CAUTION! Erasing your drive permanently deletes all of the data on the drive. Always back up the data on the drive before erasing it.
Note: Erasing your drive also deletes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities, and user manual files. You can download these to restore your My Passport® or My Book® drive to its original configuration after erasing the drive. See Restoring the WD software and disk image.
The WD Drive Utilities software provides two ways to erase your drive, depending on whether it is locked or not:
Using the WD Drive Utilities Drive Erase function
To erase your drive when it is not locked:
Note: Selecting this option ensures all data on the device is erased. This will take several hours to complete. If you choose not to select this option, a quick erase will be performed and the data may be recoverable using disk recovery software.
Note that the exFAT (extended File Allocation Table) format is not RAID configurable on My Book Thunderbolt Duo and My Book VelociRaptor Duo devices.
Important: If you want to save any of the data that is on the drive, back it up to another storage device before continuing with the drive erase.
Using the WD Drive Unlock utility
Encrypted drives with the drive lock function provide the WD Drive Unlock utility on a virtual CD (VCD) drive that appears on your desktop display.
Note: The WD Drive Unlock utility and the VCD are only available on WD hard drives that support password protection. Neither the WD Drive Unlock utility nor a VCD is available on My Book Thunderbolt Duo and My Book VelociRaptor Duo devices or on unencrypted My Passport drives.
To erase your drive when it is locked and you have forgotten or lost your password:
After the erase operation completes, see Restoring the WD software and disk image in the next section.
Restoring the WD software and disk image
In addition to deleting all of the data on your My Passport or My Book drive, erasing the drive also deletes the WD software and all of the support files, utilities, and user manual files.
If you ever need to remove and reinstall the WD software on your computer, or move the drive to another computer and install the software there, you will need to restore the WD software and disk image on your drive. To do this, after you have erased the drive, see Knowledge Base answer ID 7 at http://support.wdc.com.
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