User Manual

MY BOOK
USER MANUAL
MANAGING AND CUSTOMIZING THE DRIVE – 25
The best time to run the drive diagnostics and status checks is on a regular basis, before
you encounter any problems with your drive. And, because they are so fast, running the
drive status check and the quick drive test provides a high level of assurance with
minimal inconvenience. Then, run all three whenever you encounter disk error conditions
when writing or accessing files.
1. Open the WD Drive Utilities software by clicking either:
 The WD Drive Utilities desktop shortcut icon
 Start > All Programs > Western Digital > WD Apps > WD Drive Utilities
See Figure 6 on page 9.
2. If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the
one that you want to check.
3. On the Diagnose dialog, click the button for the test that you want to run:
 Run Drive Status Check
 Run Quick Drive Test
 Run Complete Drive Test
Erasing the Drive
Note: Erasing your drive also deletes the WD software and all of the support files,
utilities, and user manual files. You can download these to restore your to
its original configuration after erasing the drive.
The WD Drive Utilities software provides two ways to erase your drive, depending on
whether it is locked or not:
Using the Drive Erase Function
To erase your drive when it is not locked:
1. Open the WD Drive Utilities software by clicking either:
 The WD Drive Utilities desktop shortcut icon
 Start > All Programs > Western Digital > WD Apps > WD Drive Utilities
See Figure 6 on page 9.
2. If you have more than one supported device connected to your computer, select the
one that you want to erase.
3. On the WD Drive Utilities screen, click Drive Erase to display the drive erase dialog:
CAUTION! Erasing your drive permanently deletes all of the data on the drive. Always
make sure that you no longer need any of the data on your drive before erasing it.
IF your drive is . . . AND you . . . THEN see . . .
Not locked Want to erase the drive “Using the Drive Erase Function”
on page 25.
Locked Have forgotten or lost your
password and must erase the
drive
“Using Five Invalid Passwords”
on page 26