WD My Book External Issue - Help

[kmr2103]

I have a WD My Book something or another that I just picked up. Anyways, configured the security and such on my laptop, then plugged it into my new rig I just built (PC). For some reason, when I run the WD SmartWare to unlock the drive, it prompts me to insert the WD Drive Unlock Utility CD, which I do not have... I can't find it, and it's likely that I will not find it.

Why am I being prompted to insert the actual CD on my new build? The device drivers/utilities have been installed automatically through automatic scanning once the drive was inserted to my new machine. What can I do to get around this? Has anyone had this problem before?

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hey there, kmr2103!

Sorry to hear you struggle with the WD My Book. 🙁 I suggest you restart your system and try to unlock the drive using WD SmartWare again. If it still doesn't help, reinstall the utility. Here's a link from our knowledge base with detailed step-by-step: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=rUqzlk

Try it and let me know how it goes!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[kmr2103]

Thanks for the response. I rebooted to no avail. Still receiving this error:

"You must run the WD Drive Unlock application from the WD Drive Unlock CD associated with the drive you want to unlock.

Click Exit, locate and open the related WD Drive Unlock CD, and then run WD Drive Unlock to unlock the desired drive."

I don't understand why I need a CD for this...

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Thanks for the response. I rebooted to no avail. Still receiving this error:

"You must run the WD Drive Unlock application from the WD Drive Unlock CD associated with the drive you want to unlock.

Click Exit, locate and open the related WD Drive Unlock CD, and then run WD Drive Unlock to unlock the desired drive."

I don't understand why I need a CD for this...

Hi again, kmr2103!

Sorry to hear you go through such troubles. I strongly suggest you try the drive on a different computer. If you are able to unlock it there, please remove the security on the drive and then put it back to your PC. Hopefully the error won't pop up.
Please make sure you install the SES driver on your system as well, I don't think you will be able to unlock it otherwise. Here's a link to the file and the SmartWare image file, which you can burn if you cannot find your CD: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=S7SRJw
What is the SES driver and why you need it: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=MRt3mj

Hope this helps. Keep me posted!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[riopelnet112]

I have the best results - if a drive is not dead and just has bad sector or something - with WD Lifeguard and Windows only program but great for clearing up problems that DU can't (and sometimes that DU + HFS causes). And of course... it is WD's but works on all brands.



.... but I avoid and stay away from WD MyBook and any other name brand vendor enclosures (and most of my drives are WD Black or Green models or 10K Velociraptor).

 

[SuperSoph_WD]

Hi again, kmr2103!

There's something else you could try without the Virtual CD.
Download the latest WD SmartWare: http://products.wdc.com/support/kb.ashx?id=Dd58bq
When you set up the password on your WD My Book and use it on another computer, it comes up as a virtual CD drive and looks something like this:

You should give it a try. I hope it works!
SuperSoph_WD

 

[kmr2103]

Thanks for the detailed instructions SuperSoph_WD. It's finally working on my new build, after removing the security. I thought I had done that before, but I guess it didn't calibrate correctly before being ejected. Not sure how I grazed over something so incredibly simple... Anyways, do you think if I activate the drive's security from my new build again, that I will finally be able to use the secure device on my laptop as well?