Cheryl, Those U3 flash drives have caused a lot of confusion. The idea behind U3 is to make it easier to run software from the flash drive by formatting it in 2 partitions: one being a simulated CD-ROM which can auto-run and the other being a normal partition. In fact, certain programs (including PAF) can be run from a normal flash drive, so I don't see that U3 has any advantage. Given the choice between a U3-enabled flash drive and a conventional flash drive I would NEVER buy the U3 unit. This is just a personal opinion, of course, but unless you understand U3 I think you are best to avoid it. Bill Buchanan > I have one (a Memorex, if memory serves) that came divided > like Gaul into two parts. Put it into any USB port and it > accessed Part1, which had the security section which was > write protected; if you let it install the host program, you > could then access part2 which wasn't write-protected. That > thing gave me more grief!! I finally had my husband delete > the partition and reformat the thing so I could use it > outside the house. > > There was _nothing_ that told me it was write protected or > that it was partitioned until I went looking to see why it > kept telling me it was full. Even then, the partition > wasn't obvious. > > Cheryl

You can also get a program that will remove the U3 portion, allowing full use of the flash drive. I don't remember the site, but it can be found by Googling for it. I have removed it from every drive I have, with no ill effects. Aloha Wayne, NH6K -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bill Buchanan Sent: Sunday, January 27, 2008 11:18 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: [PAF-5] Flash drive with 2 partitions (U3) Cheryl, Those U3 flash drives have caused a lot of confusion. The idea behind U3 is to make it easier to run software from the flash drive by formatting it in 2 partitions: one being a simulated CD-ROM which can auto-run and the other being a normal partition. In fact, certain programs (including PAF) can be run from a normal flash drive, so I don't see that U3 has any advantage. Given the choice between a U3-enabled flash drive and a conventional flash drive I would NEVER buy the U3 unit. This is just a personal opinion, of course, but unless you understand U3 I think you are best to avoid it. Bill Buchanan > I have one (a Memorex, if memory serves) that came divided like Gaul > into two parts. Put it into any USB port and it accessed Part1, which > had the security section which was write protected; if you let it > install the host program, you could then access part2 which wasn't > write-protected. That thing gave me more grief!! I finally had my > husband delete the partition and reformat the thing so I could use it > outside the house. > > There was _nothing_ that told me it was write protected or that it was > partitioned until I went looking to see why it kept telling me it was > full. Even then, the partition wasn't obvious. > > Cheryl ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I recently bought on special ($25.95 au) a 4 Gb Toshiba USB device, Upon opening the packet and inserting the device I found it was a U3. Now I am in the computer industry and I did not read the packet more fool me. I tried running U3 but found it more of an annoyance than good. In the end I simply had to reformat to one drive. Moral is read before you buy don't be fooled by the price tag. Cheers Steve