Starting a Backup
The WD SmartWare™ software has located and categorized all the
files on your computer that are candidates for a backup operation, and
is ready to begin backing up files. The WD SmartWare software
recognizes and backs up files based on file extensions and categories,
and displays them in content gauges.
To back up all the categories of available files:
Click Run Backup to start your initial backup.
To back up only selected categories:
- On the Backup screen, click the triangle next to Detailed
View to display all categories separately. By default, all categories
are selected for backup.
- Click to deselect the categories you do not want included in your initial backup.
- Click Apply Changes to create a backup plan and update the graphical representation of your WD backup drive.
- Click Run Backup to start the backup.
About Content Categories
- Music. Music content files plus music container files, music coded files, and music playlist files. Extensions include .mp3, .mp3, .mpg3, .mpeg3, .mp4, .mpg4, .mpeg4, .wma, .wav, wav (pcm, lpcm).
- Movies. Video content files plus video container files, video coded files, and video playlist files. Extensions include .mp4, .m1v, .m21, .m1v, .m2v, .m4e, .m4u, .mjp, .mj2, .mp21, .mp4, .mpe, .mpg, .mpeg, .mpv2 (MPEG).mov, .avi, .moov, .movie (QuickTime), .mtv, .xvid.
- Photos. Photo and image content files. Extensions include .jpg, .png, .gif, .bmp, .eps, .raw, .pict, .pxr, .psd.
- Documents. Word processing, spreadsheet,
database, presentation, scheduling, plain text files, and other file
types used by document processing software. Extensions include .doc, .dot, .txt, .htm, .html, .xml, .docm, .php, .ppt, .xls, .xlt.
- Email. E-mail collection file types and individual email file types. Extensions include .msg, .mail, .eml, .dbx, .fol, .ost, .pst.
- Other. All folders and the files within them that are not defined as System files or certain other excluded file types.
For a complete list of both supported and excluded file types, please search for Answer ID 3644 in the WD Knowledge Base at http://support.wdc.com.
For Windows Users
WD SmartWare backs up files for Windows systems by file extensions, as partially defined above.
For Macintosh Users
Macintosh files are not categorized by file
extensions; rather by folder locations, as defined by the Macintosh
operating system.
- Music
- Movies
- Pictures
- Library/Mail
- Other
About the Content Gauges
When you click Backup, the content gauges for
both your computer and WD drive display different colors to represent
different states. When you hover your pointer over a category on a
content gauge, the number of files in the category is displayed.
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Unused or free drive space, for example, the color of your WD drive content gauge before your first backup. |
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Available, but excluded from backup, for example, your System Files |
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Not yet backed up or new content |
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Backed up and retrieved content |
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Content ready for backup or retrieve, for example, all your original files |
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