WD Sync software on the WD Passport drive

I have been reading these posts with much trepadation and am horrified to note that my data of umpteen years may not be available to me on my WD Sync.

As I am having major computer problems with a Trojan that has got into my computer, I, responsibly, have been syncing all of my data into my WD.

I brought the WD into work today to view my files, just to make sure that I can actually access my work. However, I find that all I can see are the folders. Also, as per a previous post from someone, I am also trying to see actual documents in these folders.

The software is asking me to "select an item", which I am doing, but the software is not opening that "item" (folder).

Can anyone help?

Markus

Hello!

Unfortunately I don't know how to solve your problem but you may click the link below to see another discussion about WD software, etc....

Western Digital Passport: An Excellent Option for Backing Up Your Data to an External Hard Drive | My Tech Talk

Hi R. Scott, Thank you for the comment. I’ll see if I can help you out a bit with your questions. The WD Sync software on the WD Passport drive is designed to synchronize with your laptop’s hard drive. It considers the hard drive to be the “master” copy of your data when you initiate a synchronization. In other words, it will apply the changes that you made on your laptop to the data on the WD Passport device (as you already discovered). It considers the laptop’s data (and any changes to it) to be the most current. So, yes, unfortunately the data on your WD Passport device did go to “never never land” because the WD Sync software noticed that you had deleted or moved a file from the “master” folder on your laptop. The WD Passport is designed to give a backup copy of your data in case your laptop hard drive crashes or a file on your laptop is accidentally deleted. In these scenarios, you would then use the WD Sync software and its “copy to PC” option to restore the lost file. The “restore deleted” option on the edit menu only applies if you delete a file from the WD Passport drive first. Here’s an example: 1. You are looking at your copy of your data files on the WD Passport drive. 2. You decide to delete a file from your Passport drive before syncing again with your laptop (delete is found by right clicking on the file). 3. By choosing delete, the WD Sync software draws a line through the file name. 4. If you choose to sync with your laptop at this point, the file with the line through it would be removed from your laptop too. 4. The “restore deleted” option removes the line through the file name, essentially restoring it to its original state so it won’t be deleted during the next sync. Copy/Paste option. If you are using the WD Sync software, then you will not see a copy/paste option. You’re right. The WD Sync software is used to sync, not copy/paste. However, you can access the drive in Windows Explorer and manually copy/paste files to it. This process bypasses the WD Sync software entirely. Try this as a test: Connect your WD Passport drive to your laptop. Open your My Documents folder and copy a file located there. Next, open “My Computer” and locate the icon for the WD Passport drive. Double click open the WD Passport drive and paste the file onto the drive.

Can someone tell me how to sync all of my data, not just some of it?

I would be careful---lost all of my data.

I have never had a problem--works fine IMHO.

I bought a 250Gb WD passport essential recently. I dont want to use the given software to sync my computer files to the drive. Can i download other software to sync my computer info, and also encrypt it? Currently I have the drive formatted like a typical flash drive (drag and drop) but i want to be able to sync any new info from my computer to my Hard drive with a click of a button, rather than manually going through any new files i have created, downloaded etc....

Any ideas????

As a professional that has worked on usability and written documentation for a number of companies, I'm really disappointed with the "documentation" included with this device (although I'd argue there really isn't any):
1. A small blurb, in size 6 font, on a yellow sheet to say that the user manual is loaded on the product, and can be found online. Ok, it's on the product, but the product autoruns. That's precisely WHY useful info needs to be included in hardcopy.
2. A glossy white sheet with pictures that show 1) The device being plugged in and 2) A laptop, sitting there. It also has 3 steps telling you to click on My Computer, then My Passport, then WDSync.exe. That's all, folks.

Again, including docs on the device that autoruns doesn't cut it.

This complete lack of documentation is a major blunder on WD's part. It looks like the company who created the sync software, DMailer, was left holding the buck. I can't speak to the quality of their software, because after poking around, I know it won't meet my needs, so I didn't test it out. However, based on the feedback all over the net, users are confused about what the software does. That's a red flag indicating poor usability. Dmailer may also want to consider making an option that does the equivalent of xcopy, rather than sync.

If you just want to copy files to the drive as a backup, on one or multiple computers, you should reformat the drive first. Essentially, you are making it just a spare hard disk. Rather than autorun the software on the WD drive, go into My Computer, right-click on the drive (make ABSOLUTE sure it's the WD drive), and Format it.

Windows itself includes a command called xcopy that can be used to compare your PC drive and the backup drive, then copy any new folders and files not seen on the backup drive to the backup drive. Using it properly requires a little homework, but it's not too bad: The Windows command Xcopy and its uses

As for encryption, if you need it professionally, ask someone who knows. For the home user: you probably don't need encryption, just keep the drive in a safe place somewhere. Home users that have very sensitive data on their machines may want to use something like www.truecrypt.org (TrueCrypt - Free Open-Source On-The-Fly Disk Encryption Software for Windows Vista/XP, Mac OS X and Linux) but be warned, you should do your homework and learn by fiddling with something non-vital.

So, for those just wanting a backup, format the WD drive, and copy manually or use xcopy.

Just purchased WD Passport Essential an hour ago. Upon plugging USB autorun began and WD SYNC came up. Expecting this to be another set-up screen like every other device and/or program I installed on my computer, I began process, the Sync software started up and away we go...however I started poking around it bit to find out more on what I can do with Sync and now I come upon this thread (along with others) that this is not a back-up...

So my question is this.. can I just get rid of all the Sync folders and sub folders that are showing on this drive and start over? Should I format this to NTFS?

I don't want anything to do with this Sync thing...too scary, just simply want to copy my pictures/movies/videos/etc to another place for safe keeping. Manual Copy/paste is fine with me.

But I'm afraid now to touch anything for fear it will delete/damage the original pics/movies/etc on my C drive. Is that going to be an issue?

Looking in the WD Passport drive (E: ) the only folders on there are the things to do with Sync..I do not see any of my personal items.

Any help is appreciated

[sexyjonas]

To Unregistered of Jan 6 - you can get off your high horse. There IS NO documentation to read. There are just buttons to push with no explanation of what the effect will be. Yes, "sync" means synchronize, but unless some documentation explains HOW IT WORKS then how is a new user to know? You've been in IT a long time. Some of us are just users who weren't born knowing the lingo.

If you would like to contribute to the discussion, why not send us all _your_ documentation? That would make lots of people happy. By the way, where did you get it?

PennyWise

Just to add to this thread, if you do need a professional to recover your documents, photos or other data in a situation like this, I'd recommend ESS Data Recovery (datarecovery.com). They have a lot of experience with WD products and no doubt this issue as well and their service is affordable compared to other top tier recovery companies. It sounds like they could help out many of you that posted here, and they would be the safe bet if you don't want to risk a do-it-yourself method to try and undelete your data.

Michael