TechInfo

What do you do if you have a flash drive (also known as a ‘usb key’) that contains preinstalled software? Before you save any files on it, follow the instructions listed here at Tech Info for “Removing U3 Software from SanDisk Flash Drives” or visit the manufacturers website of your specific brand of flash drive. **IF YOU ALREADY SAVED FILES TO THE FLASH DRIVE – DO NOT FOLLOW THOSE INSTRUCTIONS UNTIL YOU HAVE MADE A BACK UP OF THE FILES.**But, what do you do if you need the files on your flash drive right away? If you plug it into a PC, chances are that it will not allow the preinstalled software to run and this will prevent you from accessing any data on the flash drive. All is not lost! You can just plug the flash drive into a Mac and get to the files that way.When you plug in a USB drive into a Mac, it will ignore the preinstalled software. You can then move a copy of your files to your shared drive (also known as the U drive). On the mac, this will appear as a grey marble in a transparent box with your username underneath it, both in the Finder and on the desktop. Once you have a copy of the files on the shared drive, you can eject the usb drive from the Mac by dragging it to the trash icon (this will not delete your files.) From there, you can log into any networked PC, or mac, and access your files from your shared drive. Just remember to remove the software from the flash key before your next trip to campus.

If you’ve recently purchased a flash drive (aka thumb drive) from SanDisk, it may contain software from U3 that may interfere with your ability to use the drive on most machines on campus.  The purpose of the software was to ensure the user would eject the drive before removing it from the computer but because it is an executable, it will not run on the secure machines on the campus network. To avoid running into this problem, you should remove the U3 software from your flash drive BEFORE you save any files to it. To remove the software, go to http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1415 and download and run the uninstaller from a machine where you have administrative privileges (i.e. – your home computer) .While the U3 software doesn’t run on the mac platform, it still appears on your desktop when you plug in the drive. Just remember to eject both the drive and the CD icon for the software before you remove the drive from your machine.

On the Information Resources Website, there is link to a PDF guide to Using USB Drives at SUNY Cortland.You should review this guide BEFORE you purchase one. Please note, we are starting to see users having problems using their usb drives on the campus computers because certain brands of usb drives require drivers or backup programs to be installed on Windows computers. (Macs will ignore the software and do not experience this problem). That means they will not work on the authenticated machines on campus.  Keep this in mind before you make your purchase.Also, you should be aware that users have 200 MB of storage space on the network, which they can access from any computer on campus. Just log in using your network id, then open ‘my computer’. The ‘Username on Shares: U:’ drive is listed here.