DARN WD external drive, wd smartware

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Hello,

Looking for some expert advice.

I'm not computer savvy at all, I finally decided to dive in and clean up my old imac. I have a wd external drive but it has been doing the backup through smartware (I think). I have partitioned the the drive into two volumes one for backups (now time machine) and the other to keep all my photos and itunes libraries (in hopes of freeing up space and speeding up computer, which it seems to have done).

The partitions seems to show up beautifully when I'm working in them, but if the computer goes to sleep or restarts, then the external drive and the two partitions don't show up. The only thing that shows up in finder is "WD Smartware" and the option to eject it. If I click on it, it gives me the option to "DriveUnlock", which requires my password. Once I enter that then my two volumes show up in finder and I can access them.

That is a heck of a lot of trouble to use an external drive! Not to mention my daughters have their owner users on the computer and it won't go well if they have to do that everytime...

So, is there a way to permanently "DriveUnlock" the drive so that it automatically recognizes my two volumes/partitions and allows my computer to access the libraries, or what do I have to do?

It's frustrating to be this close to a cleaner and quicker computer and yet so far away to a "functioning" cleaner and faster computer. I hope my question/issue makes sense!

Thanks in advance to all that help!
 
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The option to uninstall or turn off the security software should be on the disc image that shows up on the desktop.
 
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Big fan of WD just not the Smartware at least not with Time Machine.
 
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Why not erase the drive then setup the partitions and TM again. Most externals are preformatted and "work" with Mac - format it and the offending software will be eliminated.

One thought - is this a USB pocket drive you are using?
 
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Big fan of WD just not the Smartware at least not with Time Machine.

Ditto. First thing I did with mine was remove that ghastly software. Only have Time Machine and SuperDuper! on it now.
 

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