Size & Portability

• The U3 system software automatically installs U3 components (the “U3 Launchpad”) on the hard drive of any computer it is plugged into.
• The U3 USB flash drive can be plugged into any other computer running a compatible version of MS Windows without any software installation.
• You only need Administrator’s rights on the setup computer, afterwards, you can move the U3 USB to other computers and you do not need administrator access privileges.

Simple to use

• Programs are run from the Launchpad, which looks a lot like the standard Windows XP Start menu
• No need of admin rights on other computers
• New software can be installed to a U3 flash drive without the requirement for administrative privileges on the host computer.

Security

• Most U3 drives have a security lock inside the U3 Launchpad. This loads the CD partition first and can be set to require a password ; otherwise the data partition will not load and the use will not get access to the stored data.
• The U3 USB flash drive will erase all stored data on the data partition after a set number of failed password attempts. This feature currently may make the data partition invisible on the Mac OS, Linux or other non-Windows operating systems. An alternative is to use passwords on sensitive documents or third party encryption technology. This password protection may be removed by the original user on any Windows computer.

Some of the negatives…

U3 Technology is still under development by SanDisk, as well as its successor technology, “StartKey”. Some of the criticisms of U3 USB flash drives have been:

• Freezing the computer – Some software conflicts have been infrequently reported (CD writers such as Nero, etc.)
• The U3 platform is a “closed” platform / proprietary format, and unavailable for developers outside of SanDisk. SanDisk requires a 5% royalty from USB flash drive manufacturers that implement U3 technology in their flash drives.
• Mostly Windows… U3 software might not work as expected on Mac or Linux machines. It was designed for Windows… successor versions are being developed in coordination with Microsoft, so this is not likely to change.
• Two drive letters – Flash drives do not traditionally have an auto-play functionality, so the two drives was a hack to fix this issue. U3 software creates two drive letters (one which your computer thinks is a CD that then enables Windows’ auto-play to start the launcher, and another for storing user data).
• Compatibility issues: Photo kiosks, consumer electronics, and some devices sometimes have a hard time with U3 devices. They tend to see the emulated CD-ROM first and not the data partition. Some photo kiosks can now detect U3 drives but for other devices, the hassle has not been worth it, so there may be some issues with non-pc devices.