My Book Essential No Writable Partion

I have 2 laptops that I would like to use the My Book I purchased to backup docs. I got the My Book all setup on one laptop, when I hooked up the second laptop to back it up I have the following message “No writable WD Smartware partion found”. Why am I having this message? Do I need to set things up different? Or??

Thanks,

Mark

The message that your getting means Smartware does not find the drive on this computer.

Make sure the drive is not locked. Check if the drive is showing on Computer. Check Disk Management and see if any drive letter conflicts.

I believe it is seeing the my book because it asks for the password to unlock the drive. Once unlocked, I start SmartWare. It shows my hard drive info as far as docs, pics, mail ect. It also shows the my book Essential icon with the statement in the drive box. On both of my laptops the My Book shows up under devices.

Thanks,

Mark

I made a mistake on the laptop that works it shows it both under devices and drives. Whereas the other laptop it only shows it under devices.

Mark

I am still at a lose as what to do. I have checked to see if driver is installed and it is. The laptop recognizes the My Book but does not list it as a drive. The unlock function is shown under the drives but not the my book. I went to disk management  and it is not showing the my book either.

Mark

mjock3 wrote:

I am still at a lose as what to do. I have checked to see if driver is installed and it is. The laptop recognizes the My Book but does not list it as a drive. The unlock function is shown under the drives but not the my book. I went to disk management  and it is not showing the my book either.

 

Mark

To tell you the truth I’m kind of confuse, since you are saying that it shows but then that it does not. If the unlock feature shows , are you able to unlock the drive on the laptop in question?

If you can unlock the drive, then you should be able to see it listed on My Computer and Disk Management as a drive. Make sure the drive is connected to wall outlet and not power surge.

I am able to unlock, and am prompted to do so when the My Book is plugged into the usb. I am only able to see the My Book under printers and devices. I do not see it under my computer and disk management.

I have even examined the drivers listed under my book in the devices section and both computers are listing the exact same drivers and dates. I just don’t understand why I can’t get it to work.

Mark

If you are able to unlock then we are on the right path. On Disk Management look on the bottom of the list , look for a drive that shows offline or unallocated. It will list drives 0,1 and so forth. Look for the drive that has a similar capacity to the external drive. Then see if you can change the drive letter or get it online.

I am in over my head. I do not understand these things. Here is what I see in Disk Management. There is a disk called disk 1 that is online. It is the right size. When I right click it, it asks me if I want to convert it to a “dynamic disk” I did nothing. I went back and right clicked and it gave me the option to rename the drive, I did so and named it G:. After doing so it let me view what was on the drive. 

Unfortunately, I was getting help from WD and the one helping me somehow disabled Smartware. I tried to reload it and it still does not work. These are the instructions that caused it to stop working:

"In this case, please follow the steps provided below.

  1. Click the Windows “Start” button and type “MSCONFIG” (without the quotations) in the Search Bar. Press “ENTER” to start the System Configuration Utility.

  2. Click the “Services” tab, check the “Hide All Microsoft Services” box, and click “Disable All”.

  3. Click the “Startup” tab, click “Disable All” and click “OK”.

  4. Restart the computer and test the issue."

 any idea on how toreverse this so that I can see if it is now working?

Thanks,

Mark

Thread moved to WD Software & Accessories : WD Smartware.

Regards,

How funny, you have people helping me then you move the post. What a joke!!

mjock3 wrote:

How funny, you have people helping me then you move the post. What a joke!!

He just moved the post to make sure you are on the right place so other people can jump in and help you as well :smiley:. 

Since you mention Smartware was disabled , have you try to enable it with the VCD Manager? Does the software still shows under programs? If it does just go to settings an enable VCD settings.