Remove 'WD SmartWare' from your Western Digital Passport or MyBook

If you’ve purchased a Western Digital Passport or MyBook drive in the past little while (I’ve recently bought 3), you’ve no doubt run into the Western Digital Smartware. This is a virtual drive that is setup with the hard-drive that mounts every time you plug it in. It would seem that at first it’s permanent, and the only way to get it to disappear is to install the software that comes with the drive. However, there is a fix that Western Digital provides on their website. Don’t ask me why a simple ‘delete’ function or ‘eject permanently’ isn’t more readily available.

You can view the instructions from Western Digital on this link, or on this page below! Note that these instructions may change in the future; If newer editions of the drive come out, then I’ll be making an update to the page. This should work for the next year at least:

Mac instructions will come first, and Windows users look further down the page.

IMPORTANT

The following precautions must be performed before installing the firmware update:

• All AntiVirus software MUST be disabled.
• All Anti-Spyware software MUST be disabled.
• ANY and ALL programs that would require drive access during the update MUST be disabled.
• Failure to perform these precautions may cause data corruption/loss and/or drive failure.

Mac STEP 1:Firmware Update: Release 1.032 (11/19/09)

Mac OS® X, Tiger®, Leopard®, Snow Leopard™
This update is recommended for Mac OS X 10.4.11, Mac OS X 10.5.8 and any version of Mac OS X 10.6.

1. Disconnect all other external drives from the computer except for the My Book or My Passport hard drive you want to update.
2. Ensure that the My Book or My Passport drive is connected to a USB port on your computer.
3. Download Firmware Updater for Mac. (mirror here)
4. Unzip the Firmware Updater and double click WD Essential and Elite Firmware Updater for Mac.
5. Verify the attached drive’s serial number located on the back of the drive.
6. Select the drive displayed.
7. Click Update Firmware.
8. Drag both My Book Drive and WD SmartWare Virtual CD icons to Trash bin.
9. Click OK.
10. Click Accept the End User’s License Agreement (EULA).
11. Click Yes.
12. Once the updater is finished, click Exit.
13. Turn off the drive – For My Passport, disconnect the USB cable. For My Book disconnect both USB and power cables.
14. Wait 10 seconds. Reconnect the USB/power cables.

Mac STEP 2:Download and run the VCD Manager

1. Download VCD Manager VirtualCDManager_v1003.zip for Mac to your desktop. (mirror here)
2. Unzip the utility and double click to open.
3. Click Continue to disable the VCD.
4. Click Accept the End User’s License Agreement (EULA).
5. Click Drive to configure and select your drive.
6. Verify desired Virtual CD setting.
7. Once the utility has found your drive, click Configure Drive.
8. Once the Virtual CD setting is finished, click Exit.
9. Power cycle the drive – For My Passport, disconnect the USB cable. For My Book disconnect both USB and power cables.
10. Wait 10 seconds. Reconnect the USB/power cables.
11. Verify that the VCD no longer appears.

 

PC STEP 1:Firmware Update: Release 1.032 (11/16/09)

Before running the Virtual CD Manager, you must first update the firmware on your hard drive.

1. Disconnect all other external drives from the computer except for the My Book or My Passport hard drive you want to update.
2. Download the Firmware Updater for Windows. (mirror here)
3. Unzip the file and double click to open the Firmware Updater.
4. Click Continue to update the firmware.
5. Verify the attached drive’s serial number located on the back of the drive.
6. Click Update Firmware.
7. Click Accept the End User’s License Agreement (EULA). The updater will scan the drive; this may take a few minutes.
8. Once the updater is finished, click Exit.
9. Turn off the drive – For My Passport, disconnect the USB cable. For My Book disconnect both USB and power cables.
10. Wait 10 seconds. Reconnect the USB/power cables.

PC STEP 2:Download and run the VCD Manager

1. Download VCD Manager WDSmartWareVirtualCDManagerforWindows-v1.0.7.4.zip for Windows to your desktop. (mirror here)
2. Unzip the utility (Extract the file using an extraction utility.)
3. Double click WDSmartWareVirtualCDManagerforWindows-v1.0.7.4.exe.
4. Click Continue to disable the VCD.
5. Once the utility has found your drive, click Configure Drive and then click Exit.
6. Turn off the drive – For My Passport, disconnect the USB cable. For My Book disconnect both USB and power cables.
7. Wait 10 seconds. Reconnect the USB/power cables that have been disconnected in the previous step.
8. Verify that the VCD no longer appears.

And there you have it, good riddance!

credit to Western Digital for the instructions:
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilities
http://www.wdc.com/wdproducts/updates/?family=wdsmartwareutilitiesmac