Re: Eliminating U3 System Stuff from SanDisk ruzer thumb drive

RE:
<<  or is the "U3" stuff in some kind of separate chip that 
can't be erased? >>

I don't believe there's any way to get rid of the U3 stuff 
UNLESS you take the flash drive to a PC running Windows and 
delete it that way. Until you do that, the U3 partition will 
appear on your Mac desktop and even Disk Utility won't be 
able to get rid of it.

I had the same problems when I picked up a Sandisk 4gig 
flash drive. My solution was to take it back to the Circuit 
City where I bought it, and have the tech guy there plug it 
into a Windows box and run the routine (I think it's 
actually one of the U3 applications) that removes the U3 
partition. Once completed, the U3 partition is gone and the 
U3 software is stored in a folder on the flash drive. I then 
was able to use Disk Utility to do a complete 
re-initialization to Mac format, after which the U3 stuff 
was finally gone for good.

- John