Western Digital did a really dumb thing. They embed a WD smartware CD on their essential external usb hard drive. WD will help you hide the CD but it doesn't get rid of it nor does it free up the used space.

There are problems with this on many levels first and foremost when a person buys an external HD, they want use of the entire volume.

There are no useful solutions via google but someone suggested on one of the pages using HDDGURU's hard disk low level formating tool.

There is nothing like asking advice afterwords. I ran the program and it looks promising. I can see the drive at 1999.69 gb so I am supposing this will either do something wonderful or turn the USB drive into a brick. I'll have to wait until morning to know for sure. If I screw it up, I'll try to take it back and play dumb.

Is there any reason to think this wont work?

No matter what, I'll post my results here.

Should work.

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www.datarecoveryne.com

Thanks, it's still formatting. 2tb is an investment in time. It's 3/4 done.

I still have the WD Smartware CD embedded and I can see the hard drive but I can't create a partition. I am trying different things. I may have made a brick. If nothing else I can try to reapply the firmware.

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Back up my hard drive? I can't find the reverse switch!

Partition magic fixed it back to where the drive was. No harm done but I didn't get what I want. I guess the data is controlled by the firm ware.

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Back up my hard drive? I can't find the reverse switch!

i don't think it will work. need to do some change on firmware even hardware. i have test on hard ware. but i haven't pay attention on capacity when i work on it.

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data recovery service[/b]

If you find a fix, you'll have lots of friends.

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Back up my hard drive? I can't find the reverse switch!

easy to remove

but you do it at your own risk

so does that mean i have lots of friends

You'll be my friend

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Back up my hard drive? I can't find the reverse switch!

ok do it at your own risk follow the instructions


http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/? ... eutilities



Virtual CD (VCD) Manager for Windows

Mac users click here

A small portion of drive space on your new My Passport or My Book hard drive has been used to create a Virtual CD (VCD). The VCD contains the WD SmartWare installation software, the encryption and password protection application, User Manuals, and other resource files. The VCD looks like an actual CD volume and appears on the screen each time you connect your WD drive to the computer.

The VCD is necessary if you wish to install WD SmartWare or if you want to use the encryption and password protection features on the drive.

If you don't wish to run WD SmartWare or use the security features, you can disable the VCD following the steps below. The VCD can be re-enabled by running the VCD manager.

Virtual CD (VCD) Manager
Instructions

IMPORTANT: The following precautions must be performed before installing the firmware update:

* All AntiVirus software MUST be disabled
* All Anti-Spyware software MUST be disabled
* ANY and ALL programs that would require drive access during the update MUST be disabled

Failure to perform these precautions may cause data corruption/loss and/or drive failure.

How to install the Virtual CD Manager

Windows® XP, Windows Vista®, Windows 7

STEP 1: Firmware Update: Release 2.003 (3/4/10)

Before running the Virtual CD Manager, you must first update the firmware on your hard drive.

1. Disconnect all other external drives from the computer except for the My Book or My Passport drive you want to update.
2. Ensure that the My Book or My Passport drive is connected to a USB port on your computer.
3. Download the Firmware Updater for Windows.
4. Unzip the file and double click to open the Firmware Updater.
5. Click Continue to update the firmware.
6. Click Accept the End User's License Agreement (EULA). The updater will scan the drive which may take a few minutes.
7. Verify the attached drive's serial number located on the back of the drive.
8. Click Update Firmware.
9. Once the updater is finished, click Exit.
10. Turn off the drive - For My Passport, disconnect the USB cable. For My Book disconnect both USB and power cables.
11. Wait 10 seconds. Reconnect the USB/power cables.

STEP 2: Download and run the VCD Manager

1. Download VCD Manager for Windows.(WDSmartWareVirtualCDManagerforWindows-v1.0.7.4.zip) to your desktop.
2. Unzip the utility (Extract the file using an extraction utility.)
3. Double click WDSmartWareVirtualCDManagerforWindows-v1.0.7.4.exe.
4. Click Continue to disable the VCD.
5. Once the utility has found your drive, click Configure Drive and then click Exit.
6. Turn off the drive - For My Passport, disconnect the USB cable. For My Book disconnect both USB and power cables.
7. Wait 10 seconds. Reconnect the USB/power cables that have been disconnected in the previous step.
8. Verify that the VCD no longer appears.

That only makes it hidden. It doesn't give back any hard drive space.

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Back up my hard drive? I can't find the reverse switch!

How much space are you losing here? Is it really worth the hassle? I mean, I agree that Smartware is obnoxious, but then so is the fact that your drive is encrypting everything on it without telling you. Personally I recommend against using any of these new WD externals.

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You don't have to backup all of your files, just the ones you want to keep.

I suppose it's the principal. I won't buy another.

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Back up my hard drive? I can't find the reverse switch!