External Hard Drives some questions

[jwitalka]

But do you have to install Smartware? I've never used the My Book drive but I have used the WD My passport and Element drives that also come with Smartware and they work fine if you don't install and use Smartware. No reformatting necessary.

Jerry

[Medico]

The WD Ext HD I tried to use already had the S/W installed and was formated as FAT32. I even tried reformating to NTFS and the HD just would not work. I finally got disgusted and took it back and bought the Seagate Free Agent Go 1 TB and never looked back. It just worked right out of the box.

[dreamkid]

I've used WD drives before and yesterday was asked to set up Backups on a My Book. Having obtained the password and accessed the drive I reminded myself just how bad their software is as it took hours to complete a small backup with no indication of progress. Having found the 'Detailed View' button I realised it was not backing up email and Sage files - the core of the users's business.

My intention is to keep the installed software as it protects the disk from unauthorised access via a password, then simply use different software to run the backups - my first choices are Karenware's Replicator or Syncback.

DK

[georgelee]

Update

In #8 I explained that after emailing WD Support, asking how to obtain Acronis True Image WD Edition, necessary for storing PC images on WD My Book Essential drives, they replied with details on how to use, but not obtain, the software, and that I had repeated my request as to how one could obtain it.

They replied 10 days later, including a link to download Acronis. After a week spent reading the manual – not all of which I understood - I still need help.

Yesterday I created the rescue media, but am not sure about the results. Starting with a USB memory stick, which was quite straightforward; Acronis said 231.1 MB to download, and the memory stick shows 244 MB used space. That seems about right, but taking a look at what has been downloaded, there are a lot of folders, including 4 for data, and I wonder if, in the event of a crash, the PC would know which to open first. Furthermore, it has occurred to me today that were an emergency to arise, it would be too late to set the bios to boot from the USB stick.

The bootable DVD was more problematic. Using DVD-R produced a disk titled Acronis Media, but only 171MB rather than the above mentioned 231.1 MB, containing just one folder, Recovery Manager of 85.2 MB. The remaining 85.8 MB is not listed. Finding this unsatisfactory I tried a DVD+R DL , with even stranger results. The disk, titled Acronis Bootable is 1.18MB, and the single folder, TrueImageLeauncher.exe a mere 217 KB. I don’t feel confident about either disk, especially the latter, but there is an option to create an ISO without any guidance about this.

There is also another problem. Images need to be stored on a separate partition of the drive but I’m unable to find out how to do this. Right clicking Disk Management – as instructed – gives several options, such as Format, Delete Partition or Mark Partition as Active (whatever that may mean), but nothing on how to split the partition in two.

PS
Not having visited this thread since 4^th Feb, and not expecting anything further until after a reply from WD, I was surprised to find a further 8 postings, and all (apart from Clint) criticising WD drives as useless. Yet when I started a thread last December on which make of external HD to buy the replies were balanced between WD and Seagate, with a slight preference for the former, and nobody warned of the dangers of WD Smartware, which is disappointing. Before dumping WD and buying something else, I would like to see if I can get it working.

George

[georgelee]

But do you have to install Smartware? I've never used the My Book drive but I have used the WD My passport and Element drives that also come with Smartware and they work fine if you don't install and use Smartware. No reformatting necessary.

Jerry

Jerry,
That's something I have wondered about, but Fred thought there was probably a chip in the drive which would prevent it working normally, and WD were unable to answer the question.

Certainly it slows the PC enormously: scans take for ever and when it decides to update the incremental backups it's not possible to open anything else. In fact yesterday was the first time I've plugged it infor about two weeks.

[Just Plain Fred]

George,
Hello....Sounds like you made some progress....However sounds like your making this way to complex.... Here is what i would do if this was my OS....

1. Using Add\Remove Programs delete anything WD that is on the HD

2. Format the drive NTFS (split it up any way you desire ) I would keep it all for "Images"

3. Download and install Macrium Reflect Free on your C: (OS)

4. Burn the "Recovery Disk" (Using the Windows PE Custom Option WAIK "windows automated installation kit") Follow instructions that come with Macrium, and save the WAIK download ...1.7 GB.

5. Don't fool with WD or the Acronis for WD... Macrium works and has more tools ..

6. Just make full OS Images and keep about a months worth (one or two a week)

Just my 2¢ Regards Fred

[satrow]

Yet when I started a thread last December on which make of external HD to buy the replies were balanced between WD and Seagate, with a slight preference for the former, and nobody warned of the dangers of WD Smartware, which is disappointing.

Sorry George, I wasn't active then or I would have stepped in. Many of the WD ext. drives are bad on so many levels, both hard-and soft-ware, as has already been pointed out during the current thread.

[georgelee]

Fred,
Getting rid of Smartware would be a pleasure as it really slows down the PC. I am fairly busy on the machine from c. 11 pm, but the WD drive is active from around midnight, and was still flashing away when I shut down at 01.40 this morning. God knows what it was doing, as I had been out most of the day, so there wasn’t much in the way of incremental backing up to do, but it made opening anything painfully slow.

But if I remove the WD software, will it be possible to store images, bearing in mind you previously suggested there is probably a chip built into the drive to prevent it?

You mention formatting NTFS. It is already NTFS, does it need to be done again? Is it at this stage one creates a separate partition?

Your recommended version of Macrium is already installed – downloaded prior to discovering it will not work with WD Smartware. I had better start reading their manual.

If I install Macrium on the wife's PC, would it be possible to plug in the WD drive and keep her images as well, possibly on a second partition?

Sorry for all the questions, I’m still a novice about computers. Thanks for your help.

Regards,
George

[Just Plain Fred]

But if I remove the WD software, will it be possible to store images, bearing in mind you previously suggested there is probably a chip built into the drive to prevent it?

You mention formatting NTFS. It is already NTFS, does it need to be done again? Is it at this stage one creates a separate partition?

Your recommended version of Macrium is already installed – downloaded prior to discovering it will not work with WD Smartware. I had better start reading their manual.

If I install Macrium on the wife's PC, would it be possible to plug in the WD drive and keep her images as well, possibly on a second partition?

George,

1. As far as i Know ( from other posts) you can remove the WD software you just cant remove their small partition..."Cause of the built in stuff"

2. Yes, format the drive and start fresh If you want at this point do the 2nd partition (for your wife's Images)

3. I forget what version that you have now ...the important thing is that you have the Recovery Disk "burned" and tested. If it's an older version i recommend the newer version 5's ( With the Windows PE custom Recovery disk)

4. Yes,as long as Macrium is installed on your wife's PC, it will see the external hard drive as just another ...you might have to assign it a drive letter (Disk Management) Once Macrium is on her PC it will not make any difference to Macrium as to where to put the Image. 2nd partition is a good idea ... keep things from getting mixed up ..Make sure that you assign a letter and unique Name ... "Sally's Images" "HRM's Images" , etc Regards Fred

[georgelee]

George,

3. I forget what version that you have now ...the important thing is that you have the Recovery Disk "burned" and tested. If it's an older version i recommend the newer version 5's ( With the Windows PE custom Recovery disk)
Regards Fred

Fred,
Macrium Reflect 4.2.3638 was the version you recommended earlier, is that still your choice? Or should I use a later version with the Windows recovery disk rather that Linux?

I thought Macrium was still installed, but it’s not so – presumably I removed it after installing Acronis WD Edition, then forgot it, unless Acronis was able to remove a conflicting programme.

Yesterday I was happy to be rid of Acronis, but cleaning the WD drive took almost the whole of today. Two of the folders could not be deleted until I found a disk clean-up option, which took a long time. Checking the result via Properties I read ‘used space 0 bytes, free space 0 bytes.’ Trying later and getting ‘Drive not accessible’ I thought that the drive was a write-off, but some time later there was a hidden 17GB and after using a ’fix broken files’ option, I was able to format it.

If I had known formatting would take 6 – 7 hours I would have run it over night, especially as I was at home all day today and had hoped to catch up on my email. The PC being unavailable most of the day put paid to that.

But all seems well. I copied a 1 GB folder to the external drive, and examined a few documents without any problems.

George

[Just Plain Fred]

Fred,
Macrium Reflect 4.2.3638 was the version you recommended earlier, is that still your choice? Or should I use a later version with the Windows recovery disk rather that Linux?

George,
Hello...OK i remember now ..You can use the older version with the simple "Linux Recovery" disk.. When you are confident with it making Images...You then can "Upgrade" to the newer version 5's...( without removing the old) They can do more than the old version...but a little more complicated in the "Recovery Disk" department..If this is not a problem for you ..go with the newer version. Regards Fred

[georgelee]

George,
Hello...OK i remember now ..You can use the older version with the simple "Linux Recovery" disk.. When you are confident with it making Images...You then can "Upgrade" to the newer version 5's...( without removing the old) They can do more than the old version...but a little more complicated in the "Recovery Disk" department..If this is not a problem for you ..go with the newer version. Regards Fred

Think I'll start with the older version if it's less complicated - computing is difficult enough already.

George

[georgelee]

Well I removed the WD software from the My Book HD, successfully copied a large folder to it, created a Macrium rescue disk and then my first image.

Yesterday I spent 5-6 hours attempting to check that it worked. All in vain – skip the next 3 paragraphs to avoid the gruesome details.

First I printed the instructions and diagram that dg 1261 kindly posted in another thread after I had been unable to remove the existing HD.

After disconnecting the PC and opening it up I was still unable to find the missing screw. The only one to be found anywhere near the HD secured the USB sockets on the front panel. Removing that and detaching the sockets from their slot didn’t reveal any further screws, so I replaced them. Dg1261’s instructions said it was on the base of the PC, on the right of the photo of the interior I had posted to identify which was the HD. Not having printed that, I placed the laptop on my desk beside the PC and went to my posting, which showed it to be on the non removable side panel. Problem solved, it was not a screw but a hook that clipped on to a slot in the panel. Using a screwdriver enabled removal.

A few other time consuming difficulties, such as getting the HD out of the bracket, solved by further use of the screwdriver, getting the new drive into the bracket – a really tight fit, finding that the web ending with 30-40 pins had become detached from the base, and unsure whether it was critical which end went where, also reinstalling the bracket and then realising that I had not screwed the drive to it, entailing taking it out again.

Eventually, everything was finished, the PC reconnected. I switched on, the rescue disk worked, went to a screen asking me to select the location of the image to be restored. DISASTER. Only drives C and D were shown, no sign of My Book. I tried Refresh a few times, checked that the external drive was connected, switched off, and started again, without any success.

I had to restore the original drive, full of trepidation that it wouldn’t work either. Luckily, that was not the case, and this time the entire operation only took just over half an hour.

Unless anyone has any further suggestions, I must assume that removing the WD software makes My Book unavailable to a new internal HD. Even though with the old
HD I can again open up and examine the image. In which case I will download the software from WD and cut my losses by selling it for whatever it will fetch.

Something which bothered me at the time of installation may be relevant. Both drives are 120 GB Seagates, but differing versions. The jumper on the replacement drive is in the 2^nd position, viewed from the top, whereas the original is at No.3. I tried to change it, but it’s impossible, except perhaps with long, strong fingernails – neither my fingers nor tweezers will shift it. On the new drive that position is labelled ‘cable select’, which strikes me as the correct choice. I don’t recall what No.3 is called on the original, and am not inclined to open up again unless this crucial.

As I appear to be at a dead end, any suggestions would be welcomed.

George

[Just Plain Fred]

George ,
Hello.. I tried booting the older version (Linux)"4" Macrium Recovery disk...It shows all my drives although the Linux disk mixes up all the drive letters.... So you have to be careful and look for the name that you gave the "WD" drive....

I did the same with the newer Version 5's Recovery disk ...at this point I'm not sure if your using "4" or "5" The newer version 5 searches for "Plug and Play" devices first before it loads.. Maybe the older version of Macrium cannot see external HD's. In any case don't give up just yet.

Just as a precaution ...go into your BIOS ( on my OS Hit F-10 when Booting) and check that you have "Plug and Play" devices enabled... Question with your old setup will the Macrium Recovery Disk see the WD HD Image? Regards Fred

[georgelee]

George,
Hello...OK i remember now ..You can use the older version with the simple "Linux Recovery" disk.. When you are confident with it making Images...You then can "Upgrade" to the newer version 5's...( without removing the old) They can do more than the old version...but a little more complicated in the "Recovery Disk" department..If this is not a problem for you ..go with the newer version. Regards Fred

Fred,

Unable to find any reference to ‘plug and play’ in the BIOS. Admittedly I didn’t know exactly where to look, but I opened just about every heading to see what was there. So that is probably the reason for the problem.

Under ‘Drive Config’ there were Primary and Secondary Slave Drives listed, both blank. Should the WD My Book be a slave drive? That would presumably involve changing the jumper on the replacement drive, which, as previously mentioned, seems to be unmovable with my fingers.

There was also an entry ‘IDE Drive UDMA On’. I’ve no idea what that is.

During the week I was looking through the Lounge and so something – which I’m unable to find now – that may be relevant. I’m sure it was you explaining ‘mounting an image’ to someone. You said that after examining the image one should unmount it. After I created my image I opened several files at random to check they were OK, and, knowing nothing about unmounting, then moved on to something else. This was repeated after removing the replacement HD and putting the original back in the PC. If this is critical, is it possible to undo whatever damage I have done?

Might Macrium 5 succeed where v. 4 doesn’t. But see below

I installed v.4 because the v.5 rescue disk will not fit on a CD, and, last year when burning backups my DVD Writer started to recognise all discs as CD, even though it would play both data and video DVDs. Suspecting a software problem, but not 100% sure, I was unwilling to pay £50 for the latest software, with features I would never use.

Looking for a DVD writer with IDE drive, the few still available required Pentium 4, and I had a feeling my machine was Celeron, so I switched to backing up to the laptop. Earlier this year I was checking the amount of space allocated to System Restore, when I noticed a option for Computer Information, which confirmed I have a Pentium 4, unlike All programs/ Accessories/ System Tools which just says genuine Intel.

I bought a new writer from Amazon for £12.50, replaced Nero 4 with the included Nero 9 and have since done two monthly backups without serious problems. The actual writer will be installed when the existing one fails.

With regard to the Macrium rescue disk I had intended to create both Linux and Bart discs, but the latter seems to be very complex, and the conditions appear to rule me out. There was something along the lines of only being for authorised computer technicians, OEM installers or something like that. I don’t feel inclined to wade through all that again unless you feel that is the only way to make My Book function.

Apologies for yet another long posting, and many thanks for all your help.

George