How do I . . .

  • Select the internal drive or drive partition that I want to back up?

  • Select the My Book or My Passport drive that I want to back up to?

  • Back up everything—all file categories?

  • Back up only certain types of files—category backup?

  • Back up only certain files or folders—file backup?

Selecting the internal drive or drive partition to back up

If you are going to back up files by category AND your computer has more than one internal hard drive or drive partition, then you must select the one that you want to back up files from before beginning thebackup.

  1. Click the Home tab.
  2. On the drop-down menu under your computer icon, select the internal hard drive or drive partition that you want to back up.
  3. Verify that the name of your computer changes to match your selection.
  4. Click the Backup tab to continue.

Selecting the My Book or My Passport drive to back up to

If you have more than one My Book or My Passport drive connected to your computer, then you must select the one that you want to back up files to before beginning a backup.

  1. Click the Home tab.
  2. Click the icon of the My Book or My Passport drive that you want to use for your backup.
  3. Verify that the light-blue background shadow appears around the selected drive.
  4. Click the Backup tab to continue.

Backing up everything—all file categories

Backing up all file categories is the initial/default configuration of the WD SmartWare software.

  1. Click the Backup tab.
  2. Verify that Ready to perform category backup appears at the upper-left corner of the Backup dialog.
  3. If Ready to perform file backup appears there, then click the Switch to Category Backup button and click OK at the Switching Backup Plan prompt.
  4. Click the Start Backup button to begin backing up all of your files from the selected internal drive or drive partition to the selected My Book or My Passport drive.
  5. During the backup:
    • The Start Backup button changes to Stop Backup for stopping the backup.

    • A progress bar and message indicate the amount of data that has been backed up.

    • The blue background in the content gauge for your computer's hard drive changes to yellow/amber for all of the files that have not been backed up.

    • The gray background in the content gauge for your My Book or My Passport drive changes to blue for each category as the backup completes.

    • You can do other things with your computer, as the WD SmartWare software works in the background.
  1. Appearance of a backup successfully finished message means that the backup completed normally.

    If any files could not be backed up, their representations remain yellow/amber in the content gauge for your computer's hard drive and a:

    • Caution message indicates the number of files involved

    • View link takes you to a list of the files and the reasons they were not backed up

    Some applications and running processes can keep files from being backed up. If you cannot determine why some of your files were not backed up, try:

    • Saving and closing all of your open files

    • Closing all running applications—including your e-mail program and web browser
  2. If your computer has more than one internal hard drive or drive partition, repeat the category backup procedure for each one.

Backing up types of files—category backup

A category backup finds and backs up all of the files of the selected categories on your computer. If you select only the Pictures category, for example, the WD SmartWare software finds and backs up all of your picture files, no matter where they are stored on your computer.

  1. Click the Backup tab.
  2. Verify that Ready to perform category backup appears at the upper-left corner of the Backup dialog.
  3. If Ready to perform file backup appears there, then click the Switch to Category Backup button and click OK at the Switching Backup Plan prompt.
  4. Click Advanced View to display the backup by categories selection box.

    5. The initial/default configuration has all categories selected for backing up everything.

  5. In the backup by categories selection box:
    • Clear the check boxes for the categories of files that you want to exclude from the backup.

    • If they are cleared, select the check boxes for the categories of files that you want to include in the backup.
  6. Click the Apply Changes button to create a custom backup plan and refresh the content gauge for your My Book or My Passport drive.
  7. Click the Start Backup button to begin backing up the selected categories of files from the selected internal hard drive or drive partition to the selected My Book or My Passport drive.
  8. During the backup:
    • The Start Backup button changes to Stop Backup for stopping the backup.

    • A progress bar and message indicate the amount of data that has been backed up.

    • The blue background in the content gauge for your computer's hard drive changes to yellow/amber for all of the files that have not been backed up.

    • The gray background in the content gauge for your My Book or My Passport drive changes to blue for each category as the backup completes.

    • You can do other things with your computer, as the WD SmartWare software works in the background.
  9. Appearance of a backup successfully finished message means that the backup completed normally.

    If any files could not be backed up, their representations remain yellow/amber in the content gauge for your computer's hard drive and a:

    • Caution message indicates the number of files involved

    • View link takes you to a list of the files and the reasons they were not backed up

    Some applications and running processes can keep files from being backed up. If you cannot determine why some of your files were not backed up, try:

    • Saving and closing all of your open files

    • Closing all running applications—including your e-mail program and web browser
  10. If your computer has more than one internal hard drive or drive partition, repeat the procedure to back up the selected categories of files for each one.

Backing up files or folders—file backup

A file backup backs up specific individual files or folders that you select from a folder view your computer's internal hard drive.

  1. Click the Backup tab.
  2. Click the Switch to File Backup button and click OK at the Switching Backup Plan prompt to display the backup by files selection box.

    3. The initial/default configuration has all all files and folders unselected.

  3. In the backup by files selection box:
    1. Click to open the folders and subfolders to find the files that you want to back up.

    2. Select the check boxes for the files or folders that you want to include in the backup.

    3. Note that selecting the check box for a folder automatically selects all of the files in the folder.
  4. Click the:
    • Apply Changes button to create a custom backup plan, saving your file and folder selections for the backup

    • Revert button to undo your selections and start over from the last applied configuration

    Note that clicking the Apply Changes button does not update the content gauge for your My Book or My Passport drive. The content gauges are based on file categories, which do not apply to a File Backup operation.

  5. Click the Start Backup button to begin backing up the selected files and folders from the selected internal drive or drive partition to the selected My Book or My Passport drive.
  6. During the backup:
    • The Start Backup button changes to Stop Backup for stopping the backup.

    • A progress bar and message indicate the amount of data that has been backed up.

    • The gray background of the Files category in the content gauge for your My Book or My Passport drive changes to blue as the file backup completes.

    • You can do other things with your computer, as the WD SmartWare software works in the background.
  7. Appearance of a backup successfully finished message means that the backup completed normally.

    If any files could not be backed up, a:

    • Caution message indicates the number of files involved

    • View link takes you to a list of the files and the reasons they were not backed up

    Some applications and running processes can keep files from being backed up. If you cannot determine why some of your files were not backed up, try:

    • Saving and closing all of your open files

    • Closing all running applications—including your e-mail program and web browser