Hi all! I have a My passport Ultra. I have used WD software to take backup of three computers. I am able to see the files backup files in the folder “WD SmartWare.swstor”. But when i actually try to open any file belonging to another computer I get a comment - User does not have access priveleges and i am not able to open the file. I planned to use the external drive like a USB so that i can access any file from any computer. But I am not able to do so. Thx in advance
You are experiencing a credentials/permissions conflict inherited from copied files. You are able to take ownership of these files in order to open them at will on any Windows-based system:
Data cannot be accessed on a secondary drive after reinstalling Windows on the primary drive
http://support.wdc.com/KnowledgeBase/answer.aspx?ID=1076
Please bear in mind WD SmartWare was designed to be used an emergency recovery backup in case of accidental data loss (Restoring files back to the host system). Manually manipulating the SWSTOR folder holding the data could lead to WD SmartWare being unable to update the backup any longer.
This solution does not work. We have been faithfully backing up our computers using WD Smartware for quite a while. Yesterday, my wife’s SSD crashed. After what appeared to be a successful recovery, I have been battling the file permissions all morning. I have tried the solutions offered here as well as, a third party app called “Take Ownership”. The only thing that appears to work is manually changing the permission of individual files. Not exactly practical when we have 13,000+ jpegs. I would sincerely appreciate a better solution. Please help!
UPDATE: I managed to recover my files and remove the security issues. I simply went folder by folder and deleted everything I had retrieved on the destination PC and dragged and dropped all the files from the source WD My Passport under the back up utility profile folder. Luckily, the files appear to be intact and functional. This is certainly not an optimal solution as I may find corruption issues in the future but it’s pretty clear WD has no idea what else to do either. No more 3rd party back up apps for me.
UPDATE- The backup files in *.SWSTOR" folder from another computer which I could not open directly, could be opened after I copied it and pasted it in the host computer.
The backup files in *.SWSTOR" folder from another computer which I could not open directly, could be opened after I copied it and pasted it in the host computer.
I was able to manage opening “*SWSTOR” from another computer. Right click on the backup folder that you want to open, click on properties, open the security tab, under group or user names, locate "users (name of pc\users), then below that you will have to check full control and modify box and then click OK. After doing this, a file explorer window will open and these are your back-up files that you now can open.
Good luck.
