I used to like WD drives, until this:
How I tried to make a Western Digital 1TB My Book drive work with my SSO. There's a problem, the WD drive contains a UDF partition. This is a Virtual CD (VCD) that the SSO must be seeing. Theory - Being it's formatted UDF. the SSO cannot see the usable partition. My Ubuntu 10.04LTS machine has no problem seeing both partitions, as does my Xp machine. Could this be "fixed" with a future SSO FW update?
I thought I found a solution that would work here: How to remove hidden Virtual CD (VCD) partitions on your Western Digital external disks
I don't have to add comment, the author of that page expresses my sentiment exactly. Yes, reclaim the partition! TRIED, and it DID NOT WORK !
Found WD's support page: How to remove (disable / hide) WD SmartWare Virtual CD (VCD) for Windows or Mac OSX on a WD My Book or WD My Passport with instructions to disable the VCD at the drive itself. On the page they state:
1) There is no way to remove it (VCD - Virtual CD-Rom) from the disk. [NOTE 1]
Step 1 on their page, The download link for the updated software doesn't go to the software update page, it's the firmware page, so I skipped it. I then downloaded the updated WD firmware, ran the Firmware Updater. and rebooted computer. New Hardware wizard ran. Installed an Initio driver? Can't see the drive at all in My Computer. Cycled WD drive power, Found CD Rom(virtual) and ext HDD. I installed the WD Smartware(Smart??? Ha!) to my Xp computer from the WD smartware drive. Followed the rest of the instructions on the WD page, using the installed WD Smartware program to disable the VCD(Virtual CD-Rom). Got to step 5>>Click on the Virtual CD button on the left side of the screen. THERE ISN'T ONE!
Click on the HOME tab, there's an Update Software button.[Phew!] I click it. takes me to
WD Product Update and I download and install the updated software. Another 25Mb download. Geez-- close the program, unzip and install the update. Boy, that install seemed slow. It was. I hit Don't Restart (The computer). and started the smartware prog. Damn, you have to restart the computer! OK, save the WD page to desktop and reboot the comp. This has got to be the umpteenth reboot, Run the installed WD Smaryware proggy again and disable the VCD in the settings tab - Virtual CD button, cycle the WD power, and Xp doesn't see the VCD. Good! The WD Smartware also no longert appears in Xp's Device Manager - DVD-CD Rom Devices(the Smart?ware can be disabled there, but that will not disable it running if plugged into another machine). Try the drive on Ubuntu 10.04LTS, No Smartware CD-Rom detected, just the 930Mb NTFS partition. YES! This look prommissing. Plug it into the Openbox- NADA, ZIP, ZILTCH. NOT DETECTED.
Wait for it. 10 minutes later, still not detected. Another hour, nope. Lost cause? So far, yes. Time wasted, more than a few hours.
For any one else thinking of a USB drive to use with an SSO, get an externally powered one, most that are powered by the USB will fail to work. Also, get one that does not bundle worthlessware, especially a Virtual Drive. The WD page says, 2) Network drives such as the My Book Live that include the WD SmartWare software do not have a VCD. Now, I cannot cofirm this: THE MY BOOK LIVE DOES NOT HAVE A VCD. It comes with the worthlessware as a file only, but at least it's left to your choosing to run it or not.
NOTE 1 - Does this constitute fraud? It's advertised and sold as a 1TB drive. 1TB =1024GB. but only 930GB is available. That's 97GB short of what they advertise. I know the O.S. needs some room for system files, but it's nowhere near 97GB. 1GB should do.
Has anyone had any success with a WD My Book, on the Openbox?
EDIT: I'm not the only person frustrated with the smart?ware VCD UDF partition. Found a thread in the WD support community, Only to be told in the end: "I'm going to stop this discussion here, before you guys start shooting each other. - - - , we will not be releasing any firmware to remove the VCD." Bill_S. Community Manager
hxxp://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Passport-for-PC/Remove-the-VCD-from-my-drive/td-p/7066/page/16
As I correct my typing I'm also still searching for a solution, may have found something here: [SOLVED] WD SmartWare - Mac - Ubuntu Forums I'll have to check it out later, It's late. I'm tired and now grumpy. sayonara for now.
How I tried to make a Western Digital 1TB My Book drive work with my SSO. There's a problem, the WD drive contains a UDF partition. This is a Virtual CD (VCD) that the SSO must be seeing. Theory - Being it's formatted UDF. the SSO cannot see the usable partition. My Ubuntu 10.04LTS machine has no problem seeing both partitions, as does my Xp machine. Could this be "fixed" with a future SSO FW update?
I thought I found a solution that would work here: How to remove hidden Virtual CD (VCD) partitions on your Western Digital external disks
I don't have to add comment, the author of that page expresses my sentiment exactly. Yes, reclaim the partition! TRIED, and it DID NOT WORK !
Found WD's support page: How to remove (disable / hide) WD SmartWare Virtual CD (VCD) for Windows or Mac OSX on a WD My Book or WD My Passport with instructions to disable the VCD at the drive itself. On the page they state:
1) There is no way to remove it (VCD - Virtual CD-Rom) from the disk. [NOTE 1]
Step 1 on their page, The download link for the updated software doesn't go to the software update page, it's the firmware page, so I skipped it. I then downloaded the updated WD firmware, ran the Firmware Updater. and rebooted computer. New Hardware wizard ran. Installed an Initio driver? Can't see the drive at all in My Computer. Cycled WD drive power, Found CD Rom(virtual) and ext HDD. I installed the WD Smartware(Smart??? Ha!) to my Xp computer from the WD smartware drive. Followed the rest of the instructions on the WD page, using the installed WD Smartware program to disable the VCD(Virtual CD-Rom). Got to step 5>>Click on the Virtual CD button on the left side of the screen. THERE ISN'T ONE!
Click on the HOME tab, there's an Update Software button.[Phew!] I click it. takes me to
WD Product Update and I download and install the updated software. Another 25Mb download. Geez-- close the program, unzip and install the update. Boy, that install seemed slow. It was. I hit Don't Restart (The computer). and started the smartware prog. Damn, you have to restart the computer! OK, save the WD page to desktop and reboot the comp. This has got to be the umpteenth reboot, Run the installed WD Smaryware proggy again and disable the VCD in the settings tab - Virtual CD button, cycle the WD power, and Xp doesn't see the VCD. Good! The WD Smartware also no longert appears in Xp's Device Manager - DVD-CD Rom Devices(the Smart?ware can be disabled there, but that will not disable it running if plugged into another machine). Try the drive on Ubuntu 10.04LTS, No Smartware CD-Rom detected, just the 930Mb NTFS partition. YES! This look prommissing. Plug it into the Openbox- NADA, ZIP, ZILTCH. NOT DETECTED.
Wait for it. 10 minutes later, still not detected. Another hour, nope. Lost cause? So far, yes. Time wasted, more than a few hours.
For any one else thinking of a USB drive to use with an SSO, get an externally powered one, most that are powered by the USB will fail to work. Also, get one that does not bundle worthlessware, especially a Virtual Drive. The WD page says, 2) Network drives such as the My Book Live that include the WD SmartWare software do not have a VCD. Now, I cannot cofirm this: THE MY BOOK LIVE DOES NOT HAVE A VCD. It comes with the worthlessware as a file only, but at least it's left to your choosing to run it or not.
NOTE 1 - Does this constitute fraud? It's advertised and sold as a 1TB drive. 1TB =1024GB. but only 930GB is available. That's 97GB short of what they advertise. I know the O.S. needs some room for system files, but it's nowhere near 97GB. 1GB should do.
Has anyone had any success with a WD My Book, on the Openbox?
EDIT: I'm not the only person frustrated with the smart?ware VCD UDF partition. Found a thread in the WD support community, Only to be told in the end: "I'm going to stop this discussion here, before you guys start shooting each other. - - - , we will not be releasing any firmware to remove the VCD." Bill_S. Community Manager
hxxp://community.wdc.com/t5/My-Passport-for-PC/Remove-the-VCD-from-my-drive/td-p/7066/page/16
As I correct my typing I'm also still searching for a solution, may have found something here: [SOLVED] WD SmartWare - Mac - Ubuntu Forums I'll have to check it out later, It's late. I'm tired and now grumpy. sayonara for now.
