What exactly does the pop up message say? It could be spam, trying to make you think yo7 have to download something. My wife screws up her computer frequently, she will go to some site and a message pops up … do you want to make xyz your default? and she thinks its required.

 

The instructions say that I have to install this SanDisk program and when I ran the program it then said I need to update it. I don't understand why I can't just plug it in and start moving files.

This is the PDF fife with the instructions

 

My GUESS is you just downloaded a PDF reader. I have NEVER opted in for any nonsense from a disk MFG.
I would try and copy some files over and back using your computer guessing Windoze software.
What version of Windoze are you running? If the copy works both ways, delete the offending software.

I have Win 7 Platinum and a browser that does not update any more called Brave. Provides some challenges occasionally but I believe I am keeping the hackers at bay.

I was working for a Fortune 50 company and had just spent 10 days in a foreign country. I got back and plugged into the network and IT security basically froze my machine as they interrogated it. I called them up got the manager on shift on line and politely asked that they give me 1 hour to finish the report that HAD TO BE IN THE CUSTOMERS hands that day. They refused. I unplugged the machine and went home. Got on my network finished the report so I did not get fired. It was another 30 days before I was back in the office where they could search my machine again. I called security up and asked for a 30 minute window to finish a report and send it to the President of the Company, NO PROBLEM was the answer. I finished the report and called security again and told them I would leave the box on and connected over the weekend for their pleasure. Never got challenged again.

 

My GUESS is you just downloaded a PDF reader. I have NEVER opted in for any nonsense from a disk MFG.
I would try and copy some files over and back using your computer guessing Windoze software.
What version of Windoze are you running? If the copy works both ways, delete the offending software.

I have Win 7 Platinum and a browser that does not update any more called Brave. Provides some challenges occasionally but I believe I am keeping the hackers at bay.

I was working for a Fortune 50 company and had just spent 10 days in a foreign country. I got back and plugged into the network and IT security basically froze my machine as they interrogated it. I called them up got the manager on shift on line and politely asked that they give me 1 hour to finish the report that HAD TO BE IN THE CUSTOMERS hands that day. They refused. I unplugged the machine and went home. Got on my network finished the report so I did not get fired. It was another 30 days before I was back in the office where they could search my machine again. I called security up and asked for a 30 minute window to finish a report and send it to the President of the Company, NO PROBLEM was the answer. I finished the report and called security again and told them I would leave the box on and connected over the weekend for their pleasure. Never got challenged again.

I have an 8 yr old Win 10 laptop, but it's gotten so slow that I need a new computer.

Back in the early '90s when we first got computers, my employer sent me to a networking school to start courses to be an it tech, but I decided that I didn't want the job after learning I would have to wear a tie to work and be stuck behind a desk all day. They weren't too happy after sending me to school for a week, but there were people lined up to take the offer. I've forgotten most of what I learned and every thing has changed since then.

 

There are easier and better ways to move data.

Not necessarily this mfg., but I have used a similar method when I replaced my hard drive.
San Disks have always been a bit weird.

 

Thanks,
The thing is that I spent 3X what I could have for the same thing and only did it because this had the best reviews. I actually wanted at least a 1TB for about the same price, but again the reviews were terrible unless I pay over $140.

So anyway I would like to give this a chance before trying another product.

 

Regarding the OP:
The drive is loaded with some sandisk nonsense that kicks up that software prompt.
Other brands of flash drive will do the same thing.
The solution:
Close that pop-up.
Go to My Computer
Right click on that external drive.
Select format.
Now it is just a bare disk to use, which I presume is what you wanted.
That wipes out their BS software.

 

Regarding the OP:
The drive is loaded with some sandisk nonsense that kicks up that software prompt.
Other brands of flash drive will do the same thing.
The solution:
Close that pop-up.
Go to My Computer
Right click on that external drive.
Select format.
Now it is just a bare disk to use, which I presume is what you wanted.
That wipes out their BS software.

OK, that sounds good! I'll check that out. Thanks

 

Hand your laptop and drive over to your company's IT guy and tell them to fix it if you're worried about security.

 

I've been retired for 8 years, no chance of that.

 

You don't need any software, you can format that disk any way you want.

That's just revenue enhancement...

 

ScanDisk & Western Digital are both pretty square companies, they're my go-to storage companies for many years. Presuming it was legit software, it was probably their backup software or the disk cloning software they do to replace hard drives/boot disks.

 

It is a legit software. But they will try to upsell you better versions...

 

I never use a storage medium without first formatting it. Who knows what is on there?

 

Ignore it, you don't need it

 

I got an external HDD and I actually did end up needing the software it wanted me to install. It came with a sleep setting enabled by default, so it would be sleeping and caused an annoying delay as it woke from sleep every time I went to use it. I had to install the software to disable the sleep function.

But for a flash drive you shouldn't need anything.

 

I got an external HDD and I actually did end up needing the software it wanted me to install. It came with a sleep setting enabled by default, so it would be sleeping and caused an annoying delay as it woke from sleep every time I went to use it. I had to install the software to disable the sleep function.

But for a flash drive you shouldn't need anything.

I did notice there was some sort password protection for the flash drive that was advertised with it. I'm not sure if I'll use that, but it was interesting and I guess it's part of the software. In some of the reviews at least on the other brands, people were complaining about problems formatting. I'm hoping that there isn't some special formatting needed.

 

If it's an encrypted drive, there may be some driver software required, assuming it's some sort of hardware protection.

 

Oh! How do i find that out? I've never heard of that before. I just might have to run the software if that's a possibility.
I got get more info on this drive because this is driving me crazy.

 

Scan Disk is a disk REPAIR TOOL

Once again.....you do NOT NEED IT

 

uhm....Sandisk, not Scan Disk

 

I did notice there was some sort password protection for the flash drive that was advertised with it...

Oh! How do i find that out?...

You answered your own question. If this drive has some sort of hardware-based password protection built in then you probably need some sort of driver to access the encrypted part of the drive. There's usually a small partition which loads the software to unlock the larger, data partition. This should be clear on the packaging and hopefully, in the listing on Amazon or wherever you bought it.

Otherwise, ignore the manufacturer's bloatware and just format the drive.

 

Well, I tried to install the software, but it’s not clear of what is needed because it takes you a list of different software for various drives and not specific to the one I have.

So I just started moving folders and files to the flash drive without formatting and it seems to work although it does not have 512GB as advertised. It only has 460GB and I’m a little disappointed.

 

So I just started moving folders and files to the flash drive without formatting and it seems to work although it does not have 512GB as advertised. It only has 460GB and I’m a little disappointed.

I'd consider making a backup image of the original drive instead of transferring individual files. Assuming the contents of the original drive will fit on the USB drive, whether using compression or not. That way, you have all the files, but you can also reinstall everything as it was operating system included onto a new drive if you want. Macrium Reflect free edition will do it.

I don't know why you bought a USB stick instead of a more typical external drive, or a regular drive and then put it in an external case, I'm sure there are reasons, and the USB stick is ok and here we are.

 

Yeah, there are Gigs, and there are Gigs. Depends on how you define them. Of course the people selling USB drives use the one which looks largest.

Also, there might be multiple partitions, such as one with all the bloatware which auto-runs at startup, and another for "your" data. So you can't use all the storage available. Again, re-formatting before using it would fix that.

 

I started to format it, but it was asking for me to pick options and I had no idea what to pick. I don’t remember what it was asking now, but there were some “are you sure” questions that I wasn’t sure of so I passed on that.

I will have to buy another flash drive because I had a zipped file full of old family photos that was to large to move. I may just unzip all the photo directly to a new drive.

 

Don't be surprised when you still only get a max of 476GB not 512 out of it.

And when you said your zipped photo folder doesn't fit because the file is too big, I'm not sure if you mean it's too big regardless, but if your USB drive is formatted as FAT32, it can only have a max file size of 4GB. Format it as exFAT or NTFS instead.

Also, if those old family photos are important to you, I hope you already have them backed up somewhere, perhaps in two places, in case your current drive failed entirely and they would be lost forever.

 

And when you said your zipped photo folder doesn't fit because the file is too big, I'm not sure if you mean it's too big regardless, but if your USB drive is formatted as FAT32, it can only have a max file size of 4GB. Format it as exFAT or NTFS instead.

My zipped folder is 4.95GB and my drive has 437GB free so that might be the problem

Also, if those old family photos are important to you, I hope you already have them backed up somewhere, perhaps in two places, in case your current drive failed entirely and they would be lost forever.

That's a good point, I guess I should copy it first instead of moving it

 

Not suggesting that you do/not need the software. I'm highlighting that firmware may be very important in improving the integrity and formatting of an SD memory module.

It is well proven that this method is a great tool (another potential formatting tool).

SD Memory Card Formatter for Windows/Mac - SD Association

Watch our video on how to use the SD Memory Card Formatter SD Memory Card Formatter 5.0.3 for SD/SDHC/SDXC/SDUC The SD Memory Card Formatter formats SD Memory Card, SDHC Memory Card, SDXC Memory Card and SDUC Memory Card (respectively SD/SDHC/SDXC/SDUC Cards) complying with the SD File System...

www.sdcard.org

If Sandisk has provided you with an OE of similar function it may be helpful for you to consider using it.

 

My understanding is that every USB device has software that is automatically executed by the operating system to provide the device driver for the device. That is what makes them convenient. I think the device driver software is separate from the memory we can access. Reformatting the drive has no affect on that data. Us ordinary people cannot access that software.

There is other software that can be on the drive in the memory we access. It can be automatically executed by the operating system. That seems to be the software being described here. If so then it makes sense that it might have updates.

 

you understand incorrectly.
Operating systems have the functionality to access a disk mounted to a Universal Serial Bus (USB). They may need to install a driver to get the disk mounted, but the chicken has to come before the egg. That driver can't be on the disk that is not mounted.
Manufacturers will install an executable that launches this software prompt. There is a partition in there that is not part of the storage space. That is the annoying pop up that the OP was getting.
If you want the backup software functionality, then a person can go down that rabbit hole.
Or you can format the entire disk and use it as they wish, with no hand holding by Sandisk or Western Digital etc.
If the drive is "encrypted", you need the key to encrypt and read the data you place there WITH THE KEY.
The physical drive is not some special piece of hardware in it that makes this happen.
That is what the software package does for you.
I for one would never choose that option. All it takes is one snafu with the host computer and you are well and truly screwed.
I also advise against hardware RAID arrays for the same reasons.

 

Operating systems have the functionality to access a disk mounted to a Universal Serial Bus (USB). They may need to install a driver to get the disk mounted, but the chicken has to come before the egg. That driver can't be on the disk that is not mounted.
Manufacturers will install an executable that launches this software prompt. There is a partition in there that is not part of the storage space.

I said USB devices and you are saying disk. I am saying that the USB standard requires firmware in all USB devices. See Can an empty, but used, usb flash drive that has NO firmware within it be infected with malware? - Information Security Stack Exchange. The comments and answers there make it clear that all USB devices have firmware. Also see Device firmware update For USB devices without using a co-installer - Windows drivers | Microsoft Learn. It is Microsoft's technical documentation on the subject. Note that it has extensive documentation of firmware update mechanisms. The USB standard provides a mechanism for the firmware to be update automatically.

Whether a disk is a USB device or not, the device driver must exist before the disk can be accessed. The original IBM PC had software in the BIOS for accessing disks, that is why it was called the Basic Input Output System. In current PC systems there are old-style BIOSs and the newer UEFI BIOSs. They all have software that can access disk drives. I am not sure how it works when a system is booted from a USB disk, that is the magic that programmers do and I am sure it is more complicated than what most realize.

Manufacturers will install an executable that launches this software prompt. There is a partition in there that is not part of the storage space. That is the annoying pop up that the OP was getting.

I am familiar with disk partitions. They are not relevant to the firmware. The firmware is executed first, as is true for all USB devices.

 

from your last link, we are clearly talking apples and oranges.
"USB devices like UVC cameras "
That is not USB storage devices, which are mounted as disks natively in the operating system. It has nothing whatsoever to do with firmware.
From your first link:
"

QUESTION: Can an empty, but used, usb flash drive that has NO firmware within it be infected with malware?

I have been told by a networking and security expert that malware will only attach to (write to) firmware on an empty microsd card or empty usb-flash drive; that there is no where else for it to write to in this case (empty).

PLEASE NOTE: SANDISK rep just told me that none of their usb-flash drives or microsd cards have any firmware

No firmware.

 

from your last link, we are clearly talking apples and oranges.
"USB devices like UVC cameras "

You have taken that quote out of context. The complete sentence is:

USB devices like UVC cameras are released with in-field updatable firmware.

That sentence is about devices with firmware that can be updated in-field, implying that the firmware for many devices cannot be altered in the field.

I have been told by a networking and security expert that malware will only attach to (write to) firmware on an empty microsd card or empty usb-flash drive; that there is no where else for it to write to in this case (empty).

PLEASE NOTE: SANDISK rep just told me that none of their usb-flash drives or microsd cards have any firmware

No firmware.

Read the entire thread. Experts insist that the SanDisk representatives misunderstand. My initial post about firmware is that it cannot be erased by the end user. For many devices it cannot even be altered by the manufacturer. Your quote above implies that the firmware for many devices cannot be altered in the field. I did not intend to say that the malware was in the firmware. I was only saying that the firmware is not erased when the drive is formatted.

 

And firmware does not pop up a software prompt when you connect a device to your computer. You keep going back and forth between these two terms.
The software that sandisk installs in their drive images is gone when I format that drive. No more prompts to use or update the software. That is it.
Same with WD or any other removable drive manufacturer who wants you to use their software.