Force Format

**Moves** · #1 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 03:36 PM

I have a 512 USB key i got from my university and it has an auto run thisng that comes up every time you plug it in it shows up as a regular usb key and as a cd drive i was wondering if anyone knew of a utility that could force a reformat or even a wipe so that i could reformat it with windows any help is appreciated.

Mike

**brentpresley** · #2 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 03:42 PM

What is the program that comes up? U2? U3?

If so, there are programs to un-install those and then you can re-format the drive normally.

If not, there are other options.

**CapnBFG** · #3 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 03:54 PM

Give this a try (not compatible with Vista64):
HP Drive Key Boot Utility - HP Business Support Center

My brother used that to recover a flash mp3 player that had fatally locked up and would no longer interface with Windows. This program let him forcibly format it.

If that doesn't work, they also have this tool, which I have not tried:
HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool - v2.1.8 Download - EXTREME Overclocking

**sirheck** · #4 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 04:27 PM

Yeah like Brent asked does it have U3?
I had a Sandisk with that U3 crap on it and i couldnt use it or
reformat it.

I went to Sandisk,s website and they had a program to
remove the U3 shstuff and it worked fine after that.

Well except for the fact that i lost

.

randomizer · #5 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 04:30 PM

U3 is a piece of useless bloatware.

**Moves** · #6 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 06:32 PM

it's not u3 it shows up as a "Removable Disk" drive and as a CD Drive that is obviously not an actual drive but in it there is an auto run inf file and a launcher.exe file that start a flash program. when i open disk manager it won't do anything until i open task manager and stop a program vds.exe it's described as a virtual disc service at this point it also pushes the cpu usage to 100%. i don't think it will let me format because it shows up as 2 drives a 14 meg cd rom and as a 467 meg removable disk when i try to format it says the RPC server is unavailable i have no idea what's going on

**mpilchfamily** · #7 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 06:39 PM

Some times this extra software is built into another chip on the flash drive. So there is no way to remove it in that case.

**flasher702** · #8 (**permalink**) 01-07-2009, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mpilchfamily

Some times this extra software is built into another chip on the flash drive. So there is no way to remove it in that case.

That's what I was thinking although I've never seen such a device. Does it show up in your device manager as a composite USB device? If so you might need more advanced hacking then simply reformatting it.

Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service is part of your OS and I have no idea what is going on there. Have you tried it on another computer? Tried it with Linux?

please post what you find. I'm very curious.

**CapnBFG** · #9 (**permalink**) 01-08-2009, 03:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by flasher702

Remote Procedure Call (RPC) service is part of your OS and I have no idea what is going on there. Have you tried it on another computer? Tried it with Linux?

please post what you find. I'm very curious.

Agreed. Give it a try under Linux since the automated nonsense may not run in that environment.