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Flash Drives
- Thread starter jessep28
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At first I was looking towards SanDisk's models but besides being up there on price, they have this U3 software package installed on the drive that autoruns and can't be removed, which seems to be a PITA.
I hate utilities that autorun and muck everything up. Which is exactly why I went to a Mac in the first place.
I hate utilities that autorun and muck everything up. Which is exactly why I went to a Mac in the first place.
I bought a Verbatim which a friend let me try his first and it works great. No drivers, run this or that, it just works very well and fast. I got it from Office Max for $20 (1GB) the 2GB was $40 on sale. Much nicer to transfer stuff with rather than a cd-rw
I have an Attache from PNY, and I used to have a Lexar Jumpdrive (incidentally, I call my Attache a jumpdrive often) The Attache is a nice, working out of the box drive, and the Jumpdrive was a rugged, compact, reliable friend (It died recently, after a good 4 years of service [it was 64 megs, ]
Both Highly reccomended drives.
]Both Highly reccomended drives.
I've used a bunch of drives, and haven't had any problems. I feel like if you use a drive from a brand you've heard of, you'll be just fine.
At first I was looking towards SanDisk's models but besides being up there on price, they have this U3 software package installed on the drive that autoruns and can't be removed, which seems to be a PITA.
I hate utilities that autorun and muck everything up. Which is exactly why I went to a Mac in the first place.
I have a Sandisk drive with the stupid U3 utility on it. They released a utility to remove it, but get this... the utility is only for Windows!
It asks you why you are removing it, and one of the reasons is 'I am a Mac user'... yet they don't have the removal utility for Mac.
Anyway, I really like my Sandisk drive, fits perfect on my keychain and is lightning fast.
Yup, same here. I have a 1GB SD Cruzr drive, and everytime I plug it into my Mac, the flashdrive shows up, as does an artificial CD call U3. Ugh. Sure, I can just ignore it, but it's completely unnecessary.
I'd uninstall it, but like you said, the only way to do it is with a Windows machine.
Otherwise, though, it works great. Fast, seems reliable, durable, and instead of having a cap, the USB input just slides down into the plastic base.
At first I was looking towards SanDisk's models but besides being up there on price, they have this U3 software package installed on the drive that autoruns and can't be removed, which seems to be a PITA.
I hate utilities that autorun and muck everything up. Which is exactly why I went to a Mac in the first place.
i had a flash drive that i got for a steal 1 GB for $30.
it had this autorun software on it, that did nothing. but i just deleted it and it ran fine.
but damn it, i lost it with a bunch of pics on it.
when you buy one i reccomend attaching it to a lanyard or something else you wont lose.
Can it not be reformatted?
Dave
Nope, I tried formatting the drive with disk utility and it still mounts a second disk image with the u3 stuff on it. had to boot into windows and run the utility to remove it.
I have a U3 Sandisk drive and used Windows to remove it.
Someone said reformatting didn't work. I could be wrong, but I think U3 drives contain 2 partitions, one for data and one for the U3 crap. Did you just reformat the data partition, or did you make sure to wipe the entire thing and repartition it to one big partition in disk utility?
Someone said reformatting didn't work. I could be wrong, but I think U3 drives contain 2 partitions, one for data and one for the U3 crap. Did you just reformat the data partition, or did you make sure to wipe the entire thing and repartition it to one big partition in disk utility?
At first I was looking towards SanDisk's models but besides being up there on price, they have this U3 software package installed on the drive that autoruns and can't be removed, which seems to be a PITA.
I hate utilities that autorun and muck everything up. Which is exactly why I went to a Mac in the first place.
you can disable this software ... doesn't show up on any of my systems ...
It appears as though the uninstaller does a flash of the firmware for the drive. I think the CD-ROM part is within a ROM area of the flash drive instead of a RAM area. Disk utility shows them as two independent devices plugged in and that the "partitions" are therefore independent and un-editable.
It's absurd to me that to uninstall this that the utility would require windows. Ironic when, as someone else pointed out, the download form that asks why you're uninstalling it has an option that says "I use Linux or Mac OS".
Sorry to drag this up from the dead. I just received my U3 enabled drive (2GB Cruzer).
That U3 software, while a good concept is a PITA. I plugged it into a Windows machine here at school and the double disk images (CD & Disk) I deal with on my Mac are a dream compared to what the "U3 experience" does on here.
My removable drive dissapeared about 3-4 times when I was trying to access my data. Also, the "More than one type of content" window popped up. Of course, there has to be autorun and taskbar popups to further annoy U3 users.
Who thinks up this stuff? I am for more fuctionality out of a simple device, but SanDisk and U3's owner's need to make this option to at least make U3 dormant versus a complete removal.
That U3 software, while a good concept is a PITA. I plugged it into a Windows machine here at school and the double disk images (CD & Disk) I deal with on my Mac are a dream compared to what the "U3 experience" does on here.
My removable drive dissapeared about 3-4 times when I was trying to access my data. Also, the "More than one type of content" window popped up. Of course, there has to be autorun and taskbar popups to further annoy U3 users.
Who thinks up this stuff? I am for more fuctionality out of a simple device, but SanDisk and U3's owner's need to make this option to at least make U3 dormant versus a complete removal.
I have two Sandisk 1GB flash drives.
The older one (1+ years old) I dropped in a parking lot and was run over who knows how many times before some kind soul picked it up and mailed it to me after finding my home address in a word document. Other than being scratched up like crazy and bent, it still works just fine...
I recently bought a 1GB mico drive for around $15 at CompUSA....
Both are working very well...
The older one (1+ years old) I dropped in a parking lot and was run over who knows how many times before some kind soul picked it up and mailed it to me after finding my home address in a word document. Other than being scratched up like crazy and bent, it still works just fine...
I recently bought a 1GB mico drive for around $15 at CompUSA....
Both are working very well...
I have two PNY drives - a 128 MB and a 2 GB. Both of them have been through the wash at least once and they still work.
I have a Sony MicroVault 1 GB and I recommend it too; I like the retractable USB connector.
For your people with SanDisk flash drives - did you try reformatting it in Disk Utility from the root of the drive? I heard that you could do that to remove the U3 software.
I have a Sony MicroVault 1 GB and I recommend it too; I like the retractable USB connector.
For your people with SanDisk flash drives - did you try reformatting it in Disk Utility from the root of the drive? I heard that you could do that to remove the U3 software.