Formatting a USB storage device

[serg.kr]

Hello,

I recently bought a 1 GB USB drive. I want to be able to simply use it as a normal USB storage device, both on Linux and on Windows. However, it comes bundled with a bunch of software, and it starts a "launch pad" application every time you put it into the computer. Not only does this take a long time, but it's mighty annoying, too. I tried wiping everything off of it on Windows, but it does not work! The applications are right back where they were when you plug it in the next time.

So I would like to wipe it clean, but at the same time, preserve its usefulness. My limited knowledge of computers lends me to believe that this is what formatting is for. So:

1. Will formatting the drive solve the problem?

If yes, then:

2. Will formatting the drive damage its usability?

3. What command could I run to do this in Debian? (Or is it easier on Windows?)

4. From searching around, I see that I will be presented with various options for file systems, such as FAT, NTFS, and EXT3. Which should I pick so that the drive is usable on both Linux and Windows?

Thanks in advance for the help!

[Vergil83]

1. Will formatting the drive solve the problem?

Can't say for sure. That program could be in some part of the drive that can't be earsed (who knows what sort of silliness corps come up with)

2. Will formatting the drive damage its usability?

It shouldn't. I had a 256 mb flash drive that I formated several times over several years, and I never had problems (until I lost it recently )

3. What command could I run to do this in Debian?

If you have one of the gui programs installed (qtparted, gparted) you can use them. If not from the command line run

mkfs.vfat -F 32 /dev/sda1

where sda1 is where the usb drive is at (sda1 is the first usb device, sda2 is number 2, etc...)
http://www.die.net/doc/linux/man/man8/mkfs.vfat.8.html

4. From searching around, I see that I will be presented with various options for file systems, such as FAT, NTFS, and EXT3. Which should I pick so that the drive is usable on both Linux and Windows?

fat is supported well in both linux and windows by default, so use that.

[serg.kr]

Thanks for the info.

It actually is a read-only partition. It shows up in the partitioner as a non-writeable CD-ROM partition.

However, I found the solution on this forum: basically, this bundled software, which is called the U3 platform, actually has an uninstaller offered by U3 itself.

I'd love to know how and why it works, but I guess it's proprietary .