Does anyone know of a method to remove the software that comes pre-loaded and is immune to erasure even after formatting on USB external hard drives. The software is called WD Smartware. It mounts a virtual CD and pops right back onto the desktop even after "ejecting" it. It is similar to the U3 software that comes preloaded on flash drives. Thanks!
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WD Passport software removal
- Thread starter ehmormaht
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try diskutility and formatting it to HFS?
Worked for my older WD Passports but not sure if that is the same as the new ones.
Does anyone knows if there is a KillDisk application for the Mac? I seen it mentioned but I can't find it and it would do the job.
Well heres an update.
my dumb ass actually got a windows version of the WD Passport SE 750 so I'm trying to reformat it to HFS journaled so i can use it with CCC, my preferred backup software.
However, I did plug it into my windows xp virtual machine and with instructions from here:
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilities
this effectively removes the software from the drive.
Now, I stlll for some reason can not get it to reformat with disk utility to anything except FAT. right now i'm trying a zero out data pass through and then a reformat, so we'll see how taht goes.
Its gonna take awhile though.. few hours at the minimum with 750 gigs to zero out....
lets keep our fingers crossed.
my dumb ass actually got a windows version of the WD Passport SE 750 so I'm trying to reformat it to HFS journaled so i can use it with CCC, my preferred backup software.
However, I did plug it into my windows xp virtual machine and with instructions from here:
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilities
this effectively removes the software from the drive.
Now, I stlll for some reason can not get it to reformat with disk utility to anything except FAT. right now i'm trying a zero out data pass through and then a reformat, so we'll see how taht goes.
Its gonna take awhile though.. few hours at the minimum with 750 gigs to zero out....
lets keep our fingers crossed.
SUCCESS!! (For Mac Users)
I managed to remove the software from my WD Passport and turn it into a regular external hard drive that allows you to drag and drop things/erase things like a regular usb drive.
Here's what I did:
STEP 1 go to this page, download the stuff they tell you to and follow the instructions they list until the end:
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilitiesmac
STEP 2
Go to your regular Mac HD and:
Click open your applications folder
Access the Utility Folder from there
Once inside the Utility Folder click on Disk Utility
STEP 3
Select your WD drive from the column on the left
Select the ERASE tab
Make sure the format menu has "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" selected
Rename your Drive to your own name or whatever you want to call it.
Hit the Erase button.
After I performed these steps, my external hard drive showed up with its new name and I was able to use it as normal. I hope this works for you! It only took me about 5 minutes to do this. Good luck!
(let me know if this worked for you)
I managed to remove the software from my WD Passport and turn it into a regular external hard drive that allows you to drag and drop things/erase things like a regular usb drive.
Here's what I did:
STEP 1 go to this page, download the stuff they tell you to and follow the instructions they list until the end:
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilitiesmac
STEP 2
Go to your regular Mac HD and:
Click open your applications folder
Access the Utility Folder from there
Once inside the Utility Folder click on Disk Utility
STEP 3
Select your WD drive from the column on the left
Select the ERASE tab
Make sure the format menu has "Mac OS Extended (Journaled)" selected
Rename your Drive to your own name or whatever you want to call it.
Hit the Erase button.
After I performed these steps, my external hard drive showed up with its new name and I was able to use it as normal. I hope this works for you! It only took me about 5 minutes to do this. Good luck!
(let me know if this worked for you)
The firmware update does not recognize the latest MyBook Studio 2TB with Firewire unless things have changed in the last few weeks
Beware the WD MyBook Studio 2TB External HDD
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