Anyway to remove WD Crapware from my external hard drive?

[Nvidiaguy07]

Picked up a 750GB WD passport (model wdbacx7500abk-nesn) off of slickdeals for 60 bucks because i sorta needed a little extra space, and i heard the price of hard drives is going to continue to rise.

I had a WD drive in the past, and remember removing or disabling the useless vcd, but im having problems with removing it now.

I updated the firmware, and now i just have to remove smartware. I downloaded WDsmartwarevirtualcdmanager, but it doesnt detect my drive. Does this not work anymore?

I really would just like a plain drive that doesnt annoy me with driver install requests every time i plug into a new computer. Ill be using it on mac and pc, so i just want a bare drive, probably formatted in exfat.

 

[Cerb]

AFAIK, this only affects the 2.5" My Passport Essential drives.

My solution was to install the software on a machine, from the drive, then configure it to be disabled, then uninstall it.

There is a line dividing easy to use with treating users like toddlers, and WD tripped over it with a running start, IMO.

 

[Dahak]

I have the 1tb usb 3.0 version of that drive.
For the SES Driver, I just have to install it once and thats it
WD SES Driver

For the smartware stuff, on mine there was no additional virtual cd partition, so I had just formatted it and its gone.

It only does and autoplay to start the install iirc

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

AFAIK, this only affects the 2.5" My Passport Essential drives.

My solution was to install the software on a machine, from the drive, then configure it to be disabled, then uninstall it.

There is a line dividing easy to use with treating users like toddlers, and WD tripped over it with a running start, IMO.

gonna try that when i get home. So i have to install it on at least one pc to remove it permanently right?

I have the 1tb usb 3.0 version of that drive.
For the SES Driver, I just have to install it once and thats it
WD SES Driver

For the smartware stuff, on mine there was no additional virtual cd partition, so I had just formatted it and its gone.

It only does and autoplay to start the install iirc

when you go and plug it in to another computer, it will prompt you to install software. The vcd is still there if im not mistaken.

It really pisses me off that i have to go through all these steps just to use the drive normally. Too bad theres not too many alternatives right not. I only picked this drive up because it was so cheap, and prices are supposed to skyrocket.

 

[Rifter]

Cant you just format it? i have a 320GB WD passport drive and it doesnt autorun anything or prompt for drivers. When i bought it the first thing i did was reformat it to FAT32 using my linux laptop.

 

[Nvidiaguy07]

Cant you just format it? i have a 320GB WD passport drive and it doesnt autorun anything or prompt for drivers. When i bought it the first thing i did was reformat it to FAT32 using my linux laptop.

The vcd is separate from the disk. Its on a firmware level from my understanding. It probably wont prompt for anything since your on linux, but when you connect to a pc it will prompt you. If you dont install you will have an exclamation mark in the device manager. WD also says you may have issues if you dont install (not buying it)

 

[Rifter]

The vcd is separate from the disk. Its on a firmware level from my understanding. It probably wont prompt for anything since your on linux, but when you connect to a pc it will prompt you. If you dont install you will have an exclamation mark in the device manager. WD also says you may have issues if you dont install (not buying it)

hmmm, will try it on my gaming rig. So far i have only used it with my linux laptop and HTPC(also linux) for movie and media watching while im on the road.

 

[capeconsultant]

AFAIK, this only affects the 2.5" My Passport Essential drives.

My solution was to install the software on a machine, from the drive, then configure it to be disabled, then uninstall it.

There is a line dividing easy to use with treating users like toddlers, and WD tripped over it with a running start, IMO.

LOL! I am in total agreement.