Can Ubuntu read U3 USB memory sticks?

[egruber]

I have a memory stick with the U3 System on it. When I mount it, I can only view the U3 system files, not the files I copied to the stick. Of course, I cannot run the U3 application. Any ideas on how I can view the files? Or should I just stick to non-U3 memory sticks?

And I'm really a newbie here, so please explain any steps. Thanks!!

[Lord Xeb]

Have you tried WINE?I I have a U3 stick, but it is reformated to run Ubuntu on a stick. But I could see all the files I had on there at any time.

[egruber]

The stick came pre-formatted with the u3 software, and I use it on my windows pc. Is there any way that ubuntu can read it? Perhaps some sort of add-on driver? I didn't want to reformat it with something else.

[silvanus2005]

In my opinion U3 software it`s not useful at all. I had a U3 Sandisk stick, but I formatted it and I`m using it as a simply memory stick. I suggest you do the same; format it in Windows and you can use it in Ubuntu with no problem.

[encompass]

What advantage does U3 have for you... I don't think there is much support for it. As it's just a file system ontop of a file system. (Not the brightest idea.) I would recommend just using the disk like any other USB stick. Otherwise your going to have trouble where ever you go with that thing.
So to say the least... I don't think a solution is out there.
Sorry,

[egruber]

I liked it for a couple of reasons. One, because it can be password protected. Two, it has a couple of great programs. One lets me synch my outlook and files onto the drive and the second stores my encrypted passwords. Since I use it mostly on windows machines, I didn't want to mess with it. I have other non-u3 drives I can use. I just wanted to see if I could use this one, too. Thanks!

[Bob535]

take a look at www.portableapps.com

Its essentially a free version of U3 that you can install on a USB stick. It gives the option to run it in the auto-execution pop-up instead of booting strait into it like u3. Not much difference and easier to use.

[fno]

I liked it for a couple of reasons. One, because it can be password protected.

There you have it, the password protection is a windows only function (to my knowledge, at least).

The only way to unlock a U3 device for use by computing devices is by starting the U3 launchpad software which detects that the password security is enabled, and in turn prompts the user for the password. Since U3 is only supporting Windows and as far as I know have no specifications available on how to create such an application for other operating systems, chances are slim to zero you ever will be able to use the device on anything other than Windows while at the same time having the password security feature enabled.

On the other hand, if you want to protect the information you store on the U3 stick, I would suggest you seriously consider other options. I haven't seen any technical nor security analysis of the security functionality, but I am very skeptical that the design is anything even close to secure.

My suggestion is to check out TrueCrypt for securing documents on a USB stick or wherever. Supporting Windows, Linux and OS X makes Truecrypt a much better solution to protect your sensitive information, while at the same time being designed from the bottom up to be secure, by being based on state-of-the-art encryption technology.

[Curtisc]

It seems as though you're asking whether you can access the data partition of your U3 stick while leaving the rest alone, not looking for a U3 alternative. If that's the case, then you might be out of luck... according to this thread, the U3 system does something screwy that prevents Ubuntu from seeing both partitions.

As a first step, can you plug in the drive and type "sudo fdisk -l" into the terminal and then post the output here? That should tell us whether or not both partitions are being detected.

[egruber]

It seems as though you're asking whether you can access the data partition of your U3 stick while leaving the rest alone, not looking for a U3 alternative. If that's the case, then you might be out of luck... according to this thread, the U3 system does something screwy that prevents Ubuntu from seeing both partitions.

As a first step, can you plug in the drive and type "sudo fdisk -l" into the terminal and then post the output here? That should tell us whether or not both partitions are being detected.

You are exactly right. I only want to access the data portion. I don't care about the U3 aspects when I use my Ubuntu PC. I will try what you suggested tonight. I suspect that it cannot see the data partition. The U3 part shows up as a CD drive, and that's all I see.