I have WD My Passport drive, 500 GB, it’s a few years old. I was using it with WD “Smartware” on a Win 7 Pro system. As is well known, the performance of “Smartware” is horrible and it cripples many machines when running. Now I see that new software “WD Backup” is available and comments imply that it is much better. So I’ve downloaded and installed on my laptop (C drive, of course).
When I run WD Backup it searches for devices and cannot find “My Passport”, so only offers me Dropbox backup! Is it because “My Passport” is too old? Part number is WDBKXH5000ABK-01.
I wouldn’t rule out that the drive is too old, but that seems unlikely. Are you able to access the drive outside of using the WD Backup software? Like, can you see it in your File Explorer list, and access files on it?
Oh yes, the drive is fine. I was using it with Smartware until I realized how awful that software is. I uninstalled Smartware from my laptop, but left all the original WD stuff on the drive. In the WD Backup software release notes they name a few variants of “My Passport” drive, but plain old “My Passport” is not in that list.
Hi @Glenn_Nelson, I wonder if there’s something about the drive type or format on it that would make a difference. Or if you’re right, and the software needs a specific format for the drive. According to my search on your drive’s model, it should be new enough that WD’s software can handle it. Maybe it would help to reinstall the backup software, whilst you have the drive connected to the computer.
Sorry, I’m just guessing at this point, but maybe it helps…
I seem to have the same problem.
The WD “My Passport” is new [Deleted].
I can use the My passport with Windows Explorer without any problems, the external drive is recognized and I can save files on it.
The WD Backup utility I installed from the DW My passport, and then run the upgrade for the utility as offered.
Any solution available?