Essential™ User Manual External Desktop My Book®
WD Service and Support Should you encounter any problem, please give us an opportunity to address it before returning this product. Most technical support questions can be answered through our knowledge base or e-mail support service at support.wdc.com. If the answer is not available or if you prefer, please contact WD at the best telephone number shown below. Your product includes 30 days of free telephone support during the warranty period.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Table of Contents WD Service and Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Accessing Online Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Contacting WD Technical Support. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii 1 About Your WD Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Retrieving Files Directly from the Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 5 Locking and Unlocking Your Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Password Protecting Your Drive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Unlocking Your Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 9 Troubleshooting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Installing, Partitioning, and Formatting the Drive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Frequently Asked Questions — USBs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Frequently Asked Questions — Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53 Appendix . . . . . .
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 1 About Your WD Drive Welcome to your My Book™ Essential™ external hard drive, an elegant, high-capacity storage solution for all the chapters of your digital life. Our latest edition features visual, easy-to-use, automatic, continuous backup software and drive lock security protection.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Planet friendly - We designed a small box from recycled materials to minimize waste. We encourage you to recycle it. Ready to plug-and-play with Windows PCs - Formatted NTFS for compatibility with all Windows operating systems. Support for multiple devices - One installation of the software supports up to three WD devices (My Book and/or My Passport drives) shipped with WD SmartWare software. Important: For the latest WD product information and news, visit our website at www.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Compatibility Windows® Mac OS® X® ® • Windows XP • Windows Vista® • Windows 7 • Tiger® • Leopard® • Snow Leopard™ Note: Compatibility may vary depending on your computer’s hardware configuration and operating system. For highest performance and reliability, install the latest updates and service pack (SP). For Windows, go to the Start menu and select Windows Update. For a Mac, go to the Apple menu and select Software Update.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL ® Power Button USB Port Kensington Security Slot Figure 2. Back of My Book Essential Drive LED Indicators Power/Activity LED. The power/activity LED is on the center of the front panel of the drive. It indicates the drive’s power state and activity. The LED indicator functions as shown in the table below. Appearance Description On steady Idle Fast flashing (for approx. 3 times per second) Activity Slow flashing (approx. every 2.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Power Button The power button is used to safely power down the unit and avoid data loss or damage to the unit. The power button only works if SmartWare is installed. Note: After you power off the drive using the power button, if it remains connected to your computer, you need to press the power button again to turn it back on. If you disconnected the drive after turning it off, when you reconnect it to your booted-up computer, it automatically powers on.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 2 Connecting the Drive and Getting Started This chapter includes the following topics: Connecting the Drive Installing the Drive Getting Started With WD SmartWare Software WD SmartWare Overview WD SmartWare Home Screen Viewing the Info/Online Help Topics Connecting the Drive Connect your My Book drive as shown below. 2 4 3 1 Figure 3. Connecting the My Book Drive Depending on your region, you may need to change to the power adapter, as illustrated below.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Installing the Drive The following topics provide directions on installing the drive for the first time. Continue with the section below that applies to your operating system: • “Installing on Windows XP” on page 7 • “Installing on Windows Vista/Windows 7” on page 8 • “Using the Drive with a Mac” on page 43 Installing on Windows XP 1. After you physically connect the drive as shown in Figure 3 on page 6, the Found New Hardware Wizard screen displays.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL The Welcome to WD SmartWare screen displays. If a Flash Player is installed on your computer, the screen is animated: 3. Continue with “Getting Started With WD SmartWare Software” on page 10. Installing on Windows Vista/Windows 7 After you physically connect the drive as shown in Figure 3 on page 6, two or three screens may pop up, depending on your computer setup. 1. If Autorun (AutoPlay) is enabled on your computer: a.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL b. In the AutoPlay screen, click Run WDSmartWare.exe. Figure 6. AutoPlay Screen The Welcome to WD SmartWare screen displays. If a Flash Player is installed on your computer, the screen is animated. c. Continue to “Getting Started With WD SmartWare Software” on page 10. 2. If Autorun (AutoPlay) is disabled on your computer: a. In the Found New Hardware screen (see Figure 5 on page 8), click Cancel to bypass the wizard. WD SmartWare installs the driver for this drive.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL The WD SmartWare virtual CD drive is listed under Devices with Removable Storage. b. Double-click the WD SmartWare virtual CD. Note: WD SmartWare software is provided in the form of a virtual CD (VCD) drive on your My Book Drive. The VCD displays on your desktop and behaves just like a physical CD. To view the contents of the VCD, such as the documentation and some extra programs, right-click and select Open. The Welcome to WD SmartWare screen displays.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Figure 7. Initial Backup Screen Figure 8.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Figure 9. Home Screen WD SmartWare Overview WD SmartWare software is an easy-to-use tool that gives you the power to: • Secure your drive—In drive settings, create a password to protect your encrypted drive from unauthorized access or data theft. • Protect your data automatically—Automatic, continuous backup instantly makes a copy whenever you add or change a file. Note: Automatic backup protection is continuous for as long as your My Book drive is connected to your computer.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL • Retrieve screen—Brings back valuable data that has been lost or overwritten (see Figure 13 on page 23) • Settings screen—Manages security, diagnostics, power settings, and backup parameters (see Figure 11 on page 19) On the Home screen, you can modify the primary drive being categorized with the dropdown selection box under the name of your computer. By selecting a different drive, the system will identify the categories of files on that drive.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 3 Backing Up Your Computer Files This chapter includes the following topics: About Backing Up Your Computer Files Backing It All Up Advanced Backup Capabilities About Backing Up Your Computer Files The WD SmartWare software automatically and continuously backs up all of the content (music, movies, photos, documents, e-mail, and other files) on your computer to your My Book drive.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Figure 10. Backup Screen In the Content Gauges for your computer’s disk drives, the categories of files that would be included in the backup if you click Run Backup are shown: • Light blue background in the Content Gauge for your computer’s hard drive represents the original files that are available for backup. • Gray background in the Content Gauge for your My Book drive represents the potential backup copies of the original files.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL For a complete list of all included file extensions, search for Answer ID 3644 in the WD Knowledge Base at http://support.wdc.com. Note that: • The System category, shown against a dark gray background, includes all of your operating system files that are not available for backup. Files that are not backed up include system files, program files, applications, and working files like .tmp and .log files.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Important: Appearance of a Caution message indicating that your drive is full means that there is not enough free space on the drive to complete the backup. The best long-term solution would be to relegate the drive to longterm archive storage and: a. Click the Home tab to display the Home screen. b. Click the WDStore link in the WD Online box to view the Western Digital Online Store website. c.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Selecting Specific Content to Back Up To back up some of your computer files: 1. On the Backup screen (see Figure 10 on page 15), select Detailed View to open the backup files content box: 2.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Changing the Backup Software Settings To optimize your backup, you can: • Specify the number of backup versions to keep for each file • Pause backups until your computer is idle In order to configure these backup options: 1. Click the Settings tab to display the Settings screen (see Figure 11). Figure 11. Settings Screen 2. Click Set Up Software to display the Software Settings screen (see Figure 12 on page 20).
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Figure 12. Software Settings Screen Specifying the Number of Backup Versions. The WD SmartWare software enables you to keep up to 25 older versions of each file. If you overwrite or delete a file by accident, or want to see the file a couple of versions ago, The WD SmartWare software has a copy for you. You will always have the most-recent specified number of versions of each file available for retrieves, and you can choose to keep between 1 and 25 versions.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 2. Specify the number of file versions that you want to keep (from 1 to 25) in the Enter the number of backup versions to keep for each file box. 3. Click Apply to save and implement the new number of backup versions. Pausing Backups Until Your Computer is Idle. A large backup can take a lot of time, and can consume a lot of your system processing resources.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 4 Retrieving Backed Up Files This chapter includes the following topics: About Retrieving Files Retrieving a File/Folder Retrieving a Folder Retrieving an Earlier Version of a File or Deleted Files Retrieving All of Your Content Retrieving Files Directly from the Drive About Retrieving Files The WD SmartWare software makes it easy for you to retrieve files that have been backed up on your My Book drive and either: • Restore them to their original locations on your computer •
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Figure 13. Retrieve Screen Figure 14.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Figure 15. Select Content to Retrieve Screen 4. On the Select content to retrieve... screen, select Retrieve Some Files to display the retrieve files selection box (see Figure 16). Figure 16.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 5. Navigate through the folder structure to find the content of interest. Also, you can use the search box by typing the name (or partial name) of the file or folder you are looking for: • Click the appropriate file category button to list the files by category: - • Pictures Music Movies Documents Other Mail Select the View icon to list individual files. • Type all or part of the file name in the search box to locate the file and press Enter to initiate the search.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Retrieving All of Your Content On the Select content to retrieve... screen (see Figure 15 on page 24), choose the Retrieve all Files option, which will retrieve content across all categories and copy them to either their original locations or the Retrieve Contents folder. Retrieving Files Directly from the Drive Using the WD SmartWare Retrieve feature is the best way to find backed up files and copy them to your computer’s hard drive.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 5 Locking and Unlocking Your Drive This chapter includes the following topics: Password Protecting Your Drive Unlocking Your Drive Turning Off the Drive Lock Feature Changing Your Password Password Protecting Your Drive You should password protect your drive if you are worried that someone else will gain access to your drive and you do not want them to be able to access your content on the drive.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Figure 17. Drive Settings Screen 3. Click Security to display the Set Security dialog: 4. Type your password in the Choose a password box. 5. Retype your password in the Verify password box. 6. Type a hint to help remind yourself of your password in the Password hint box. 7. Read the warning about the possibility of data loss if you forget your password. 8. Click the I understand check box to signify that you accept the risk.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 9. Click Save Security Settings to save your password and enable password protection for your drive. CAUTION! After creating a password, the drive remains unlocked for as long as you continue your current work session.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Unlocking Your Drive Without the WD SmartWare Software Whenever you connect your password-protected drive to a computer that does not have the WD SmartWare software installed, you can still access the virtual CD partition on your drive, and install the WD SmartWare software as usual. You will not be able to access the data portion of your drive. To unlock the drive without the WD SmartWare software installed: 1.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Turning Off the Drive Lock Feature Important: After you have created a password, the drive can only be unlocked by a user logged on to the computer with administrative privileges. This is not usually possible on computers at hotels, libraries, or Internet kiosks. If you will need to use the drive on such computers, remove password protection to turn off the drive lock feature first. To remove password protection from your drive: 1.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 6 Managing and Customizing Your Drive This chapter includes the following topics: Launching WD SmartWare Software Checking Status and Temperature Monitoring Icon Alerts Disconnecting the Drive Safely Customizing Your Software Settings Customizing Your Drive Settings Updating Your Software Uninstalling the WD SmartWare Software After you have installed the WD SmartWare software (see “Getting Started With WD SmartWare Software” on page 10), the WD SmartWare icon Windows task ba
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL The WD SmartWare Home screen displays: Checking Status and Temperature Mouse over the WD SmartWare icon in the task bar to view drive capacity used and drive temperature, and to determine whether the drive is currently locked: Monitoring Icon Alerts • If the WD SmartWare icon in the task bar flashes green and white, the drive may be locked or is in a format that the WD SmartWare software does not understand (non-Windows format in a Windows environment).
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Disconnecting the Drive Safely CAUTION! To prevent data loss, close all active windows and applications before shutting down or removing the drive. Using the System Tray 1. Right-click the WD SmartWare icon in the system tray, and then click Safely remove My Book Essential USB HDD: You may hear the drive power down as the Power LED flashes. 2. Wait for the LED to turn off before disconnecting the drive from the system. Using the Power Button 1.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL To customize your WD SmartWare software settings for the best possible performance with your drive, on the Software Settings screen (see Figure 12 on page 20): IF you want to . . . THEN click . . . AND see . . . Change the number of backup versions to keep for each file, File History, “Specifying the Number of Backup Versions” on page 20.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Setting the Preferences Options When enabled, each time you reconnect your My Book drive to your computer, the Preferences options: • Display the WD SmartWare Home screen. This is the default configuration of the WD SmartWare software, and it is recommended when you routinely perform a number of backups or retrieves each day. Otherwise, you might want to disable this option and open the WD SmartWare Home screen whenever you need it. • Check for software updates.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL To customize your drive settings for the best possible performance with the WD SmartWare software, on the Drive Settings screen (see Figure 17 on page 28): IF you want to . . . THEN click . . . AND see . . . Use a password to keep others from accessing the files on your drive, Security, “Password Protecting Your Drive” on page 27. Change your password, Security, “Changing Your Password” on page 31.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 4. Type your last name in the Last name box. 5. Type your e-mail address in the E-mail address box. 6. Select your language in the Preferred language box. 7. Select or clear the Yes, I want to receive communication... check box to specify whether or not you want to receive e-mail notifications about software updates, product enhancements, and price discount opportunities. 8. Click Register Drive to register your drive.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 3. Click the I understand check box to signify that you accept the risk. 4. Click Drive Erase to erase your drive. Note: Erasing your drive removes your password. If you created a password to protect your drive, you will need to do it again after erasing the drive. (See “Password Protecting Your Drive” on page 27.) Updating Your Software Clicking the Update Software button on the WD SmartWare Home screen checks for an updated version of your WD SmartWare software.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Windows Vista or Windows 7 1. Click Start > Control Panel. 2. Double-click Programs and Features. 3. Click WD SmartWare or the WD SmartWare icon and click Uninstall/Change at the top of the screen. 4. Click Yes at the Do you wish to proceed... prompt.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 7 5 Checking Drive Health The data files on your My Book drive are important to you. The WD SmartWare software has several built-in diagnostic tools to help make sure that your drive is performing well. Run one of the following tests if you are concerned that your drive is not operating properly: Diagnostic Tool Description Quick S.M.A.R.T. Status Check S.M.A.R.T. is a failure-prediction function that continuously monitors key internal performance attributes of the drive.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 2.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 8 5 Using the Drive with a Mac This chapter includes the following topics: Reformatting the Drive Installing on a Mac OS X Tiger/Leopard/Snow Leopard Enhancing Performance with WD +TURBO Managing the Drive on a Mac The My Book Essential drive that you purchased is preformatted as a single NTFS partition for compatibility with all updated Windows operating systems. If desired, you can reformat it to HFS+J for Mac OS X operating systems.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Note: WD SmartWare software is fully compatible with Apple's Time Machine software. When using Time Machine, WD SmartWare software can still be used for password protecting the drive, registering the drive, and running diagnostics. 3. The Welcome to WD SmartWare screen displays. If a Flash Player is installed on your computer, the screen is animated. 4. Continue to “Getting Started With WD SmartWare Software” on page 10.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 3. Double-click the WD +TURBO Installer icon. 4. On the WD +TURBO Driver Installer screen, click Install. 5. To accept the license agreement, click Accept. 6. A message informs you that installing the drivers requires you to restart your computer to make them active. If you want to proceed, click Yes. 7. In the Password box, enter the password you normally enter to access this Mac.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL When installation is complete, the computer restarts. Note: The My Book icon on the desktop now looks like this: Managing the Drive on a Mac Actions After you have installed the WD SmartWare Software, the WD SmartWare icon displays in the bar at the top right of the screen.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL • In Finder, double-click WD SmartWare in the Applications list: The WD SmartWare Home tab displays.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Dismounting the Virtual CD from a Mac To be sure all data has been written to the drive before you physically disconnect it, dismount the Virtual CD as well as the drive or volume. Note: There are other reasons you may want to dismount a VCD. For example, if you have more than one My Book drive with the same software connected to your Mac, multiple My Book VCD icons display on your desktop. To clean up your desktop, you can dismount duplicate VCDs. 1.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Using the My Book Icon. 1. Right-click the My Book icon on the desktop and select Eject “New Volume.” (“New Volume” will be the name you assigned to the volume.) You may hear the drive power down as the Power LED flashes 2. Wait for the drive icon to be removed from the desktop before disconnecting the drive from the system. Using the Power Button 1. Press the Power Button on the My Book Essential unit. You may hear the drive power down as the Power LED flashes 2.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Quickly Unlocking the Drive Using the Virtual CD You may need to unlock the drive manually in cases such as the following: • You uninstall the software and disconnect the drive while the drive is locked. • You move your drive to another system, and need to unlock it without installing the software. To unlock the drive using the virtual CD: 1. Double-click the WD SmartWare virtual CD on the desktop. 2. Double-click the DriveUnlock icon.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 3. Double-click the WD Uninstaller icon. A Western Digital pop-up screen appears: 4. Click Remove.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 8 Troubleshooting This chapter includes the following topics: Installing, Partitioning, and Formatting the Drive Frequently Asked Questions If you have problems when installing or using this product, refer to this troubleshooting section or visit our support website at support.wdc.com and search our knowledge base for more help.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Q: A: Why won't my computer boot when I connect my USB drive to the computer before booting? Depending on your system configuration, your computer may attempt to boot from your WD portable USB drive. Refer to your system’s motherboard BIOS setting documentation to disable this feature or visit support.wdc.com and see Knowledge Base answer ID 1201. For more information about booting from external drives, refer to your system documentation or contact your system manufacturer.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Appendix This appendix includes the following topics: Regulatory Compliance Environmental Compliance (China) Warranty Information Regulatory Compliance FCC Class B Information This device has been tested and found to comply with the limits of a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules. These limits are designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL KCC Notice (Republic of Korea only) 기종별 사용자 안내문 B급 기기 (가정용 정보통신기기) 이 기기는 가정용으로 전자파적합충족을 한 기기 로서 주거지역에서는 물론 모든 지역에서 사용할 수 있습니다. Class B Device 1 Please note that this device has been approved for non-business purposes and may be used in any environment, including residential areas.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Limited Warranty WD warrants that the Product, in the course of its normal use, will for the term defined below, be free from defects in material and workmanship and will conform to WD’s specification therefor. The term of your limited warranty depends on the country in which your Product was purchased.
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL Index Erasing the drive 38 CAUTION about erasing the drive 38 A F AC power adapters 6 Accessories, optional 2 Alerts, flashing icon 33 FAQs installation 53 USBs 52 FCC Class B information 54 File categories, defined 13, 15 history, drive setting 35 history, screen 20 Flashing icon alerts 33 Front and back views 3 Full Media Scan 41 B Backup about backing up files 14 files content box 18 procedure 16, 17 screen 15 Box contents 2 C Capacity gauge 4 CAUTION about erasing t
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL N NTFS format 3 O Operating system requirements 3 Other file category, defined 13, 15 Overheating 33 P Password protecting your drive 27 CAUTION about lost passwords 27 Physical description 3 Pictures file category, defined 13, 15 Power adapters 6 Power button 5, 49 Powering up 53 Precautions for handling the drive 5 Preferences options, setting 36 Preferences software setting 35 Product features 1 Product registration 5 Setting the drive sleep timer 38 SMART Status Check 4
MY BOOK ESSENTIAL USER MANUAL 30 Windows Vista/Windows 7 installing drive on 8 Windows XP installing drive on 7 INDEX – 59
Information furnished by WD is believed to be accurate and reliable; however, no responsibility is assumed by WD for its use nor for any infringement of patents or other rights of third parties which may result from its use. No license is granted by implication or otherwise under any patent or patent rights of WD. WD reserves the right to change specifications at any time without notice.
