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The ability to protect your data with a password and 256-bit encryption is a welcome addition, and the integrated backup software, SmartWare, does a solid job of providing automatic backup. The WD My Book Essential is a good choice for a personal backup or plain ol’ external hard drive. I wish it offered more control over which files and folders you want to include/exclude from the backup, but in terms of a complete and idiotproof backup system, SmartWare does a respectable job. All in all, SmartWare makes automatic backups simple and painless. You can also eject the drive from the icon in the system tray when you have finished or if you don’t want to continue the backup at that time.įinally, with the same ease that you can backup your files, SmartWare provides a dead simple retrieval function.
#Western digital my passport windows 10 backup software
Once the backup is complete, the software will continue to run in the background, updating the drive as you add/change/delete files on your system. By default, the software is set to run as a low priority while your machine is in use and will speed up when the machine idles.
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SmartWare will continuously update the graphical representation with the status of your backup. Then simply click ‘Run Backup’ and voila, your files will begin to copy automagically. You can either select all or pick and choose the particular types of files you want to be automatically backed up when your My Book Essential is plugged in. Once installed, SmartWare will scan your computer (defaults to drive C:) and present you with a graphical representation of all the various bits of data in 6 main categories: System, Pictures, Other, Music, Movies, and Documents.
#Western digital my passport windows 10 backup install
The first time you plug your new WD drive into your computer you will be prompted to install WD SmartWare. Standard across its entire line of external drives, SmartWare provides users with a very straight forward (if at times too simplified) way to automatically backup your files. I can live with that.įinally, we get to WD’s new, integrated backup software solution, SmartWare. Should it be lost, the drive will remain locked or must be re-formatted to use again. In other words, you are the only person who knows the password. Thus, WD never receives your drive’s password. When I spoke to WD a few weeks back, they were pretty adamant about erring on the side of total security. The My Book Essential connects via USB 2.0, has a physical on/off switch, a place for a real lock, and ships with a relatively compact power adapter.Īs mentioned above, the new WD drives come standard with password protection and 256-bit hardware-based encryption. Generally speaking, the drive is pretty quiet, although there is the usual buzz and hum during large backups.
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The faux book shape may not be for everyone, but it does hide rather nicely if you put actual books (remember them?) around the drive. The drive also has a new illuminated capacity gauge and an icon showing whether the drive has been locked (via password with encryption). The drive is the same height as its predecessor (6.5″), but is down to 1.9″ wide (from 2.1″). Now available in 500GB, 640GB, 1TB, 1.5TB, and 2TB capacities, the new My Book Essential has undergone very slight physical updates. The My Book Essential is Western Digital’s “standard” PC desktop external hard drive (identical to the Mac version).
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