How do I tell the difference between VCD and non-VCD drives

WD External and Portable SSD Portable SSD
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If I go to the store today to buy some passports, how do I know what ones have the FORCED software install and the ones that do not. There is nothing on the box to help me determine the difference.

Or is it perhaps best to go with a different brand that doesn’t do these shenanigans ??

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_ None _ of the Passports have software that you are FORCED to use.

_ All _ of the Passports come with the bits and pieces to lock/unlock them on a VCD on the drive, which can’t be removed.

If you don’t want the lock/unlock hardware encryption, and don’t want the VCD, then buy an Elements SE instead of a Passport – it’s a bare drive.

The VCD on the Passports is required for it to work.

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I understand, that if you have encryption turned off, you will *not* be prompted to load the ses driver from the vcd. And that is because the drive does not need a driver to handle data that is not encrypted. I also understand that the vcd will not attempt to mount itself either.

I understand that this is a very very recent change in ‘firmware’ behavior…??

Well, ultimately, I’m looking for a drive that can easily and fuss-free go among different computers AND provide security for some (and possibly all) the data stored on it.

Perhaps software encryption on an elements is the way to go…

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But that’s just it… if you have no intention of ever using the hardware encryption, the bare drive without the VCD (Essentials SE) will be (generally) cheaper – because it doesn’t have the extra bits for encryption.

But yes, the older drives had a VCD labelled “WD Smartware” that came with the unlock bits and pieces and the Smartware software.  On those drives, if you choose to not use Smartware (and I don’t blame you) and you also choose to never use encryption, then the VCD can be disabled/hidden from appearing on your PC, but that’s something you’d have to do yourself.

Newer drives, of some of the Passport line, (made after June 15 or July 15, or something like that), no longer come with the “WD Smartware” VCD, but instead come with the “WD Unlocker” VCD, and Smartware is stored on the main partition (deletable).  The Unlocker VCD stays hidden until you add a password, and hides itself again if you remove the password.

Off the top of my head, I don’t even know which of the Passports (since there’s so many variations) started shipping with the “Unlocker” VCD instead of the “Smartware” VCD, but as I said, I believe it happened mid-summer.

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“Newer drives, of some of the Passport line, (made after June 15 or July 15, or something like that), no longer come with the “WD Smartware” VCD, but instead come with the “WD Unlocker” VCD, and Smartware is stored on the main partition (deletable).  The Unlocker VCD stays hidden until you add a password, and hides itself again if you remove the password.”

That *IS* exactly what I am looking for, I want one of those drives with the Unlocker VCD and the Smartware stored in the main partition.

Thanks for helping me to clarify that!

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Yes, sorry… I know I’ve seen some talk of them, but I don’t own any Passports, and don’t know what the diierences amongst the Passport models is to begin with… to me a Passport is a Passport is a Passport. :wink:

Most people asking, really don’t want the encryption (unlike you), so suggesting an Elements is usually the correct answer for avoiding the VCD altogether.

From re-reading other posts, I believe that at least the Passport Essentials SE, has been shipping the new way, even if other Passports aren’t yet.

The boxes on my MyBook Essential drives don’t show a manufacturing date.

This bit is guesswork on my part, so make sure the store has a decent return policy before you follow my guess, but I think that if the Part Number on the Passport Essentials SE box ends in “-00” it will have the Smartware VCD and if it ends in " -01" it will have the Unlocker VCD.