MY PASSPORT ESSENTIAL
USER MANUAL
CONNECTING THE DRIVE AND GETTING STARTED – 10
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 Passport 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. If a Flash Player is installed on
your computer, the screen is animated.
c. Continue to “Getting Started With WD SmartWare Software” in the following
section.
Getting Started With WD SmartWare Software
After you select either Back Up Files, Set Up Drive, or Retrieve a backup, the software
will guide you through a simple two-step WD SmartWare software installation process. If
a newer version of software is available the system will automatically alert you. WD
highly recommends using the latest version of software, especially on a new installation.
After the installation is complete, the WD SmartWare software will either:
• Guide you through:
- Backing up your files (see Figure 6 on page 11 and “Backing Up Your Com-
puter Files” on page 14)
- Setting up your drive security (see “Initial Drive Settings Screen” on page 11
and “Password Protecting Your Drive” on page 27)
• Display the Home screen (see Figure 8 on page 12 and “Home Screen” on
page 12)
Note: The initial Backup and Drive Settings screens only appear one time—the first time
you install the WD SmartWare software on your computer. After that, launching the
software displays the Home screen so you can choose what you want to do.
