This behavior turns out to have been a conflict between the “U3 Smart” software, which is autmatically installed upon insertion, and the Nero 7 InCD software component (Nero 7 is found on many computers which have writable CDs or DVDs on them.) If InCD is installed on your computer, attempting to use this flash device may (in my case, it __does__) crash the computer. There is a note on the Sandisk Support website documenting their recognition of this crashing problem. They say they are working on the issue. As it stands now, the only solution is to ask Nero 7 to uninstall the InCD component and reboot the computer. At that point, my experience suggests that this flash device should work.

U3 Smart is a laudable mission upon which to embrark, but a complex one. I believe that given the fact that Nero 7 isn’t uncommonly found on modern machines with writable CD and/or DVD drives, and given the serious and invasive nature of the drivers involved, Sandisk should have planned a larger-than-usual testing regime and that this certainly should have included Nero 7 in their resulting, detailed testing plan. Apparently, that was not done beforehand. Given the scale of their ambitions, I can in some sense forgive them. On the other hand, I think they also should have recognized the size of what they were embarking on and planned to go the extra miles involved before releasing the product.

If you are considering using this product and have a need for InCD, I’d recommend that you do __NOT__ buy this particular unit or any Sandisk U3 Smart product. If you are considering using this product and have InCD on your computer, remove InCD first. (Go to the sandisk web site, select the Support link at the top of the page, and pick the product from the list, and find the discussion there on crashing computers with Nero 7 for details about how to uninstall InCD.) My experience ilustrates the problems, beforehand, and confirms that the solution appears to work.

Jon