From the feedback of Mac users who've used the WD SmartWare, the performance is not improved as expected. Instead, users have reported data loss, poor performance, inability to mount, etc. To manage your NTFS-formatted WD My Passport on Mac, using iBoysoft NTFS for Mac is a wise option.
Although WD claims in the user manual that by installing the SmartWare on the Mac, the HD performance will be improved, feedbacks from users are another thing. Besides the performance drop and the external HDD not mounting on Mac issue, some drives encounter severe data loss that only data recovery software can fix.
Since you don't want to change the NTFS format, the best and most effective way to roll your NTFS drives on Mac is using an NTFS for Mac software. Below is how iBoysoft NTFS for Mac helps you read-write NTFS drives on Mac.
macOS provides limited support for NTFS-formatted drives. You are allowed to read but unable to perform writing tasks on NTFS drives on Mac. With iBoysoft NTFS for Mac, you can have direct and immediate NTFS write access to NTFS formatted hard drives, SSDs, or thumb drives on Mac.
iBoysoft NTFS for Mac automatically mounts your NTFS volumes in read-write mode when you boot up your Mac. It mounts an NTFS volume as a physical volume instead of a virtual one, and shows it up on the desktop, in the Finder and Disk Utility.
The NTFS for Mac software by iBoysoft works as an NTFS driver for Samsung, Western Digital and Seagate hard drives on Mac. You are granted writing access to these NTFS external hard drives on Mac directly.
More importantly, while offering you the above features, the performance of your NTFS drives will not be affected. For example, you can still enjoy the same file transfer speed when using iBoysoft NTFS for Mac to manage your WD external hard drives. Instead of using WD's SmartWare, you should try out this NTFS driver on your Mac.