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Author Topic: *%£@?! me and Western Digital  (Read 5276 times)

renluop

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*%£@?! me and Western Digital
« on: August 28, 2015, 11:51:03 AM »

I use a Passport Essentials external drive for backing up, and having problems decided to clean the drive. Managed to format it! :'(. Got it eventually working, but the virtual CD that controls Smartware shows Unlocker in the open position. I can find no way to lock Passbook now. WD's instructions as in first part of title! ::) :-X >:D
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Weaver

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #1 on: August 28, 2015, 03:44:37 PM »

Say I just want to encrypt a big zip file and copy that to some external device instead of using devices with built-in encryption capabilities. Is there a good tool that I can use? (command line tool)

Apol for off-topicness, but encrypting beforehand means that at least one could still use the storage of the drive, even if it has become awkward and is refusing to do its clever encryption tricks.
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AArdvark

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #2 on: August 29, 2015, 03:49:31 AM »

I use a Passport Essentials external drive for backing up, and having problems decided to clean the drive. Managed to format it! :'(. Got it eventually working, but the virtual CD that controls Smartware shows Unlocker in the open position. I can find no way to lock Passbook now. WD's instructions as in first part of title! ::) :-X >:D

Did you go to the WD site to get the updates for the Firmware, formatter and the smartware VCD ?
(You did not mention the Model number so they may not all exist for your model)

http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?level1=4&lang=en

Do not like 'Clever' drives as they can lock you out of your data if there is a fault. :(
Understand the intent and market for these but always wary of security software I cannot fix.
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renluop

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #3 on: August 29, 2015, 07:30:58 PM »

Yep I got the gubbins from site which came up with http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WDBACY5000ABK-U&x=8&y=4

whence I obtained the items as described for 64 bit system.

WD KB5419 "WD SES driver download and instructions for recovering WD Smartware installer" .

I also had KB1198 " How to move or copy files from one hard drive to another in Windows" and an un-referenced page "Smartware- Virtue CD Manager for Windows".

Posting this, I am starting to wonder if the problems may be arising form having two versions of KB5419, front pages marked A and B in the Yep I got the gubbins from site which came up with http://support.wdc.com/product/download.asp?modelno=WDBACY5000ABK-U&x=8&y=4

whence I obtained the items as described for 64 bit system.

WD KB5419 "WD SES driver download and instructions for recovering WD Smartware installer" .

I also had KB1198 " How to move or copy files from one hard drive to another in Windows" and an unreferenced page "Smartware- Virtual CD Manager for Windows".

Posting this, I am starting to wonder if the problems may be arising form having two versions of KB5419, front pages marked A and B in this link. Whether me or WD unclarity, I don't know! :-\ What do you think; could that be the crux of my difficulties? May be start afresh with a clean drive?

I appreciate your remarks about cleverness, so maybe it could be better to work without Smartware. OTOH is there another way to secure the drive's contents, that is simpler but safe?
. Whether me or WD unclarity, I don't know! :-\ What do you think; could that be the crux of my difficulties? May be start afresh with a clean drive?

I appreciate your remarks about cleverness, so maybe it could be better to work without Smartware. OTOH is there another way to secure the drive's contents, that is simpler but safe?
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Weaver

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #4 on: August 29, 2015, 09:06:23 PM »

The thing is, if you've had trouble once, then there's always the possibility of similar trouble again. It seems to me that the system is not bombproof, not 100% reliable. So if this were me, I would think about a separate encryption solution. I'm sure you'll do the right thing, you're obviously pretty clued up.
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AArdvark

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #5 on: August 29, 2015, 09:08:13 PM »

I would for safety sake work your way through the list on the WD site from top to bottom: (As per your link for your drive.)

Firmware update                      --> To ensure at latest version
Format                                   --> With latest software
SES Driver                              --> Install latest SES driver
Perform Smartware update        --> Update the WD SmartWare Software to latest version.

**** FOLLOWING THE WD INSTRUCTIONS WILL WIPE THE DRIVE CLEAN. BACKUP ANY DATA ON THE DRIVE YOU WANT TO KEEP, FIRST <<<VERY IMPORTANT>> ****

The idea is to always ensure the latest and 'matching' firmware/software is used.

Mismatched firmware/software can on 'for any system' for lots of difference software cause unusual problems, instabilities or failures.
e.g. The firmware on a Raid Controller is older than the Driver software.
       If the new firmware has changed the system calls it understands, the old firmware will fail when the new drivers make the wrong system calls.

If you have followed the instructions on the WD pages in the order it is posted, it ensures you have matched what WD want you to do.
At that point if you still have a problem you can ask WD and avoid the 1st thing they will ask which is 'did you install ALL the updates as per the instructions on the site'.

In terms of an alternative I cannot say as it depends on what you would find convenient.
Rar, Zip, etc files can be password protected, but that requires you remember the passwords.
(Passwords can be cracked if you have enough time and a very large dictionary list to try)

You have to assess what you trust and how much risk you are able to stand.

Personally, I don't like relying on software to encrypt a drive if I have no alternative way to get the data if the software crashes/corrupts etc
If you keep multiple copies of the data in different places, using different encryption then at least you have some cover. (That may be too much effort :) )

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Weaver

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #6 on: August 29, 2015, 11:01:06 PM »

If I remember correctly, the encryption feature in pkzip is quite weak. Has it been improved? Is it now safe enough to use? If not, is there something strong that could be recommended, would have to be a command line tool.
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AArdvark

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #7 on: August 29, 2015, 11:15:53 PM »

@Weaver

You are out of date  ;D ;)

It is now Winzip and AES Encryption.

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Weaver

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #8 on: August 29, 2015, 11:43:11 PM »

> You are out of date

 :lol:
What are you saying, only 25 years out of date. That's nothing.  ::) But that's me.

Is there a command-line version still as well ?
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AArdvark

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #9 on: August 29, 2015, 11:45:45 PM »

Yes, but I am not sure if it has all the same functionality.

Check the winzip website http://www.winzip.com/

To clarify:

Winzip is a separate company/product to the older pkzip.
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Ronski

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #10 on: August 30, 2015, 12:14:10 PM »

I've always used Winzip (Not command line though) to compress and encrypt data on my WD MyBook which I use as off site back up. It started life as a 500GB drive back in 2006 (purchased it 9 years ago tomorrow), then I transplanted a 1TB drive in and this morning fitted a 2TB drive. Currently backing everything up to it.

Command line control is available
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renluop

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #11 on: August 30, 2015, 01:11:50 PM »

For the few times I need to compress I have 7zip, advised by anor in the distant past. My use is simple, but when one looks at the options, I think, "whaa WTH are these all for"?

Maybe I need something simpler and just as effective,
« Last Edit: August 30, 2015, 01:17:23 PM by renluop »
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Weaver

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #12 on: August 30, 2015, 01:23:56 PM »

I dug around on the Winzip website and found a command line tool, which I think is free if you already have a license for the GUI product. Don't know what it's called though.
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Ronski

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #13 on: August 30, 2015, 01:29:35 PM »

I posted a link to it in my previous post.
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AArdvark

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Re: *%£@?! me and Western Digital
« Reply #14 on: August 30, 2015, 01:43:04 PM »

I dug around on the Winzip website and found a command line tool, which I think is free if you already have a license for the GUI product. Don't know what it's called though.
Command line product called wzcline40-64.exe for 64bit.

You need a licensed copy of Winzip.

@Renluop
Yes, I use 7z as it has the handy ability of opening any file if it can recognise it as an archive, of some sort, even if it is call 'fred.xxx' and not data.zip.
(Right click file, 7-Zip --> Open archive ...... Simples :) )
 
I mentioned winzip as it is a proper commercial product with paid support. (i.e you pay for product they have to support)

7z is free and developed slowly (from my experience)
I use it as my default archiver (integrated into the desktop)

The 7z equiv of the command line winzip is in the 7-Zip Extra package
Docs below:

Quote
7-Zip Extra 15.06
-----------------

7-Zip Extra is package of extra modules of 7-Zip.

7-Zip Copyright (C) 1999-2015 Igor Pavlov.

7-Zip is free software. Read License.txt for more information about license.

Source code of binaries can be found at:
  http://www.7-zip.org/

This package contains the following files:

7za.exe     - standalone console version of 7-Zip with reduced formats support.
7za.dll     - library for working with 7z archives
7zxa.dll    - library for extracting from 7z archives
License.txt - license information
readme.txt  - this file

Far\        - plugin for Far Manager
x64\        - binaries for x64


All 32-bit binaries can work in:
  Windows 2000 / 2003 / 2008 / XP / Vista / 7 / 8 / 10
  and  in any Windows x64 version with WoW64 support.
All x64 binaries can work in any Windows x64 version.

All binaries use msvcrt.dll.

7za.exe
-------

7za.exe - is a standalone console version of 7-Zip with reduced formats support.

  Extra: 7za.exe             : support for only some formats of 7-Zip.
  7-Zip: 7z.exe with 7z.dll  : support for all formats of 7-Zip.

7za.exe and 7z.exe from 7-Zip have same command line interface.
7za.exe doesn't use external DLL files.

You can read Help File (7-zip.chm) from 7-Zip package for description
of all commands and switches for 7za.exe and 7z.exe.

7za.exe features:

  - High compression ratio in 7z format
  - Supported formats:
      - Packing / unpacking: 7z, xz, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2 and TAR
      - Unpacking only: Z, lzma, CAB.
  - Highest compression ratio for ZIP and GZIP formats.
  - Fast compression and decompression
  - Strong AES-256 encryption in 7z and ZIP formats.

Note: LZMA SDK contains 7zr.exe - more reduced version of 7za.exe.
But you can use 7zr.exe as "public domain" code.



DLL files
---------

7za.dll and 7zxa.dll are reduced versions of 7z.dll from 7-Zip.
7za.dll and 7zxa.dll support only 7z format.
Note: 7z.dll is main DLL file that works with all archive types in 7-Zip.

7za.dll and 7zxa.dll support the following decoding methods:
    - LZMA, LZMA2, PPMD, BCJ, BCJ2, COPY, 7zAES, BZip2, Deflate.

7za.dll also supports 7z encoding with the following encoding methods:
    - LZMA, LZMA2, PPMD, BCJ, BCJ2, COPY, 7zAES.

7za.dll and 7zxa.dll work via COM interfaces.
But these DLLs don't use standard COM interfaces for objects creating.

Look also example code that calls DLL functions (in source code of 7-Zip):
 
 7zip\UI\Client7z

Another example of binary that uses these interface is 7-Zip itself.
The following binaries from 7-Zip use 7z.dll:
  - 7z.exe (console version)
  - 7zG.exe (GUI version)
  - 7zFM.exe (7-Zip File Manager)

Note: The source code of LZMA SDK also contains the code for similar DLLs
(DLLs without BZip2, Deflate support). And these files from LZMA SDK can be
used as "public domain" code. If you use LZMA SDK files, you don't need to
follow GNU LGPL rules, if you want to change the code.




License FAQ
-----------

Can I use the EXE or DLL files from 7-Zip in a commercial application?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Yes, but you are required to specify in documentation for your application:
  (1) that you used parts of the 7-Zip program,
  (2) that 7-Zip is licensed under the GNU LGPL license and
  (3) you must give a link to www.7-zip.org, where the source code can be found.


Can I use the source code of 7-Zip in a commercial application?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Since 7-Zip is licensed under the GNU LGPL you must follow the rules of that license.
In brief, it means that any LGPL'ed code must remain licensed under the LGPL.
For instance, you can change the code from 7-Zip or write a wrapper for some
code from 7-Zip and compile it into a DLL; but, the source code of that DLL
(including your modifications / additions / wrapper) must be licensed under
the LGPL or GPL.
Any other code in your application can be licensed as you wish. This scheme allows
users and developers to change LGPL'ed code and recompile that DLL. That is the
idea of free software. Read more here: http://www.gnu.org/.



Note: You can look also LZMA SDK, which is available under a more liberal license.


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