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WD MyBook Studio - New Leopard Firmware

M

MacUserSince87

macrumors member
Original poster
Aug 18, 2007
74
0
Northern Virginia, USA
I installed a new WD MyBook Studio 1TB drive today and discovered a new firmware upgrade was needed for Leopard.

Instructions for installation which say to connect drive via Firewire were incorrect, causing the installer to hand and requiring a call to tech support to resolve. Turned out the firmware addresses some Firewire issue and drive must be connected via USB 2.0 to load the patch.

Instructions are here: http://support.wdc.com/download/?cxml=n&pid=39&swid=60

The patch makes the buttons software obsolete and it must be uninstalled prior to running the patch. There is a new DriveManager Application which replaces it: http://support.wdc.com/download/?swid=61

The update appears to apply to most WD models so if you have one you might want to check.
 
Wow thanks for the tip. I have the exact same drive (hooked up via firewire) and have noticed quite a few odd things happening with it. For example, sometimes when I unplug the firewire (after unmounting the drive, of course) my Macbook will instantly go to sleep. Also the drive tends to spin up and down a lot, even though I have that disabled in energy setttings. Hopefully these updates help! Thanks again.
 
I have a mybook drive from last year which seems to be running fine, I don't think there's an update for older models right? I just bought a new MyBook drive (2nd drive), and that came with a "Attention Leopard Users" card, and instructed me to download the new firmware.

So far no major issues, but it's literally been just a few days. And I don't use those button managers that it comes with.
 
I made the mistake of buying this drive from Costco the 1TB. No matter what I try the firmware will not update. This garbage is going back and I am going to get something else. Buyer beware.
 
I have the MyBook Home Edition 500GB, but haven't had a problem with it (I don't use the supplied software for anything). I saw the firmware update but chose not to install it - if it's not broke, don't fix it.
 
Interesting reading. I have just bought a My Book Studio Edition 500GB, with the slip about the firmware update for Leopard – except the firmware update no longer seems to be available!

The drive does not work at all properly through FireWire, but it does seem to work through USB; I have emailed WD to see what the deal is.
 
Also the drive tends to spin up and down a lot, even though I have that disabled in energy setttings.
Click to expand...
That's one of those "It's not a bug it's a feature" things. The drive automatically spins down after a couple of minutes of inactivity, regardless of the settings in the OS. It's been criticised a lot and annoys the hell out of me as well. Let me know if this update changes anything, I'm not currently using my MyBook.
 
I purchased a MyBook 500gb firewire enabled drive a few months ago to replace my LaCie external. The LaCie drive was the 3rd one I had that failed. The first two lasted 1 week, the third lasted a year before going click click click. It was really noisy and had a Maxtor drive inside.

The MyBook runs silently and seems to be ticking along with no issues at all. I'm using it with time machine and as my external Vault location for Aperture. I don't have any trouble with it.
 
i had that instruction in the box too when i purchased my 500gb mybook studio. i didnt update the firmware, and didnt need to. my drive has been working fine for a few months now.
 
I have a MyBook 500GB, and it works great with Firewire or with USB. No problems at all, and I didn't install the software/firmware updates, as everything was working correctly.

The drive goes to sleep when the Mac goes to sleep, and wakes up when the mac wakes up. I am currently using it for a boot drive (over Firewire) for a desk-bound MacBook, works great.

Internally the 500 uses (in my case anyhow) one of the WDC Green Power Drives. Very low power consumption. I love these drives.
 
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