WD Passport software removal

I wish I could help. All I know is that once I made sure the drive was mounted and then pasted Littletree's Terminal commands, the next time I mounted the drive, the Smartware partition was gone. It's still gone, and since I'm using it with a laptop, I unmount and mount the Passport drive a lot.

I can't vouch for the other methods people have posted.

Nick

OK, I got the virtual CD to stop showing up with the firmware update, but I still have a Smartware icon popping up on the menu bar. I can mount and unmount like normal but the icon popping up annoys me!

Anyone have this happen to them? Any ideas on how to get rid of it. The software isn't installed that I can see.

ETA, I figured it out. I had to mount the virtual drive, then uninstall the software then disable the virtual drive.

What a hassle!

Message was edited by: Johnny69Mac

At last, Western Digital has posted a fix. You'll love it - it reminds me of having to work with a Windows machine ;-}

http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilitiesmac

…it does, however, work, once it's been done.

I was planning on cloning my drive as well and putting the 1 tb in my Macbook. Did you ever find out if this would work? I have been on Google searching but can't find anything.

Hi Monken,

Yes, it does work but you have to be careful with a few things. You need to get the WD Passport Elite portable. The one that I got was from Costco with a Champagne case - 500GB 5400 rpm Scorpio Blue drive. The new model of the Passports have the USB integrated to the hard drive and you won't be able to use it in the Macbook as your internal hard drive.

Also I know that there are bigger drives available and some of them are probably part of the small portable Passport Series. I wanted the largest internal hard drive as well but you have to keep in mind the drive clearances as well inside the Macbook. The 500GB drive I put in was 9.5mm thick which is the largest that I found would fit. There was a 1 TB drive that I was going to put in until I realized that it was 12.5mm thick.

Other than than, the swap worked perfectly and I'm using my MBP with a LOT more space and peace of mind.

Good luck!!

littletree, Thanks for the code help, it totally worked. I entered the code in Terminal and it prohibited the SmartWare from mounting. I dabbled around with the /etc/fstab/ file a bit but I am unsure how to undo the changes. Is there a way to remove the code from fstab so the SmartWare will mount automatically?

I have 7 WD Passport drives (I like the colors).

A simple reformat in Disk Utility got rid of the software.

Peter

Hey ppl, ive been reading about this for a while and decided to use the terminal / code option that littletree76 posted.. WELL IT WORKED 😀 ty littletree.. However i wonder if i now just delete the wd smartware from my applications folder, and ill spotlight it to remove all traces.. Q : Will the drive just be as a normal drive.. "with no software" (although the partion is still there) or do i have to leave it installed.. I want to stop the backup process all together, and use time machine instead.. Im worried as i dont have the VCD showing up now and wont b able to reinstall (unless i can still download it from website) but will my drive show up if i delete the software now ??? <<

can someone clarify this for me?

the extra partition... the WD Smartware virtual CD... is it a partition of the actual hard disk or is it hard coded on a memory chip of some kind?

when i Get Info on the "empty" drive it says "663.3 MB" is Used.

the solutions discussed in this thread seem to be about hiding the partition but not freeing up that space for us to use.

anyone see what i'm getting at?

i want to delete the data if at all possible. not just hide a partition.

Ok so I've done some of my own research and the results are as I'd feared.
the utility only hides the partition. it prevents the Mac OS from mounting it.
the data is NOT on a chip, but taking up valuable hard drive space.
WD has NOT released a method of removing the software and it's partition.

There IS a way to do this, but it involves (of course) voiding the warranty. It's explained in the following link, but the short answer is, you need to remove the hard drive from the case, attach it to a computer via Serial ATA and use an advanced (in this case, Windows) utility to fully erase it. This bypasses the firmware chip that provides hardware level protection of a segment of YOUR drive.

http://community.wdc.com/t5/forums/forumtopicpage/board-id/smartware/thread-id/6 5;jsessionid=F706785B5A654FF4CA0407008D29F155

This seems nothing short of a public relations fiasco in the making for WD.

How can I remove that terminal entry?
After having applied your string the drive doesn't mount at all - neither the VCD, nor the actual harddrive.

Anyone who could help me?

The Mac version of the SmartWare Utilities is here: http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilitiesmac

I used it on my Passport 500GB and it worked flawlessly, didn't even require me to reformat the drive or anything. It just updates the firmware and then lets you "disable" the VCD.

It didn't work for me, so I tried the postet Terminal patch.
But after having applied the string the drive doesn't mount at all - neither the VCD, nor the actual harddrive.
How can I remove that terminal entry?

Seems the current version (1.1.1.4 firmware - I think it is, removed all the software now) wont work with the Mac Versions of the firmware updater or the VDC disable tool.

Formatting on the Mac using Disk Utility doesn't remove the VCD either. There's no way (other than taking the disk out and formatting - warranty issues beware) of removing VCD at present. Best option is the vote with your wallet.

As for me, well the drive is going back to Apple in the morning (I have 14 days to return it, no worries about restocking fees in the UK).

So the search for a decent priced fw800 1Tb hdd continues. Seagate Freeagent 'looks' o.k. 😉

Bye bye WD until you sort your woeful applications out.