When I first installed WD smartware it worked properly and I took a backup of my hard. but now whenever I turn on my pc, I keep recieveing “WD smartware has stopped working, windows is serching for a solution to the problem”!!! (windows vista). what shall I do?! I want to take back up of my internal hard every week!!!
Please somebody help!!!
I do see the WD smartware drive in my computer, but when i click on it, I recieve:“the application has recieved an unexpected error and is now exiting”!!!
Well, you say to download it but your link doesn’t lead to it. Why has WD made the Smartware so difficult if not impossible to find? I have an email support request in now for directions to find it and install it. Mine is just plain gone. The drive has 930gb capacity and 930gb free and there is no smartware anywhere in my computer or anywhere else. Can you PLEASE help mee find it so I can get going again?
Thanks
Jerry
Bill_S wrote:
Try downloading the newest version of SmartWare. It should have fixed a few things.
It took me a week to get rid of all the problems I was having with my external drive. The basic problem was Smartware. At least after removing the program I don’t have problems anymore. Smartware (I’m told by support) is freeware that is bundled with WD external drives. The WD drives work with many other SW BU packages. I’m now using Sync Toy - a MS power toy. It’s free and works very well. You will not be able to access your current BU with Sync Toy. Matter of fact you should probably delete your current BU before you remove Smartware. Then do a BU with Sync Toy. BTW Sync Toy BU much more quickly than Smartware and allows you to BU images. So you can make an image of your HD (system and data) and if you lose your HD you can recreate it without having to reinstall all the SW (if you have the SW). I know this is frustrating but there’s lots of frustration owning and maintaining a PC. Good luck!
Well, you say to download it but your link doesn’t lead to it. Why has WD made the Smartware so difficult if not impossible to find? I have an email support request in now for directions to find it and install it. Mine is just plain gone. The drive has 930gb capacity and 930gb free and there is no smartware anywhere in my computer or anywhere else. Can you PLEASE help mee find it so I can get going again?
Thanks
Jerry
Bill_S wrote:
Try downloading the newest version of SmartWare. It should have fixed a few things.
I’m sorry. I didn’t give you a link because it’s particular to your drive. However, the downloads we have are only updates to your original SmartWare install. You will have to go to the VCD and reinstall SmartWare from there, first. Then you can update the software from within SmartWare if you are connected to the internet.
I’m getting the same problem. Windows Vista 64 Premium occasionally (at least once a day) pops up a message telling me that SW SmartWare has stopped working and will be closed. Then, when I try to exit the start-bar tray icon, it does nothing and continues to allow me to open SmartWare, even though the actual information it shows it all greyed out and inaccessible. The only solution for me, is to completely reboot my PC, which is very inconvenient.
The drive is working fine after the software fails, and I am still able to continue copying files manually over to the drive without any problems. It’s just the SmartWare that’s bugging out. I hope WD fix this soon, because it’s making me nervous about all the files I have backed up using the software being corrupted.
I’m getting the same problem. Windows Vista 64 Premium occasionally (at least once a day) pops up a message telling me that SW SmartWare has stopped working and will be closed. Then, when I try to exit the start-bar tray icon, it does nothing and continues to allow me to open SmartWare, even though the actual information it shows it all greyed out and inaccessible. The only solution for me, is to completely reboot my PC, which is very inconvenient.
The drive is working fine after the software fails, and I am still able to continue copying files manually over to the drive without any problems. It’s just the SmartWare that’s bugging out. I hope WD fix this soon, because it’s making me nervous about all the files I have backed up using the software being corrupted.
You don’t actually have to have SmartWare to use the drive. If you prefer, you can uninstall SmartWare and use the drive like any other external drive.
You don’t actually have to have SmartWare to use the drive. If you prefer, you can uninstall SmartWare and use the drive like any other external drive.
Hi Biil,
I am aware that I can use the drive as a normal drive, as I mentioned in my original post:
Herbaceous wrote:
…The drive is working fine after the software fails, and I am still able to continue copying files manually over to the drive without any problems. It’s just the SmartWare that’s bugging out…
I am genuinely appreciative that you, as a WD spokesman, have responded to this dilemma. But I am also a little disappointed at the content. If the only solution from WD for the problem is to not use the software, then that’s unacceptable. At the point of purchase I made my decision based on the spec’s that the MyBook listed, including the ability to use the supplied software.
I sincerely hope that the dev’s at WD take this problem seriously, as I am not the only one suffering from it.
On a side note (and as a potential bug report, should you wish to notify the programmers) I have noticed the same software failure when I am updating other system drivers. Notably; my nvidia display drivers. About half way through installation the WD software pops up the aforementioned error. I reproduced the problem a total of 4 times, with exactly the same result each time. I hope this helps…
We are working on the install issues with the WD SmartWare, and will have an updated version ready for release, soon. My only point in responding was to let you know that you don’t have to have the software to use the drive - in the meantime. I totally agree with your reasoning for buying the drive. Moreover, WD is commited to continually improving SmartWare’s functionality. So, it’s just a matter of time.
I found Badaboom’s post to be the only one of any use in this whole thread. I got Sync toy but the hell if I know how to use it.
I could not be more displeased with WD for letting such an utterly useless piece of garbage program onto their hard drives, then simply instruct you to download an update, which is more complex than any download I’ve ever seen, and it seems to suffer from the same bug as the original software.
I very specifically bought this because of the clear and very easily understandible graphics on the box of this HD. Turns out it is completely false advertiseing because it may appear to work the very first time but apparently It didnt even work then.
And I agree with Badaboom in that there is alot of frustration in owning and maintaining a pc, but most software/hardware will actually attempt to fix its problems. Perhaps even adress them or prevent them. Not WD. No apparently they dont bother even testing out their software on a few pc before shipping it out.
When I buy a product I expect it to work. Well I’ve learned my lesson and I will never buy from WD again. Perhaps they should put more compitent people like “bill_s” on their development teams and not the amature and short sighted programers that they did. I applaud you bill_s, as you seem to actually be earning whatever it is they pay you. No doubt they should be paying you more. Cheers
I originally had problems with my Passport Essential 320GB drive and it was determined to be faulty hardware. I got an RMA and it was replaced quickly, and the tech support was very thorough. I finally connected the new drive to my Vista laptop and installed the software. It was a bit quirky but eventually, after running overnight, it reported that it had backed up everything. So I removed the drive and left it disconnected for a couple of weeks. But recently my computer seemed very sluggish, and using the Windows Task Manager I found that the SmartWare was using as much as 60% CPU and something like 200 MB Commit Size. This seemed strange for software that was not even running. So I plugged the drive back in and it reported about 200 MB of modified files to be backed up. But it was extremely slow and I finally stopped the backup, removed the drive, and uninstalled the software. Now it works OK as just an external drive, and I’m going to just do manual backups or find other software that can do the job better.
I found that the drive used about 38 GB of 297 GB, while there should have been about 57 GB of files. When I checked the multiple folders I found that several important files that I changed recently had not been backed up. Perhaps they would have been if I let it run much longer, but it was taking forever and my computer was unacceptably bogged down. I am surprised to read so many others having problems with the software. But there are alternatives and hopefully the drive will be reliable. I think I’ll still make some CD-R backups as well.
