Introduction into U3 flash drive technology

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1 University of Tartu Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science Institute of Computer Science Introduction into U3 flash drive technology Author: Anastassia Semjonova Supervisor: Kersti Taurus Tartu 2008

2 Contents Introduction... 3 Why U3?... 4 What offers U3?... 5 How to use U3?... 6 U3 software... 8 Technical requirements and limitations... 9 Conclusion

3 Introduction Since Perconal Computers (PC) were invented, the use of their functionality increases every day. People started to store data in digital format and use computers for almost every type of work (different applications and programs). The more we use computers the more addicted we are, the more time we need to be somewhere close to our 'digital friends'. Invention of notebooks almost solved this problem. But people never stop being lazy - now even laptops is sometimes to much and heavy to carry with you. So the new U3 Smart Technology tries to conqueue the world offering a completely new functionality of flash drives. The main idea of U3 Technology is to make it possible to have all needed software and documents always with you as also oportunity to use them on every (compatible by requirements) computer. 3

4 Why U3? Imagine you visit Your best friend whom you haven't seen for a long time and want to show him the video of your summer trip. You take out your flash drive, put it into friend's PC, starting intrigate him/her and.. it seems PC doesn't support needed video codecs, Internet is not available. What to do?.. The answer of U3 Technology developers is: "No problem!" and in some seconds they will fix the problem: open the file you need. Idea is simple: not only data but also programs even operation systems can be stored on the flash drive. And even not the installation files but the whole programs that needn't to be installed on the computer you use at the moment. This is very useful in situations when you should use foreign computer where it's forbidden to install any additional software and something you need is not installed. This is also very comfortable for people who used to exact one type of some applications and it's hard for them to learn a new one. And, actually, it's much more pleasant to use programs you like - economy of time and nerves. 4

5 What offers U3? U3 technology makes it possible to store your data and carry software applications on the same flash drive. You can plug it into any PC and work, play a game, message friends, send , edit photos and more. A U3 smart drive makes any PC your own PC. And when you unplug it, it leaves no personal data behind. Also most of the U3 flash drives support password security to protect your data from foreigners. After fixed number of unsuccessful attempts to log in it erases all the data from the flash drive. Unfortunately there is no opportunity to get information about the password if You frogot it. All smart flash drive have the U3 Launchpad a preinstalled program manager which is set to autoplay on insertion. It makes the use of smart flash drives easy and fast. 5

6 How to use U3? The first time you plug U3 Smart Drive into the computer, Windows automatically recognizes the drive and set the Add New Hardware wizard to work, identifying not one but two drives taking up two drive letters. A small, 4MB read-only system partition of the U3 drive pretends to be a CD-ROM drive, while the data partition shows up as a regular flash drive. Because Windows is led to believe that the system partition is a CD, U3 takes advantage of the AutoPlay feature in windows to automatically run the U3 LaunchPad and unlock the data partition of the drive. It should be noted that U3 will run on any Windows 2000/XP system, regardless if the user has administrative rights or not. Then You will be greeted by an Oddcast talking presentation of the U3 platform's features and a quick intro of how to use the LaunchPad and download additional applications. The LaunchPad is the heart of the U3 smart drive, and bears a striking resemblance to the Windows XP start menu. Accessed from a U3 icon in the system tray, it provides quick access to applications and documents installed on the U3 smart drive, as well as mean to manage them. The left side of the LaunchPad lists the installed applications and next to their icons, with a Download Programs link that links to the U3 software catalog. The right side of the LaunchPad contains links to open the data partition in an explorer window, manage installed apps and the drive itself, and get help. 6

7 Quick links to download freeware or trialware allow users to quickly try software before making a purchase decision. A Top-5 Downloads and Coming Soon section also help to see what new applications everyone's raving about. Once a U3 application is installed on the drive, you can specify the order in which it appears in the LaunchPad, and tell it to start every time the drive is plugged into a computer. It's possible to lock down the U3 smart drive's data partition with a password so that files will be secured from foreign eyes, complete with password hint. A password hint can be specified for those with bad memories, and in a worst case scenario the entire data partition can be erased if the password is truly forgotten. 7

8 U3 software Unfortunately not every software you'd like to have on Your U3 flash drive can be installed on it yet. The reason is: only applications that are specifically developed for the U3 platform may be installed and run through the U3 Launchpad. To be fully U3 compliant, an application has to be programmed to clean up its own data from the local machine. It must also be packaged in U3's special program format. U3 applications will only run from a U3 device. You can browse and download U3 smart applications from the web - U3 Software Central - The list of U3 enabled applications available continues to grow steadily. At the moment you can download: skype, sudoku game, Open Office, Putty, PDF creator, XnView, Mozilla Thunderbird, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, Avast! and a lot of other applications of every kind of reasons to use: from playing games to editing photos and documents, playing music, protecting a pc from the viruses, sending and browsing web, back-upping the data etc. There are free, trial and paid programs. Picture: This logo shows that software supports U3 technology There are some software applications that can be installed and run from any removable storage like USB flash drives and portable hard drives. These applications are referred to as portable applications, because they do not depend on running from a particular PC. You can install them on your U3 smart drive and use them on any computer that runs an operating system supported by the particular application but note that if you are using a portable, but non-u3 smart application, the U3 Launchpad will not ensure that the application shuts down properly on device eject and will not clean any temporary data this application might have saved on the host PC. 8

9 Technical requirements and limitations Unfortunately, because U3 is only compatible with Windows 2000 and XP, any Mac, Linux, or Windows 98/ME users will not be able to authenticate themselves to see the partition. Unfortunately, because U3 is only compatible with Windows 2000 and XP, any Mac, Linux, or Windows 98/ME users will not be able to authenticate themselves to see the partition. Be aware that many existing U3 smart drives will not work with Microsoft Vista without an upgrade to the U3 Launchpad. Vista compatible Launchpad versions are 1.4 and higher. These Launchpad updates will be available only from the website of your smart drive manufacturer. 9

10 Conclusion To conclude it's great idea to remember one more time all benefits and limitations of U3 smart drives. Portability, software support and ease of use makes it really useful in everyday life - everything you need is always with you, every PC becomes Your PC for time You use it and forgets about You after taking flash drive out. Data security and availability of virus protection is an important advantage of this type of flash drives. Unfortunately You can taste all the benefits of U3 smart drives only using it with Windows operation systems. Finally, we can say that U3 technology has made a revolution in portable data storage and has a lot of more steps to do to conqueue the world. 10