the software preloaded onto the external drives we buy

In the past, I usually recommend people to buy their external hard drives by buying a hard disk enclosure/case and a roomiest hard drive they can afford with their budget.

As time goes by, more and more people buy prepackaged external drives from various manufacturers such as Western Digital MyBook/Elements or Seagate Expansion/FreeAgent that are ready to use. The problem with this however is that, in the event the drive fails, you can't reuse the case again with another brand of hard drive (well maybe in the case of Buffalo, LaCie which uses various manufacturers for their products) and the preloaded software.

The reason why I have to write this piece of rant is because of the software. I don't mind if the case I use can't be reused again but the software preloaded is annoying.

I have always wandered why do they always have to dump software they claims it makes it better or to always differentiate themselves from the competition. Some do it for the extra cash, some think they know their customers better and there are some reasons we may never know why they will do that.

Back to the point.

If you are lucky, like for instance, the Seagate FreeAgent drive, the software that comes with it is preloaded onto the root of the drive, so it's easy to remove it by hitting the reformatting button and presto, it's squeaky clean!

If you are the ones who bought Western Digital external drives preloaded with this software called "SmartWare", you may have a chance of removing it.

I wanted to buy a WD Passport Studio drive because it has the FireWire port (since my PC's USB ports got shot down and I forgot that I still have a FireWire port courtesy of my Creative SoundBlaster Live! Audigy2 ZS sound card). I did my research as usual, read their brochure saying all their software is good for backing up and so on and when I read the manual, this is when my enthusiasm for the drive went rock bottom. Reading a manual helps you understand the nature of the product apart from reading the brochure.

The software was preloaded on the drive as a VIRTUAL CD DRIVE. Thank you, you useless manufacturer. By the way, as the time of this writing, there is no absolute way to get rid of it. I just want the drive only to backup my computer and there are even non-computer literate people know that they just want to drag and drop their files into it.

Here's my plea to all manufacturers of external drives:
1. Keep your hands off the drive. If you have to distribute the software, please do not put it as an autorun executable (that's for Windows) or even worse as a virtual CD like good old WD. Place it in a folder with a note in your package stating that if you want to use the software follow it to install. It's up to the user whether they want it there or not.

2. Think if this is a sound investment of doing this. Are you going to lose any customers because of your doings? I can see that some may start to alienate you but believe me, in the long run it does more damage. Didn't you learn anything from your marketing classes about making decisions that can shoot in your foot? What if the non-inclusion of such software in your offering makes it less attractive to consumers or your product ratings in the magazine went down like 0.1 point less? Hey, it still attracts customers who want a clean drive they can use outside the box.

3. LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS! Isn't that why your PR set up all those fancy forums, Facebook accounts and Twitter accounts for you to get feedback? If they have bought your products, give them a date to be assured that a tool to remove the software is present. Don't think it's a waste of time.

After reading this, I should have believed in my words of assembling a drive even though it will cost slightly more than the nearest competitor but alas it none of those distractions that allows me to store stuff in the drive. Some of you must be thinking, why didn't I do it?

This is Malaysia. The things I find interesting are sold here. Maybe I should start a company to cater to this.

Until another rant comes up, I shall be on a look out for drives which have the necessary connections I want and comes with no software or the utility to remove it.