4TB G-Drive auto rename to MyBook and delete all data (Yosemite)

[ecnezie]

Hi,
I've just purchased a 4TB G-Drive - Thunderbolt & USB 3.0, to use mainly as storage for caches, render and previews. I've connected it to a macbook pro with thunderbolt (Yosemite).
All working great, at first.
But, switching it on suddently it renamed itself as MyBook and all the data in it disappeared (just 10/20 gb of temp renders and previews, thankfully).
At start, mac app Time Machine popped up asked me if I want to use it as backup disk as if it was a new empty one. I'm 100% sure I refused, but it seems that it automatically did wipe it clean before asking.
I decided to format it clean from disk utility. It worked fine for a couple of days and then it did the same again. Auto renamed to MyBook and all data gone.
Obviously I can't trust it anymore, and I'm thinking of returning it.
It's a pity, because it works great, a part from this crazy thing.

Any ideas of what is happening? I'm pretty confident I didn't do anything unusual...

Many thanks!

 

[chscag]

I would also return the drive. However, are you sure the drive did not come with embedded software in its firmware? I can't see any other reason for it renaming itself.

 

[ecnezie]

Thanks for replying!

They pointed me toward this

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7135158?start=0&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26591741#26591741

that seems an old issue, and very scary

 

[Rod]

I have a few WD drives which I have used for a while without problems and like my one Seagate and one Transcend I always use Disk Utility first to completely erase the drive and reformat as Mac OS Extended (journaled) before use. I have always followed this process as standard practice even though things have changed since the days when most popular EHD's were formatted for windows. So ecnezie, did you erase and format originally or just plugin out of the box?

 

[chscag]

Thanks for replying!

They pointed me toward this

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7135158?start=0&tstart=0
https://discussions.apple.com/message/26591741#26591741

that seems an old issue, and very scary

It's as I advised you above in reply #2. The WD software is sometimes embedded in the firmware of the drive and is very difficult to find and remove. Return the drive and stay away from the WD series My Book or Passport drives.

 

[ecnezie]

I first plug it in straight out of the box, and happened one time.
Then erase it clean thinking the same and... happened again

I have an older WD drive that I use for backup, I think is the reason why I had istances of their smart software in. Luckily it happened on the new empty and not on other ones with sensible data in.

I now deleted all the ones I found, and testing the HD to see if it does again, still not sure if bringing it back since it seem "innocent" and working good now. I have still few days.
I hope to have deleted all of them, searching through seem all clean.

Thanks for your replies!