# How do I reformat a SanDisk Cruzer Flash Drive?



## Rabnud (Oct 15, 2008)

Unlike various threads I looked at, I _want_ to reformat my SanDisk 4GB Cruzer Titanium Plus flash drive. It came with USB3 stuff that I don't want, and which hassles me every time. I just want 4GB that looks and acts like a single unrestricted USB drive when plugged into a WINXP or Vista PC. I would prefer NTFS, but I could easily live with FAT32. There's no data of significance on the Cruzer to worry about saving first.

I have a WINXP Pro SP3 machine, and a Vista SP1 machine. I could use either to do the reformatting once I learn how.

So far everything I've tried to accomplish this reformating has been thwarted, including using the DOS Format command. Can anyone point me to the procedure or other secret that will let me do this? Would appreciate any words of wisdom.


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## Gulo Luseus (May 12, 2007)

Have you tried a format in windows? Go to my computer, right click on the disk, and choose format. If you have tried, I do have (somewhere) a tiny little prog specifically for formatting USB drives


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

U3 Launchpad Removal


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## arknorth (Oct 17, 2007)

Open the flash drive up in My Computer

Go to the icon in the upper left corner of the window that opens and RIGHT CLICK on it.

Select 'Format' from the drop down window.

And so on...

A-N


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## Rabnud (Oct 15, 2008)

Thanks to all who responded. In Explorer the Cruzer shows up as a U3 drive (K on my PC) and an independent disk (L). The right-click menu for K did not show Format. Format showed for L, but when run it demanded that I insert a disk, so I got nowhere.

So I followed the link provided by DoubleHelix, which offered a U3 uninstaller. After convincing the uninstaller that, yeah, that's what I really wanted to do, it quickly got rid of K (the U3 drive) and formatted the entire Cruzer as a single USB drive - exactly what I wanted. A quick test showed that I can write and read files and folders to it. I'm now a happy camper! Thanks again.


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## DoubleHelix (Dec 10, 2004)

You probably could have formatted the drive without using the removal utility. You would have had to close the U3 launchpad first. Generally, it launches when the drive is inserted. Since it's a programming running on the drive, it needs to be closed first. However, the utility takes care of this as well.


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## scorwitz (Jan 16, 2005)

I uninstalled the U3 CRAP and still can't eject the thumb drive. I always end up yanking it out and risking losing info. I would never have purchased this one if I'd known what an annoyance it would be.


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