I was at Best Buy looking at monitors with someone the other day (looking not buying, as you can get better tech prices online-personally I buy from (Newegg but that’s not the point). I saw they had Flash Drives on sale. Now before on this blog I have talked about the importance of having one of these to help you with so many tech issues, from transporting data, to checking email on any computer, and giving problem free presentations. I have been wanting a larger one lately so I can pull off some sweeter hacks and demonstrations for classes. They had a 2GB one on sale for $44, so I thought sure. . . this was a mistake. Why? The drive was a u3 drive. I didn’t know about the problem with these things and it took me a couple of hours to fix it. So here is my advice: If you are going to buy a flash drive get one that is not u3, if you already have one, or find one on the cheap keep reading as I am going to explain the steps to fix this. But first let me explain what the problem is with these “smart” drives is, and why you have to fix them, they pose a particualr problem for academic uses.
What is u3?
The makers of u3 call it a “smart drive,” a way to carry on a flash drive all of your preferences, a few key programs, documents, data etc. This way you can, “plug into any Windows 2000 or XP PC, and work.” Basically they are marketing the techniques I talked about earlier here of putting small applications onto a flash drive so that you can hook into any computer and make it work the way you want. Especially useful for working on community computers where you are not allowed to change the settings. For example, you can carry firefox as a web browser on your flash drive, that way you can have all you bookmarks, and tab browse on computers where the only broswer is the woefully inadequate Internet Explorer. This is a great technique. And the promise of u3 is that they make this really easy by having a small part of the flash drive pre-installed with software that helps you do this. The problem: This is a Lie! It doesn’t Work!
Okay without getting to technical, (if you want more in depth explanation go here). But basically it comes with an autorun program pre-installed, it tries to run this every time you log into a windows machine. (On a philosophical level this is bad as no company should produce software that installs and runs without you first accepting-this is how spyware gets started.) Now the huge problem for academics is that not all windows machines can run the program that it tries to run. So when I first tried to put my new flashdrive into the office computer on campus, nothing happens, the computer can’t see the flash drive, or worse, it causes the computer to “hang“. If a machine doesn’t let you access the toolbar (many don’t) the program can’t run. Here’s a brief note to the makers of u3:
The ”u“ in ”USB“ stands for universal, the idea is that I should be able to plug my flash drive into any computer and have it work, by trying to make this thing ”smart“ you have taken away the whole reason I use a flashdrive!.
It is no longer universal. What is more, everything u3 does can be done without u3. And sometimes computers will recognize a u3 drive and sometimes not, so you might think everything is okay, and than one time when you are trying to print the chapter of your dissertation for a meeting with your advisor it won’t work. And, here is the real kicker, the drive does apparently leave ”traces“ on the computer, that means you are not completely operating safely.
And to make this quadruply heinous the evil developers at u3 won’t let you erase this piece of crap autorun software. It is write protected, which means you have read only privileges. I thought the problem would be simply fixed by erasing and reformating the drive, no such luck.
Let me say again, Evil, Evil, Evil, this can only cause problems as you try to use your drive across a range of institutional machines. Never fear though, there are steps for fixing this.
How to Fix a u3 drive.
Basically the fix here is to wipe the drive and start out fresh. This way you have a real univerisal flash drive and can actually plug into any computer. Initally the developers of u3 wouldn’t let you unistall the part of the flashdrive that is causing all of these problems, luckily enough people seemed to have complained and they have now made an unistall program available. The problem is that you need a PC to do this, so if you own a Mac you need to find someone with a PC. A community computer might not work as you need to run the uninstall off the main hard drive, and often community computers don’t let you do this.
- First back up all your data as this process will completely erase the disk, but this is good as it will make the drive actually universal. So save all your data you want onto your desktop in a folder titled ”Flash Drive“ or something.
- Second go to the uninstall webstie at u3. They will ask you to fill out a form as to why you are uninstalling their software. The final box is for comments. If you are so inclined you can cut and paste the following into the box:
I am unistalling this crap piece of software because it is autorun and automatically installs without asking my permission. Second, it doesn’t work on all computers. Third, it is not secure. In short, it sucks! In fact I recommend that whoever thought of this idea be promptly demoted to mail room clerk in charge of licking stamps and since most stamps are now peel and stick this will ensure that they never create such another horrible product. Thanks. - Third, once you go thru all of their steps it will download a program called unistall.exe.
- Fourth, with your flashdrive in the port run this program. It will now ask you again if you sure you want to do this. I wish this also had a comment box. I would write: You have asked me this four times already, of course I want to make my flash drive work correctly.
- If you are having problems getting your computer to recongnize your flash drive you can hold down “Shift” key as you put the drive in, this will prevent (this time only) the autorun program from loading allowing you to run the install and wipe the drive.
- Note for Mac Users: If you are only using the drive on a Mac you will be okay. Although everytime you put the drive in the computer you see two drives: one a cd, the other the flash drive, and you always have to eject both. To make sure you can run this drive on a PC you should do this uninstall.
I realize this might seem hard to get done, and it is a bit tricky, but if you are going to use one of these U3 drives it is essential
Difficulty
WARNING: ALL OF YOUR DATA WILL BE ERASED IF YOU INSTALL THE UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!! I have been using the SanDisk U3 Micro Cruzer 2.0 GB thumb drive for some time. I recently used it as a backup drive because the hard drive failed on my laptop and I was at work and this was the only thing I had available for backup (at home I usually use a full-size USB hard drive and Norton Ghost). Recently, every time I plug in this annoying thumb drive, I am prompted to update the software (called “LaunchPad” or somesuch name). I finally clicked OK. I checked the first dialog box for warnings or special instructions. Nothing, just a license agreement. I clicked OK to accept the agreement and I expected another dialog screen. Instead it started updating, and the status message said “formatting drive.” I tried to stay calm and not freak out. I couldn’t imagine that it would really be deleting all of my data with no warning and no permission. But when the “update” was done, I was shocked to find my thumb drive was wiped clean!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Everything was erased! This is a disaster! I am totally livid. I am so angry. I called SanDisk and they didn’t care. They knew what I was talking about right away (I’m sure this is happening to lots of people). They wouldn’t lift a finger to help me, except to refer me to a data-recovery company that they are now “partnering” with. So, not only are they not taking financial responsibility for hosing my data without warning, they are trying to profit by getting a kickback from LC Technology for all the folks they are sending their way for data recovery. THIS IS SO WRONG! This is all kinds of outrageous. Isn’t it illegal for a company to install software on my computer without my permission, and to delete my data without my permission? I am trying to locate a class-action lawsuit to join…. If this kind of behavior is not illegal, IT SHOULD BE!!!!!!!
~~Screwed in Seattle
I have the same problems with U3 drives. They tend to slow down the computer and do not work with all computers, especially poorly maintained computers. However, there is another program called portable apps. It is essentially the same as U3, but is much easier to work with. Try it out.
It’s amazing to me. I have 2 u3 drives and they both work flawlessly. I go between home and work and occasionally to some friends houses and I have never had any problems. I recommended them to a friend that was looking for a flash drive. He got a 2gb u3 and he loves it. I guess we were the lucky 2?
Betty- Yes!!! I had exactly the same problem except that I cancelled as soon as I got the “Formatting” message. No good though – I still can’t get at my old data, even after trying some recovery programs. And, as you say, Sandisk admitted that they know of the problem!
Thank you for (1) having created this site and (2) having such a nice high Google number.
The irresponsible salesperson at Best Buy recommended the 2 G USB drive without warning
me of the e-fascist U3 software on it. Unhappily, I bought two of them and haven’t had the
time to take them back to Best Buy for a trade or refund. Your explanation and the comments
will have warned us all for the time when some governmnet (Millennium Act!) or terrorists will
sneak such items onto the products of otherwise legitimate vendors.
It would be intereting to discover that U3 is actually an experiment by Homeland Security.
Makes one wonder.
good read. I plugged u3 into my comp at work tonight to move some data and it refused to behave. I figured I dipped it in my drink from around my neck on the way down in the truck and it got doused. Anyway, got the few files off I needed, but the u3 garbage never worked right. Back at home it did fine on the laptop. But, I started playing with the launch options and found it could be update, did it twice and the second time it gave me the vista grade upgrade. I figured I would try back at work and see if the update cleared things up down there. But at this point I am annoyed by the stuped icon and nag to eject before removing. Along the way I saw that the thing can be given a lobotomy, neutered maybe, for good. (Vasectomy not reversible). I figured what the hell, I have never used any of those applications anyway and I am tired of the warnings and the two drives created. I put it under the knife and viola! One drive. I also killed autoplay for all file types so i can just plug in and explore when I am ready. Just want to hear the nice USB tune when I plug it in and out. I’ll see tomorrow how it does at the office. BTW I did remove my files to a temp directory then replaced on the new format. The larger issues here re security are certainly of concern too. I guess there are those who like to have their system “virtually” with them at all times, but I guess that age passed me by–and I don’t think this technology really does it anyway. Good riddance U3. I am looking for a larger one though. When I find a form factor I like I will get it, and you can guess what will happen if the package has the U3 logo! Thanks for the entertaining reading. I bought my 72 year old dad a usb drive to move his letters between machines but I have not shown him how to use it yet. I cannot remember if it was U3 or not. I suspect it was. Guess what I plan to do now??
I’M I STILL ABLE TO USE THE PASSWORD SYSTEM AFTER IT IS WIPED CLEAN?
Seriously, thanks a million. I’m sick of software companies forcing me to adopt their solutions. I’m also sick of any OS that allows external software to alter the OS against the user’s intent.
Hay thanks for the info, it really helps. I never had any of those main problems, i had formatting problems, and thanks to you i got it to use all teh memory again! =)
Thank You! I have been using my macs diskimage for the past 2 days trying to get rid of that garbage. The direct link to the uninstall software and additional information is very useful. Thanks again!
Thank you so much for this! I tried so many times to get just regular stuff on my flash drive, but all it did was “programs”!!!!! This is the most helpful thing I’ve ever found for this! Thank you!
You people are complete morons…… As someone with extensive computer knowledge and education, I think that U3 is great. It works flawlessly in most cases and usually if problems are encountered it is due to M$ Winblows or the idiot using it, in that order. As far as the security concerns, name a secure memory device……… .. . .. .. ….. ???? Can’t think of one? There is none. Nothing is ultimately “secure”, only simple and advanced. The u3 drives were never meant to store classified data or sensitive items. They are designed for average consumer use with the need or want to carry simple applications with them as an additional means of portability.
Want something that has no issues….go buy a Rolex and throw out the computer.
Want a “secure” means to store data…..keep it in your head.
Point: Every computer device will have it’s quirks, this always has been and always will be, rest assured. If you find it necessary to store classified or sensitive data on a memory device, then invest in SmartCard hardware. hey support high encryption and not many people have, have access to, or know where to get the hardware, and chances are if they aren’t technologically inclined they will simply think the SmartCard is some sort of ID card or something.
P.S.—–Wan’t to uninstall U3, look in the program settings in the U3 menu…..”UNINSTALL”
Sorry to offend you Mr. “Jack Jimmy Johnson” the U3 does not work flawlessly especially when working with outdated or antiquated computers. This is especially problematic in academia where in many places machines are running older versions of Windows.
Second while current versions of the U3 drive come with an uninstall program, older ones do not. The original U3 could not be uninstalled by the user without going thru the process outlined above.
I am an IT systems admin in the acedemic world. We had some of these problems some time back in various areas of my campus. All it took to resolve this issue was about 3 hours of work from me and 1 of my network guys. You cant get U3 to work on Win 95/98, but you can still use it as a flash drive WITHOUT uninstalling the U3 software. Just browse to MY COMPUTER and double-click the removable drive. U3 also works on Vista now, with the latest 1.4 update!
I myself carry a U3 drive. I have found it to be among my essential pocket items. With a little bit of coding knowledge you can get just about any basic program to run from it… I think its GREAT.
Bottom line is this: If you own a U3 flash drive and it wont work AT ALL on your school or workplaces machines… you need to talk to your IT Systems Admin or Network Admin, commonly known as “the computer guy”. ANY “computer guy (or girl)” who cant get one of these simple devices to work to some extent on every machine in their charge isn’t worth the paper their paycheck is printed on!!!
* I will concede that the oldest versions of U3 DO SUCK (very hard to access the raw drive)!!!… but you can get a brand new 2gb Sandisk with U3 at Staples for like 40 bucks!
i got toshiba u3 2GB flash.first time when i plug it front usb port it has open..but second time i was plug rear usb port not open Cz..after that i try to plug front and open but now its not working .at least its not showing..please help what to do.how to go international waranty…there for i haven’t perchesed bill (its gift)
It’s not a matter of whether U3 works or not, it a matter of buying a piece of hardware for use as a mass storage device and being forced to use the U3 software (crapware) whether you want it or not. Typically, those that aren’t very computer literate will like U3 because it helps to simplify things. However, those of us that have been doing this for a while… 1 – Want to quickly use our mass storage devices the way we want and don’t have time to fuss with crapware slowing things down, 2 – Don’t like having unwanted software stuffed down our throats.
Lastly, Windows has enough crapware as it is, I certainly don’t need another crapware program. I must also say that I think the U3 Uninstall process was purposely made to have the user change their mind by 1 – contstantly warning and asking “are you sure you want to uninstall” and 2 – the process takes forever, with the intent on having the user abort the uninstall, rather than taking the few minutes that it should to uninstall only 6MB of code.
autostarting things when insert an usb memory is a stupid idea to begin with, and the way U3 is doing it is extra ugly. That said, I dont understand why I have to have administrator privileges to remove the shit from my usb memory. I don’t want change the operating system or the computer in any way, so why???
I don’t have access to any xp computer where I have admin rights, and if I had I wouldn’t trust sandisk enough to run their software ad admin.
Are there any other way to remove u3 from the usb memory?
Thanks alot for writing this article. I have been trying to remove the program for hours. Keep up the great work.
Thanks for the info I thought I was going to have to buy a new flash drive. It was quick and simple.
Wow. You’ve had problems with U3? I haven’t had any difficulties on any computer I’ve plugged it into. Sounds like a wetware problem if you ask me. Anywho, I love being able to use portable applications that I’ve made myself or the preloaded Firefox (although I’ve been using a portable version of Chrome with my Portableapps drive [www.portableapps.com] ) and other applications available from the U3 site. Hell, I utilize the portable virus scanners and data recovery apps when servicing customer machines and I’ve never had a problem. Guess I’m just that lucky, eh? Go figure.
As an IT professional of 28 years, I’ve seen technologies come and go – I’ve been using USB flash drives since they were first available and today I have at least 6 or 7 laying around, from capacities of 64 Mb to 8 Gb (my latest is a Sandisk Cruzer 8 Gb U3 Extreme with onboard hardware encryption).
If you’re concerned about the confidentiality of your data, then you should use either TrueCrypt or Cryptainer to create an encrypted volume on the free space, and maybe even consider a flash drive with hardware encryption (U3 or non-U3), although I’d still put an encrytped volume on it.
Personnally, I have not had any problems with my U3, but then again, it’s new, and all the PCs I use are recent, both at work and at home. In the end, my reasons for going to U3 were to be able to run some of the programs I own and use regularly, like X-Setup, eWallet, Digital File Shredder Pro, and UltraEdit-32, all of which have U3 versions available. I still put PortableApps on it though…
Ok, frustrated here, got one of these darn SanDisk Cruzers 8GB, I also have a new HP Vista(home premium) laptop. My autoplay is set to prompt, and cruzer shows up as 2 drives if I install u3.. and 3 drives if I don’t, I have tried with u3 and without u3, I have done their lil uninstall software, I even exchanged it, thinking I’d gotten a bad one, now although slow when I did use the u3 it was just because I liked the games, and the ability if I chose, to use firefox on say, a friends computer who is in denial of MS ‘exploder’. But as I was saying, I cannot get this thing to eject/remove safely properly..
The oversized amber light is solid at first, then changes to a slow dimming/brightning pattern (even when not accessing it). and after ejecting/removing safely it is solid again and when removed windows gives me the ‘has not been removed safely etc..’ warning. On my XP, the light goes off, indicating it has been ‘removed’. How can i get this thing to eject/remove properly?
I don’t agree with what the author is saying about U3 drives being a waste if time and junked up on useless spyware. I have a 2GB Cruzer and have had no problems with it at all. Sure, the pre-bundled software is not much fun, but the latest drives come loaded with the newer version of the launchpad that allows the U3 software to be disabled so that you can use your drive normally. I would seriously not recommend uninstalling the u3 partition completely as there have been many problems with getting the U3 to work again. It is possible to load up the USB with your own custom “Launchpad” such as Pstart and have complete freedom with what happens when you plug your drive into your computer. Check out the Universal Customiser at hak5.org, or head to portable-apps.com where there are a few articles on there that explain how to replace the u3 software with your own.
As for the U3 not working on all computers, the U3 hardware makes use of a glitch in windows whereby it makes itself look like a CD drive (removable media) whereas normal usbs are not. This exploit therefore cannot be run on macs, older machines that have different restrictions or newer ones that have the autoplay facility completely disabled.
While I don’t think that these USBs are that dangerous, given that they can easily be stopped from initialising anything malicious by holding shift when the drive is inserted, or applying the appropriate settings to the computer, I do think that companies that install U3 software onto the usbs should make it more obvious what the software does to the drive and clearer how to remove it. A little yellow symbol hidden at the bottom of the packet is not enough for the average joe blogs to realise what he is getting himself into, especially if he does not need the U3 facility.
Hahah, well I just had a good time reading this full blog.
I have a 2gb Memorex travel drive, I’m almost absolutely positive it’s software is 1.0 (non fixable version) of U3. I purchased it about 2-3 years ago, for about 50 dollars. Waste of money I say, but hey the packaging convinced me to try it out, I’ll have to buy a smaller size one some time and check if it’s been upgraded to fix our needs (likely not [yet, for those of you that are still hopeful of this crappy cd drive emulator])
I got that 2gb drive because I didn’t have my own computer, and my parents very much disliked me putting my personal files onto their computer. I tried the original ones, on several different operating systems, other than unix, or unix-like/linux. The os’s I have tried includes :Windows 98, Windows me, Windows xp (sp1 and sp2) Vista home basic, and home premium. and Mac OSX 10.5.1~5.
At first, I really did think it was a cool idea to have programs pre-installed on my new flashdrive, but then I discovered that most of the features didn’t even work. The only os, I had the most functionality out of, was win xp sp2. And even then, I was not even remotely impressed. At most, all it proved to be was a mere nuisance to my uses.
Later on though, i discovered what this u3 actually was, a cd drive being emulated… but with a 6 mb capacity… psh, that’s worthless. If u3 comes up with a larger capacity of this emulated drive, that’d be pretty cool.. for laptop purposes… but even then.. if you have a laptop, you can just emulate a disc onto your computer with other software such as alcohol 52, or 120. (the only useful thing I saw of this cd drive emulation, was battery conservation for my laptop… but even now, this u3 junk seems obsolete.)
I tried to kill u3 many times, by plugging it into a mac machine, and deleting all the u3 files, and leaving them in the trash, and permanently deleting them from the trash… both times, the u3 just seems to revive itself.. it should be u3 cockroach… never dies.
Nevertheless, i purchased a hp 2gb flashdrive, to replace the annoyance this u3 has caused me. but i’m still taking advantage of this old u3 drive. USE IT AS A READYBOOST DEVICE FOR WINDOWS VISTA…. atleast i don’t have to use my more worthwhile flashdrives to be ruined, I can just use my old flash drives for readyboost.
Atleast the original u3 drives don’t autorun the .exe on vista, so I can actually treat it like a true flash drive…. that has now been considered obsolete in my mind.
Thank you!!! I have a 4GB model and the dang thing would only ever show up as a 1.3 GB, I couldn’t repartition and format didn’t help at all!! I downloaded the uninstall program and it worked, and now it shows as a standard 4GB like I wanted! THANK YOU. I haven’t found ANYWHERE else online that helped me, and I’ve been looking awhile. I’m a tech, so It was pretty important to me to get the full volume of this drive.
You’re stupid for buying it without looking at it in depth, but that doesn’t matter. There are many pros to the u3 program, and there are a few cons. A lot of people like the u3 program, and it is even customizable if you know just a little bit about coding. You can set it to where it won’t auto run, and when you first plug it in you can erase the u3 program and use it as a normal flash drive. 1) Its not even a bad thing, and 2) You can easily remove it. Its not that hard. I guess the point of my comment is, you’re pretty stupid.
Thanks a lot. This was very helpful. Finally I can use it
This didn’t help much. What happens if it says “USB NOT RECONIZED?”What do I do?
It’s a shame you never thought to look in the “My Computer” and disbale the autorun to begin with. Furthermore, if you are so tech savvy, you could go to hardware manager and reassign the drive letter if it was not showing up in the directory which is probably from having the first available drive letter previously assigned to another drive.
I just read the article and sounds to me like you have a personal issue with U3.
Just because it doesn’t work in your case (or you lack the intelligence to make it work) doesn’t mean you should go crap on a perfectly good product.
Offcourse since you try to make it work on a campus computer it probably never hit your tiny mind that the computer in question might have security restrictions in place that prevent the U3 menu from launching (and yes… even other autorun menu’s and software from other vendors (like portableapps).
Does this mean the flashdrive is at fault ? absolutely not.
Is the security of the computer at fault ? probably not.
Some things in life have to be accepted. So either accept it doesn’t work on those computers or start bitching at the security department to make a security hole in their network just so you can be a happy U3 user. Offcourse if you do… be sure to act like you have a pair and accept the responsibility when your campus network suddenly happens to appear on the public internet !
Sounds more like a case of BNC (Brain Not Connected) on the user end !
I have a 2GB U3 flash drive, have exceeded the password tries (actually my wife did), not able to find any program or information on how to recover the data, everything I find says I have to lose it all and start over. Is that correct? it is hopeless? Thanks in advance for your reply.
Luckily my flash drives suffice so I don’t have to use any u3 drive.
It is better to use some portable utility which leavy no traces of usage on your computer or drive.
There are one free software BDV SecretFolder which can hide a folder on USB Flash Drive. It is safe, because you do not need anything to be installed, and hidden folder are really invisible under DOS, Windows Linux etc.
Check it here: http://www.bdvnotepad.com/secretfolder_en.htm
I don’t like portable programs so much as they usually lack all the functionality of the full installed programs