Creating a Password

WD SmartWare™ uses powerful hardware encryption to secure your drive and all of its content to keep others from accessing your files.

Important: WD SmartWare uses your password to electronically lock and unlock your drive. If you forget your password, WD cannot retrieve it, and you cannot access any data on the drive or write new data to it. If you forget your password, you will have to erase the drive before you can use it again. For this reason, please record and store your password in a secure location after creating it.

To create a password:

1. From the Security screen, type a password in the Choose a Password field.
2. Retype your password in the Verify Password field.
3. If desired, type a hint to help you remember your password.

4. Please read and review the password information provided by WD; then click I Understand.
5. Click Save Security Settings.

Important: After creating a password, your drive remains unlocked for as long as you continue your current work session. After you shut down your computer or disconnect your drive and then reconnect it, you must enter your password to unlock your WD drive.

Do one of the following:

• If you installed the complete WD SmartWare software application, set other drive options if desired; then click Continue to display the Home screen.
• If you installed only the WD Drive Settings software, set other drive options if desired; then click Exit to exit the application. The next time you start the application or plug in another drive, the Home screen appears with only two tabs; the Home tab and the Settings tab, which allow you to set drive management options for the new or existing drive.