Why are so many flash drives coming with U3?

I feel kinda lame for starting a "why..." thread...

However, I'd like to replace my aging 512mb Cruzer Titanium with a newer 2-4GB flash drive. I love the look of the Titanium and am very displeased that they only come in U3 models. Same with the regular Cruzers. I know it's uninstallable, but I'm being forced to pay for what IMO is a very annoying, useless software product to be put on my drive. There's alot of reasons I prefer the SanDisk flash drives over other brands, but I'm really displeased by the prevalence of U3 software. What do you guys think?

 

I like the concept of U3 (and its competitors) but the lack of open-source support (namely, Linux) ticks me off, so I voted that U3 is awful. I wouldn't buy a USB key with it unless it was open-source friendly...which I'd imagine is hard to do what with the multitude of Linux distros out there.

 

I've been using a couple of U3 things and they're working well: Firefox and OpenOffice. I did delete all of the "trialware" stuff. Some of it looks handy (synching, password keeper, etc.), but I'm so tired of shelling out money for more crappy programs that do the same thing as other crappy programs.

And, you can just delete the U3 app/program from the memory stick if you don't want to use it.

It's just a another cross-marketing platform for Sandisk. And I don't see how U3 will survive with the free USB stuff out there. This site PortableApps has plenty of free USB apps you can use instead. There may be others, too.

 

Oh, totally. I forgot to mention that. I guess I forgot since I presumed preloaded U3 means that the USB stick is going to cost incrementally more than the same one without it...?

 

That's a good question. I don't know, but would guess it adds something to the price of the stick. Otherwise, they'd be offering the free, open PortableApps suite I linked above.

I did forget to mention that U3 is password protected (haven't tired PortableApps to see if it is). So, if I lose my USB the data has some level of protection.

 

Indeed, the only thing I like about U3 is the password protection feature. At least, if I lost my flash drive, I dont have to worry that someone else can access its contents.

 

What is U3 ?! Ive never heard of it !

 

Check out www.u3.com. Basically, a launcher and suite of apps that run from USB.

 

I've had a U3 drive, got it free when I was working retail to test it out for Kingston Technology. I didn't find anything useful about it and was severely annoyed that I couldn't format to get rid of it, but actually had to run an uninstaller. If I need portable apps there's free ones out there of my prefered types (such as Firefox or Gaim). For me a real selling point/dealbreaker is the way a flash drive fits on my keychain. It needs to hang nicely and not stick out at a funny angle, which is surprisingly hard to find. It's what I like about sandisk's drives, really, not to mention they look nice.

 

I bought a U3 drive about a month ago. Everytime I would put the drive in a new computer, it would try and install some drivers and then force me to format before I could use it. The format thing came even after I had formatted and put some files on it using a different computer. I have no need for the U3 software; I bought the pen drive to transfer files easily between different PCs.

I found the site for removing U3 and got it removed no problem. My drive was actually working, I could transfer files from computer to computer without reformatting!

Well, I tried to use the drive for the first time in a few weeks yesterday, and the thing wanted me to format it again. I had my laptop and desktop right next to each other, but I couldn't use the drive to transfer files.

I guess this isn't U3's fault anymore. I still have absolutely no need for U3, but now I am mad at the manufacturer rather than U3.

 

What brand was that, out of curiousity?

 

Here's some addtional U3 info some of you may want to know: according to the U3 knowledge base website, while the most recent version of the U3 software may be compatible with Vista, certain hardware is not and never will be -- specifically, a whole lot of thumb drives from SanDisk. Right now it's a crap shoot as to whether you'll get a SanDisk U3 device with the Vista-compatible firmware or not. Mine (from December) is not, so even though I actually liked using U3, it looks like I'll have to uninstall it anyway.

So if you're looking for a U3 thumb drive to work with Vista -- either now or in the future -- you should either wait for the new model offerings from SanDisk (which should be out in a matter of months) or go with another brand.

I know which one I'll be doing from now on...

 

I've got a U3 flash drive as well. Bought it the day before yesterday. Wanted a SanDisk Cruzer Titanium too, and since the 1G stick seems to come only with U3, I didn't have much of a choice. Still trying to figure out if I'll leave it on or uninstall it. At the moment I'm mostly annoyed by it.

 

I've got 2 Cruzers, a 1 and a 2 gig. I guess it's just 'cause I'm old, but U3 just is not worth my effort to be annoyed at. What I am annoyed at is the fact that neither of them will run on my wife's eMachine - Athlon 3800 - plugged into the front USB ports. I have to use a Lexar 1 Gig on that machine, and I did have to dunp a bunch of "junkware" off it.

 

Mine was a Memorex, here's link

I had contacted Tech Support before I found out how to uninstall U3 and they said to send it in for a replacement, so hopefully I'll be able to get a replacement.

 

I like U3, it was very useful with my last job. I was able to bypass there security and gain access to the internet. In fact it was using U3s firefox that I discovered NBR.

 

Considering how cut-throat pricing is in the flash market I can't imagine U3 adds much to the cost of the drive. That said, it annoys me, but not enough that I can be bothered to uninstall it, and other than that I love my flash drive (sandisk cruzer titanium) since it hangs well on my keychain and is the next best thing to indestructible.

 

For a goof after reading this thread the other day I bought a Black Cruzer drive, and I have Vista. I know enough people who would have been interested in the jump drive for my cost on it ($10 for a 1GB Cruzer) so it wouldn't have been any loss to me if it didn't work. Anyways, to my (semi-)dismay when it arrived I could not access U3, but I could simply go to my computer and see it as a device with removable memory and I could load and unload the drive. When i clicked on the U3.exe I was told the device software was not compatible with my version of Windows and I was sent to the SanDisk site where a patch made it work with Vista.

I did have to log on as the Administrator (which is hidden in Vista) for loading privledges of the patch. I enabled the .exe file for all users and I have complete access to U3 if I want it. I will mess with it a bit tonight, to see if it is worth a darn, but it did load on a drive that was NOT listed as Vista Capable...

Just to allay anybodies fears, it did work without an issue.

 

JaySmuv ---

There are programs that could access the drive at a machine code/ assembly level, in order to completely wipe the drive.

Photography sites deal with flash drives aplenty, and there's s/w, certainly free stuff, that can look at the drive. There are also recovery programs for flash drives that, again, may get rid of the offending crap that seems 'stuck' on your drive.

 

After messing with it for a while, I kinda like it. I wouldn't say "I love it" as indicated in the poll, but since it is the only positive choice, I selected it. The fellas at work really were surprised, as was I, about everything that little program does. Not only that, but everybody liked how the boring wallpapers at work turned into a sultry Lindsay Lohan in a tight black dress...


(Click to enlarge image)

Anyways, I found nothing annoying about it except the fact that I can't get my Firefox Bookmarks to save to the drive in a usable folder. Oh well, I'm old so it will take me a while to figure it out...

Oh yeah, I also just ordered a 4 GB Cruzer drive and I am selling the guy who bought my Dell Lappy (when I just received my dv6000t) the 1 GB Cruzer (and yes, he even wants the Lindsay desktop image left on it... It is really that cool.

 

As for U3 increasing the price of the unit, I would say that it doesnt or if it does you dont notice it. I work at a small electronic retailer and the SanDisk 1gb usb drives about a year and a half ago would sell for about $90, then dropped to about $50 and now sell for $20. If U3 does add to the cost of the unit then the consumer probably wouldn't notice it because the price of memory has come down in the past year.