[Cialug] Swap for a USB Drive

[Nathan C. Smith]

The Sandisk I used was “thumbnail” sized – very small.  I did a DD to it effectively overwriting everything on the drive.

That U3 feature has frustrated me in the past too.

-Nate

From: cialug-bounces at cialug.org [mailto:cialug-bounces at cialug.org] On Behalf Of Matthew Nuzum
Sent: Sunday, January 22, 2012 5:05 PM
To: Central Iowa Linux Users Group
Subject: Re: [Cialug] Swap for a USB Drive

On Sun, Jan 22, 2012 at 4:28 PM, Nathan C. Smith <nathan.smith at ipmvs.com<mailto:nathan.smith at ipmvs.com>> wrote:
Don’t use a cheap no-name.  Sandisk or Kingston.  I have cheap no-names that don’t mount under Linux but look fine under Windows.  Their characteristics seem to change each time they get plugged in.

I’ve done what you want to do successfully with a Sandisk drive in the past.


I disagree about recommending Sandisk. I have a kingston that is fine, I also have two generic ones that are fine. The Sandisk drives come with software flashed on them that causes them to have extra functionality. Even their website brags about this "feature." [1]

I mentioned this in my previous reply but couldn't remember the name, it's "U3" that I was thinking of. When I plug in my thumb drive it shows up as a USB drive and a CD Rom drive. In Windows it auto-runs something and installs software on the computer and in Mac OS and Linux you have to unmount two drives (the fake CD Rom and the usb drive) to eject it. I personally would avoid anything that says it comes with additional features besides just being a thumb drive.

Furthermore, the Sandisk drive is wider than most others causing it to partially block another port on my laptop.

[1] See the list of "features" at the bottom of this page: http://www.sandisk.com/products/usb-flash-drives/cruzer-usb-flash-drive - includes "SecureAccess" software and a limited version of online backup software from YuuWaa.

--
Matthew Nuzum
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♫ You're never fully dressed without a smile! ♫

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