WD Passport external drive - do I have to use their "WD Discovery" software?

[eclipse]

Hi all,
I just want to use it like a normal external hard drive that is formatted to read on Mac, Linux and Windows.

But this "WD Discovery" software got installed to manage the drive's password - which I don't think can be installed on Linux as well. Any ideas? If I delete the WD Discovery software will I be able to reformat the drive with Disk Utilities to work as a normal drive?

Also, how on earth do you delete the WD Discovery software - it seems to be protected.

 

[Prorege1]

Hi,

I did format mine with Disk Utilities, no problem. Just be careful not to password protect if you use it for Time Machine automatic backups (it will ask for the password before each backup).

No clue with the WD software, guess you can just leave it "as is".

 

[eclipse]

Yes - I have two drives and I formatted Disk Utilities on one and it was fine. Unfortunately that was my second drive. The first drive I used the stupid software on it and it locked the drive - and now Disk Utility sees it as an "Optical drive" that can't be formatted. I might try my Linux machine (once I fix something on it) and see if I can format it as Exfat.

Finally, I just edited the opening post to read:
[Also, how on earth do you delete the WD Discovery software - it seems to be protected. = SOLVED = WD Discovery software had a sneaky Uninstaller in another folder - all good.]

 

[Fishrrman]

You may have found the solution already, but I would suggest you remove all the WD proprietary software, and do a COMPLETE ERASE of the drive using disk utility.

Be aware that when the drive makers install the proprietary software, they sometimes create a "protected partition" on which to store it.
That's why you need to disable/remove the software, and erase the drive and start over with disk utility...

 

[ght56]

You should be able to do a full format in Disk Utility that wipes the entire drive, including the pre-installed software. Do note you will need to format in exFAT to use on all three without additional software. Unfortunately, exFAT sucks, so you will definitely want to make sure your backups of this drive remain current.

If for some reason Disk Utility is giving you issues, you can use Windows' DISKPART to do a low-level format.

 

[Weaselboy]

Also, how on earth do you delete the WD Discovery software - it seems to be protected.

The trick is in Disk Utility to select Show all Devices like in my screenshot. Then select the drive itself like where it says Seagate in my screenshot. Then click erase and choose the format you want. Sounds like ExFat would work best for you.

 

[eclipse]

Hi all, I've deleted the software and it's been fine. The only annoying thing is I keep getting this notice. I used AppCleaner to get rid of the software - but this keeps popping up. Where is this groundhog hiding?

 

[Weaselboy]

~/Library/LaunchAgents (~ is your users folder)
/Library/LaunchAgents
/Library/LaunchDaemons
/Library/StartupItems
/Library/Extensions
/System/Library/Extensions/

Look in all these folders for anything related.

 

[eclipse]

Nothing in there. What's the way to search for hidden files - the tilde? ~NTFS or something?
Anyway, I might have deleted the original install the wrong way with AppCleaner.
So I went and downloaded it and installed it again (as they have a 10 day trial period) and used their uninstaller. If I still get this message about NTFS updates I'll be complaining to the company.

 

[Weaselboy]

Cmd + Shift + . (dot) will show hidden files.