Is it possible to use WD Smartware after disabling the WDFME service

[BpnV]

I have been using SmartWare product on my Passport drive and I am liking it features as well but then I have found that the WDFME service is consuming more resource from my laptop and it is just making the machine unusable sometimes. So I just wanted to know is it is possible to use WD Smartware after disabling the WDFME service, is there anyone who has tried the same and has an idea about it and can help me out as well. Any suggestion regarding the same will be appreciated.

[Vicky Woodley]

I have been using SmartWare product on my Passport drive and I am liking it features as well but then I have found that the WDFME service is consuming more resource from my laptop and it is just making the machine unusable sometimes. So I just wanted to know is it is possible to use WD Smartware after disabling the WDFME service, is there anyone who has tried the same and has an idea about it and can help me out as well. Any suggestion regarding the same will be appreciated.

As far as I am aware of the SmartWare product you won’t be able to use it by SmartWare product but then if it is just about controlling resource then I will like to inform you that there are some new versions of SmartWare released recently and they are able to prevent the excessive resource usage as well. So if you want you can try out the same and avoid your issue. Best of luck.

[HellBoy123]

Even I will like to add that I am using SmartWare since a month and I am using the same on my 2TB WD Book Live drive. I have completed the backup and I have stopped the process as well, after I rebooted the computer I have found that the computer is on steady and also the WDFME.EXE is processing quite hard. When I checked the Task Manager reports it was having I/O Writes- 32,600,500 and I/O Read- 8,000,700. So here my question is that is this process really needed? Because I personally don’t find a need of it as I really don’t require the activity while I am not using the external drive. What do you all think about this??

[Vishwa12]

I just wanted to share that I am running windows 7 and I have got the latest version of WD SMartware which is v1.5.1.6 but then it is really not making any difference and I really don’t think that it is helping out to prevent it from consuming more resources and all, it is still working as it was, I have also found that it is continuously accessing the drive.
Within 7 hours of processor time theWDFME.exe is consuming 800MBytes and it is having 7GB of Reads with 17GB of writes and 4GB of other I/O. I think that it should be 300Mbytes but then it is much more than that.
Is there any solution to avoid this??

[Hallo.genic]

Even I have heard that they have resolved the issue with the new 1.5.1.6 release but then I have recently upgraded to v1.5.1.6 and even I have not found it making any difference and the WDFME.exe is still consuming 50 to 60% of my CPU. I think that this is really disappointing even though I am not having problem with the memory usage and all. I just wanted to know that is there anyone who is aware of any version that can resolve this issue and reduce the cpu usage? Any further help regarding the same will be appreciated.

[Amadou]

Even I think that the WD software is not worth running. I will suggest you to Go to services and then search for the following and then just stop them:

• WD File Management Engine
• WD File Management Shadow Engine
• WDDMService

And then set it to manual, I have done the same in my case and I have found that I have freed a good amount of memory by the same. I have been using Norton Ghost for backup. So you can sue the same or if you want then you can try Windows backup as well.

[Dabert]

I was really tired of the process running in the background because it was really consuming a lot of resources and the laptop was running quite slow, I had also noticed that the fan used to run at the full speed but then I have resoled it to some extent. Actually I have bought a new HD and I have selected the data folders and after that I have copied them to the hard disk using the date as naming. I am using ASUS G50V and I am running windows xp and I am having 6 gb of ram so If you all want then you can try out the same and see if it is making any difference to you as well.

[Denholm]

In order to update the latest version of WD SmartWare you will have to get the following minimum requirements:
Windows XP 32-bit Service Pack 3, Windows XP 64-bit Service Pack 2, Windows Vista or Windows 7.
Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 or higher installed on your computer. You can get the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 here.
Internet Explorer 7 or higher.
Just make sure that you have all and then see if it is making any difference.

[Gameli]

I have found that there are some new releases and it has been stated on the smartware states but then I have not come across their release date. Just take a look below:

• 1.5.3 - This will basically add support to the new products and will also maintain items within it and with a new installer in order to solve the install/uninstall problem that has been found with a no of people.
• 1.5.4- This will be having significant back end which will be related to categorizing files and thus it will help in reducing the amount of resources that is used.

[BpnV]

Hey guys I have found a alternate for the smartware and it is Genie Timeline but then you will have to sacrifice the security feature of the smartware other than that think that it is the best alternative for the smartware. I will be switching it to so and after that I will share my experience with it here. If you want then you all can try out the same, At least check it out.