ESD bag (Not even a box), is it the manufacturer’s fault that there’s nothing printed on an ESD bag rather than the name _ even if _ it is legally allowed to do so? If you say so, then figures…
And again, if you want not only WD , but each single company in this big world of ours to give you all the details, information, limitations, features and the so-called “crucial data” that you want, request and need? Then NEXT TIME, just take 10 minutes of your time to contact them before you buy from them so you won’t regret it later. Boxes are meaningless, they are designed just to transport the item inside, but marketing makes them pretty transportation boxes, end of the story.
P.S.: If the troll hat suits you then put it on, if the troll hat doesn’t suit you then pass it on.
akala wrote:
The whole problem is very simple. If WD had just written 1 or 2 lines about VCD,SES etc. everyone would have been warned and helped to decide about the product.
Actually, no. People don’t even look at what they’re buying… they just grab the first thing they see. If the box did say so, then WD could say “See? We told you so!!” but it still wouldn’t stop people from buying it and then complaining that it’s not what they wanted.
Just have a look at the number of people who bought a WDTV Live, even admit they saw the “U.S. only” on the box for NetFlix, bought it anyways, and then got mad at WD that NetFlix won’t work in Canada.
And then there’s the ones who never saw that on the box until it was “too late” – there’s even more of those.
So, even if WD did print Akala’s personal warning that’s been demanded so often, people will STILL buy the @#$%&* Passport and then moan to WD that it won’t work with whatever they’re trying to connect it to.
At some point, people need to accept responsibility for their decisions and actions. If you can’t be bothered to research your purchase, that’s your choice, no one’s forcing you to research… but the results of that choice not to – ending up with something you don’t want – still ends up on your shoulders and not anyone else’s. And WD isn’t going to hold your hand in the store.
If you “didn’t know” that encryption required a separate, non-removable partition, that might interfere with connecting the drive to anything but a PC, when the information’s all over the internet, including these fora, then the simple fact is that you didn’t look for the information.
You don’t want to have to research a purchase, and want to just walk into the store and grab something shiny and new? That’s fine; that’s your choice. But it’s nobody’s fault but your own if the lack of research leads to buying something not suited to your needs.
An no amount of warnings on the box will change that.
RoofingGuy wrote:
If you “didn’t know” that encryption required a separate, non-removable partition, that might interfere with connecting the drive to anything but a PC, when the information’s all over the internet, including these fora, then the simple fact is that you didn’t look for the information.
So do you really say that encryption is ONLY achieved by a separate and non-removable partition ? Is this correct ?
The fact is that there are only 2 people at this forum “defending” WD (one of them sometimes in a rather insulting way). On the other hand there are so many different customers still complaining about the same problems. All of them are careless ?
Better look at Seagate forum they have plenty of problems too.
Epicfail wrote:
The solution is BUY a seagate.
Most of the disappointed customers will do just that (or another brand name).
What a pity for such a well known and trusted until now company as WD.
akala wrote:
So do you really say that encryption is ONLY achieved by a separate and non-removable partition ? Is this correct ?
No matter how much you try to bait me, and troll these threads, it won’t change anything.
You know $%#* well that there are 2 kinds of encryption – hardware and software. Nowhere did I _ ever _ say that encryption can only be achieved with a separate partition, despite the fact you’ve put those words into my mouth several times now. If you won’t listen to the answers, then why keep asking the questions??
The fact remains that the hardware encryption that WD is using _ requires _ a separate partition for the lock/unlock bits. That should be understandable by even a child – if you lock the drive on one computer, and then take it to another computer, how would you _ ever _ unlock it unless the lock/unlock bits and pieces were somehow accessible outside of the locked partition??? They need to be _ somewhere _. The bits to lock and unlock the drive’s hardware encryption are _ required _ to be on a separate, non-removable partition. WD has said that until they’re blue in the face… I don’t get why it’s so hard to comprehend.
Get it?
If you pay extra for hardware encryption, WD thought it would be a good idea if the drive could be subsequently unlocked. If you just want to lock it and leave it permanently locked, never to access your data again, then that’s a whole matter altogether (and seems rather pointless). But I’d suspect the majority of the users using the encryption would prefer that their data be accessible. Which means the unlocker needs to be accessible. Which means the unlocker needs to _ NOT _ be on the locked partition.
And yes, if you don’t want the @#$&* encryption, instead of whining and moaning that the drive you bought comes with it, why not just buy a drive without it???
So you finally accept that there are 2 kinds of encryption !
Of course everybody knows that, but you at your earlier post you clearly wrote :
If you “didn’t know” that encryption required a separate, non-removable partition, that might interfere with connecting the drive to anything but a PC, when the information’s all over the internet, including these fora, then the simple fact is that you didn’t look for the information.
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So encryption obviously doesn’t require a permanent (non-removable) partition. If WD is using one they should have said so. Information over the Internet is not suitable for a product sold to the general public (it must be upon the containing box).
That’s my objection. They do not inform / warn the customer about this before he buys the product.
Look at how many customers create subjects about incompatibility with PVRs,PS3,WII, DVD players etc.
All of them are wrong and WD is right?
Keep blaming them and you will lose all of them (and many more).
That’s all. Nothing less or more.
I agree, WD should have included informtaion about VCD on the box, I checked and there is nothing. I purchased the same drive I purchased a couple of years ago, except it was not the same this time. There was a lack of information, in my opinion. Even on the product informtaion page it still does not mention the VCD or Micro USB.
Even from the WD store, the hard drive with all the software, VCD and crappy microUSB connector is $20 more than the plain hard drive with a mini USB connector. WIll people pay more to not have to deal with the crappy new drive? That depends if there is another option. Seagate might be an option (nothing with GoFLEX on it), but I have noticed there are 4 or 5 new companies selling protable drives in the stores this year. I’ll probably go back to free agent drives, I have a couple that are 4 years old and work fine. Actually, since they are having a sale on free agent drives, I think I will get a few.
Thanks for inspiring me to look guys! 750G for $80 with free shipping and 5 year warrenty, I think 6 will do for about a year…
Thanks Again!!!
