When I first started using Portable Apps about a year ago I installed everything on a 2 GB Sandisk Cruzer Micro which was also U3 enabled. I soon decided I liked Portable Apps better and deleted all the U3 programs to free up space. I never did figure out how to delete the last 6 MB or so that is the U3 drive. This contains 3 things - an autorun.inf, LaunchPad.zip, and LaunchU3.exe. The small about of space still tied up is no big deal but I have grown tired of that separate drive showing up every time I plug in my flash. More annoying is its autostart feature that opens a window showing the drive. I have wondered if I can select and format only that partition to delete it but I am afraid it will also delete the rest of the drive with my Portable Apps. Is there any way to get rid of this entirely so my flash has only Portable Apps on it without having to start from scratch and completely reinstalling my Portable Apps??
[Moved to U3 Forum by mod Tim]
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Back up everything on your drive before you do this.
Back up Everything on your drive Before you do this!
Back up EVERYTHING on your drive BEFORE you do this!!
That is, the stuff on the writable part of the drive, where you have your portable apps.
Go here:
http://www.sandisk.com/Retail/Default.aspx?CatID=1415
Download the tool and run it from a Windows XP machine.
Make sure you have removed all other usb devices before you start.
Be patient if it takes a while.
Think of this as a permanent removal in case you can't undo it.
Restoration is possible for the Sandisk models but has been known to fail.
Think of this as a Permanent Removal! You have been Warned.
When done, copy back all your stuff to the newly formated drive. It should only have one letter.
[This topic is going to be moved to the U3 Forum later today.]
Tim
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
Can I do this on Vista? Or does it have to be XP? I'm no expert at any of this stuff but I'm always learning more. So I simply copy and paste everything on the Portable Apps part of the drive that I want to keep and store it somewhere on my computer - or do I have to use some sort of backup utility? Finally, do I understand correctly that I have to disconnect ALL other usb devices from my computer - including printer, external hard drive, battery backup, imic, etc.,etc.? Thanks a bunch.
does it have to be XP?
Do it on XP just to be safe.
So I simply copy and paste everything...somewhere on my computer
Yes
I have to disconnect ALL other usb devices from my computer
Yes, EveryThing [except your mouse and keyboard].
It might work if you don't, but it has been known to have problems identifying the U3 drive if there are other USB devices connected.
Tim
Things have got to get better, they can't get worse, or can they?
On newer versions of the U3 menu you have the option to uninstall the Launchpad without the need to download anything else. Based on what you've said you're seeing when you plug in the drive it sounds like you have a Vista version and therefore probably have the menu option. I also believe the download file doesn't support the Vista upgrade Launchpads.
As Tim said, BACKUP your data. Deleting the Launchpad reformats the drive and unlike an upgrade process makes NO attempt at backing up files and restoring them.
Ed
I'm vaguely remembering trying something like that some time after I deleted all the apps but I might be wrong. If I did it apparently didn't work. I'm on a mac for the weekend but when I get back to my PC (with vista) it sounds like I should see if the U3 system will start and, if so, try to find uninstall on the menu? If not then I guess I need to find an XP system somewhere and do what Tim said.
Make sure you disable the U3 password if you have it enabled before attempting to uninstall the Launchpad.
(The password is the main reason I keep U3. That plus a personalized portable browser.)
You need to backup your data regardless of what system you will attempt the uninstall on.
Ed
I got around to launching the U3 last night and after seeing the start menu again I am sure that I tried the uninstall. Not sure why it wouldn't have worked.
Before I try it again though, I am curious about something else you mentioned. You made it sound like I can use the U3 password feature to secure my Portable Apps. How do I do that? And would that keep me from being able to access my files on a mac? I am also wondering what you meant by a personalized portable browser
First of all U3 is windows only, so you would not be able to access your files from Macs, or Linux boxes, or anything else, but windows.
If you turn on the password protection feature, then (theoretically) the only way to access the drive is to enter the correct password into the U3 launcher application, so you can do that, and then just run the PortableApps suite from the drive once it is accessible.
That's what I figured. The password protection would be nice but, for me, it's not worth being unable to access my stored files from a mac since I regularly use a couple.
What about this personalized browser bit though? I thought I already had my Firefox pretty personalized.
And thanks again for all your help.
I access my thumb drive from Debian and Slax Linux and run some of the portable apps using wine.
As long as you are using a fat 16 or fat 32 format on your thumb drive most linux distributions can mount the drive.
access it differently.
You need then to do dd copy of sectors, then yes.
Otto Sykora
Basel, Switzerland
the bane of my existence, well it easier to uninstall now follow this link
http://www.u3.com/uninstall/
the uninstaller even backs up your data on you flash drive NOT U3 though, isn't that nice ...
i got U3 preinstalled on my 8gig usb drive most u3 programmes are outdated i hate out dated programmes
I must warn you however, once i uninstalled i was no longer able to use my usb with vista's ready boost.
I am who I intend to be.