Theoretical Partition Removal

[Robert526]

I recently bought a Sandisk Cruzer Micro 1GB USB Flash Drive. I've been having problems getting it to work under Windows 98, and I've come to the conclusion that the U3 Software bundled with it is causing the problems- the drivers I downloaded were for the older versions without the U3 software. To solve the problem, I have decided to remove the useless software from the drive.

The drive has two partitions:
-The first (F) is a partition which is masked as a CD-ROM drive so the U3 software will run when the device is inserted. It contains all the files necessary for the U3 software to run.
-The Second (G) is the primary partition. It does contain, however, an executable file which, when deleted, comes back when the device is re-inserted.

I want to know how to destroy the partitions and format the drive so there is only one primary partition and only one drive letter. This should be universal to any storage device (Hard drive and so on) so that should be easily answered. I also want some opinions on the topic; will this render my drive unusable? I doubt it but it's always a possibility. Thank you all very much.

[sr71000]

probably go start --> control panel --> admin tools --> disk management --> and you should be able to do it that way! if windows is even duped in there and won't let you fix it, then get a linux boot disk like knoppix and boot to that...when you plug the drive in, the u3 software should screw up and then you can delete it all (muahahaha) unless of course the software is on a part of the drive you're not allowed to write to (which would be absolutely retarded!)

[Robert526]

I have never deleted a partition before, so I'm not sure what to do in disk management once I get there. What are your instructions for deleting the partition?

There are partitions you cannot write to? There must be a way around such things...

[Robert526]

Is there a way to delete a partition that the OS "thinks" is a CD-ROM drive?

[elroy]

Take a look here
http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic34986.html

Here is a detailed explanation of U3
http://www.everythingusb.com/u3.html

[johnnyis42]

wow, that everythingusb article sounds like propaganda. unfortunately they miss one very big aspect of the big picture: the A: and B: drive letters are still reserved for the floppy disk drives, and certain criticle functions in PC's still rely on this fact. until this drive letter issue is resolved and/or all BIOS support some kind of standard storage that 100% emulates this simple volume functionality of floppies, we are stuck with them being necessary.

that being said... you may need a utility like this:

http://www.skylarkutilities.com/wipe-it/home.html

there is a nice freeware one, but i could not find it, but stumbled upon this one thta has a 90 day trial. worth a shot... though it may not do what you want and there may be a chance that doing a low level operation on this drive could render the drive useless. i'm fairly unfamiliar with how U3 accomplishes its functionality, so you might want to do some more research before headding into this kinf of endevor. if it was me, i'd just try it and see what happens

[Robert526]

Ok, I think I'll try it. But do you think it will be able to destroy the "CD-ROM" partition?

[johnnyis42]

i have no idea... and i'm curious to find out myself... so get to it!

[Robert526]

Nope, didn't solve the problem. This program only "cleans" drives, somethign I could do already. Of course, there is no need to "clean" a CD-ROM drive, so it is not listed. Not that it would do anything anyway.

All I need to do is delete that "CD-ROM" partition, and make the drive all one partition.

Thanks for the help, though.

[johnnyis42]

yeah... that program was a, long shot. i tried to find the program i was looking for but no avail. i did see a few interesting things here though:

http://www.majorgeeks.com/

might wanna run through and try some of their drive utilities and see if somehting else gets what you need.