as we all know, smartware and specifically wdfme are huge users of resources. i want to use smartware, but there are times when it gets too much in the way and i want to shut it off without turning off the drive because i keep data files on the mybook drive that i need access to. for the past 2 days wdfme has kept itself busy using 50 - 80% of cpu time and 150 - 200 megs of memory. this is unreasonable and the subject has been complained about ad-infinitm with no updates from wd and a feeble posting saying that if you want real time backup it takes resources.
ok, so i turned off the backups drive by drive (i have 2 drives with 7 partitions) in smartware’s convoluted interface but wdfme kept taking up the resources through 2 reboots. now i have no real time backups and i am afraid to restart them until i know i won’t be using the computer for a while. and even then, i keep a bit torrent client running 24/7 and wdfme slows that down. i can live with wdfme running as it is right now because i assume it is trying to collect real time date for when i resume the backups.
so my question is how to temporarily disable the backups? is there a way other than going drive by drive by drive in the convoluted smartware interface (ie. Home tab to select drive, then Backup tab to turn off/on the backup, then Home tab to select the next drive then Backup tab to turn off/on the backup, then Home again for the next drive and Backup tab again and on and on.)
Is there just 1 process i can kill using the task manager?
addendum. it’s possible that wd does not understand customer service and customer psyche issues. the majority of customers that are having problems will not complain. they either live with them or the majority will just stop using the product and complain via word of mouth to friends, relatives and acquaintances with recommendations to not use western digital. it is a fact, and my numbers are not up to date because i have been out of marketing for a long time that only around 2% or less will actually complain and report problems, the rest just live with or abandon the product.
Kill the process on Task Manager and/or disable the service on services.msc
in the task manager i see 4 processes. in the services tab i see 1 service wdsc. in rhe services management console i see 3 wd services. is there one that will stop everything? would it be wddmservice in the management console?
WDDM is the WD Drive Manager. WDFME is the WD File Management Engine.
Disabling and killing those 2 should be enough.
thanks. i will give that a try the next time wdfme becomes a hog. if i kill wddm will i still be able to accrss my data files on my mybook drive or does windows need it for the ses/sas (or whatever it is called) to give me drive access?
You’ll still be able to use your drive and see it, but you won’t be able to see the temperature and lock status, you’ll also have to safely eject it using Windows.
ok, this is good. turning off 1 service means that i can turn it back on when needed. i don’t use a password or eject the drive but i assume that a reboot will not hang because of this and the service will also be automatically restarted. now, if they could just build this into the application itself and make it non technical as the majority of uses may want/need rather than messing with ‘services’ which wasn’t intended for the non tech users.
on another note, i use a dual boot system. i often test s/w on the other system. i recently forgot to disconnect the mybook drive before booting into the test system. to my surprise smartware installation was not offered as an option. windows just installed some sort of generic driver and if i remember correctly windows update offered me an optional update to install or update the ses driver which i have not done. i am curious as to why i was not offered a smartware installation as i never deleted that stuff from mybook. all i can assume is that smartware put a status on the drive indicating that it was already installed. i’m not asking for any help on this as i would have started a new thread for that. i’m just noting this to you , ThePizzaMatrix, as a technical note.
i have a soft spot in my heart for western digital. back in 1983 i started a company to provide software and hardware engineers on a temporary basis and western digital was one of my earliest customers. i provided them with design and firmware engineers for the about to be announced IBM PC whose huge 10 megabyte hard drive was made by western digital. 
