Can Ubuntu read U3 USB memory sticks?

**Guinness70** · May 3rd, 2008

just purchased a Sandisk 4GB Ti, love the slider style, no cap to loose/break. and if it really is titanium it should be strong.

VERY dissapointed it doesnt come with a quickrelease lanyard, no lanyard AT ALL actually.
and then this U3 stuff... i had no clue about U3 and i dont want that U3 malarky.
i dont use skype, i dont use outlook and I DO NOT WANT this STORAGE DEVICE to be used as an MP3 player. if ild want to listen to digital music on the move ild buy an MP3 player, which i still dont own : i enjoy silence when it occurs.

the uninstall tool from Sandisk requires the U3 tool to be running
which isnt gonna happen on this ubuntu only machine becoz it requires Win2000 SP4
so im buggered there

cant i format it in ubuntu? whipe it clean of all that "let me stuff this not-asked-for crap down your throat" software?
and will it be useable in Windows coz i have to use this on the puters at work.

or be patient and format it on a Windows machine at work? will that turn this memory stick in JUST a storage device? will it be U3 free?

**cracker** · May 3rd, 2008

Guinness70: You should be able to format the device in Ubuntu, but you'll lose all data on it, though I assume that's what you want. First, you need to plug it in, and figure out what device it is. Do this:

Code:

ls /dev/sd??

It'll list all the SATA, SCSI, and USB storage devices on your computer. You should be able to determine which one it is. When you're certain you have it, run the following command to zero it:

Code:

sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/sdb bs=1M

where sdb is your USB stick. This will erase it, so make sure you have the right device! You don't have to zero the whole stick, so just let it go for a few moments, then press control+C to stop it. You can then use fdisk to create a new vfat partition on it and format it. If you're only interested in using it in linux, use ext2, but if you need windows access, you'll have to stick with fat.

As far as alternatives to the U3 software, I second TrueCrypt. It's multiplatform, lightweight, and proven secure.

**Guinness70** · May 3rd, 2008

thanks Cracker

emptied it as you specified and i did the

Code:

$ sudo mkfs.vfat /dev/sdf1

with sdf1 being the USBstick

then it only showed the U3 partition

so did the emptying again on sdf1 (isnt showing another)
and got this

Code:

dd: writing `/dev/sdf1': No space left on device
3828+0 records in
3827+0 records out
4013917184 bytes (4.0 GB) copied, 366.927 seconds, 10.9 MB/s

no free diskspace ...

edit:
done another clearing
and nother format
and now it shows both partitions but the U3 stuff is still there ...
gonna try on the wife's laptop (MS Vista)

**encompass** · May 3rd, 2008

I know all the command but gparted does a good job... Just install that. and format it to what ever you like... if oyur only going to use it on linux systems use a linux format.

But otherwise fat file system is best.

**starcannon** · May 3rd, 2008

I have 4 of these by Sandisk, micro 2GB cruzer with u3 smart software on them.

I just wiped them using gparted, all is well, windows likes them, linux likes them, they were cheap, so I like them to

Even turned one of them into a liveUSB with hardy heron on it.

If you want windows to like it as well as linux just choose fat32 or fat16 either way you should be good, unless you want the U3 junk on there, then I don't really know what you should do, wine it maybe as mentioned before.

**linuxstl** · July 1st, 2008

Without reformatting these drives, has anyone been able to read from these drives using linux/ubuntu? I haven't been able to access this drive even though other non-U3 drives do not. There will be others using U3 disks who can not format their drives so I am looking for a solution to reading/writing to this drive without reformatting it in any way.

Any solutions out there? I've googled for hours without a real solution.

**stchman** · July 1st, 2008

Originally Posted by 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!!

My advice is to remove the U3 software permanently. U3 is a PITA that serves no purpose IMO. To remove it you will need to find a Windows machine to run the software.

http://www.u3.com/uninstall/

**sergiom99** · July 1st, 2008

Originally Posted by linuxstl

Without reformatting these drives, has anyone been able to read from these drives using linux/ubuntu?

I just plug my Kingston U3 2Gb and I can access the data partition without problem. And the U3 Sys Partition shows up as a CDROM drive.

**cheruvim** · March 19th, 2009

You can mount it as you would any other disk but you have to know which logical volume is the one that has the data

$ sudo lshw

should produce something like this:
*-scsi:2
physical id: 3
bus info: usb@4:6
logical name: scsi8
capabilities: emulated scsi-host
configuration: driver=usb-storage
*-disk
description: SCSI Disk
product: U3 Cruzer Micro
vendor: SanDisk
physical id: 0.0.0
bus info: scsi@8:0.0.0
logical name: /dev/sdb
version: 3.27
size: 1953MiB (2048MB)
capabilities: removable
configuration: ansiversion=2
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/sdb
size: 1953MiB (2048MB)
capabilities: partitioned partitioned:dos
configuration: signature=000c949d
*-volume
description: Windows FAT volume
vendor: mkdosfs
physical id: 1
logical name: /dev/sdb1
version: FAT32
serial: 4990-58c1
size: 1953MiB
capacity: 1953MiB
capabilities: primary fat initialized
configuration: FATs=2 filesystem=fat
*-cdrom
description: CD-R writer
product: U3 Cruzer Micro
vendor: SanDisk
physical id: 0.0.1
bus info: scsi@8:0.0.1
logical name: /dev/scd1
logical name: /dev/sr1
version: 3.27
capabilities: removable audio cd-r
configuration: ansiversion=2 status=ready
*-medium
physical id: 0
logical name: /dev/scd1

There are two partitions there one is the cd and the one with the files the FAT32 one.

The cd is the one with the ub3 software and the FAT32 volume is the partition with the files.

So you want to mount the volume That is FAT32 which has a logical name of /dev/sdb1 in this case (might be different on your system depending on what's already mounted).

So what I do is make a dir /media/ub3disk as root
then mount to that point.. unfortunatly it mounts it read only

unless you are root

$ sudo mount -t vfat /dev/sdb1 /media/ub3disk

anyone know how to make it writable?

**cheruvim** · March 19th, 2009

Originally Posted by egruber

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.

Originally Posted by sergiom99

I just plug my Kingston U3 2Gb and I can access the data partition without problem. And the U3 Sys Partition shows up as a CDROM drive.

I have a friend who experiences the same thing. Not sure why it works for him and not me. I think he has a later version? I have Hardy Heron, is there one later than than?