SanDisk released a new version of it`s U3 Launchpad software that should resolve Vista compatibility issues for U3 disks with firmware 2.17, 2.18, 2.19, and 2.20. Unfortunatly this update broke my U3 Drive! Be carefull!

Allthough U3 Disk  version i have (firmware 3.21) did not have these compatibility issues with Vista, when the U3 Launchpad notified me a update for the software was available i choose to click "Ok" and let the device update itself, which i hadn`t done that!

After the update completed all i get is the screen as shown below:



After showing the Initializing dialog for a minute or two it exits with the following error message:



Well, no matter what i try i always end up getting that error message, hence i even decided to completly wipe-out the drive, uninstall the U3 Launchpad and do a clean install, resulting in the same error.

So now i have a worthless U3 drive that apparantly can only be used to store data as any regular USB drive can.

The thing that irritates me the most, somehow the SanDisk people wan`t you to use the latest version, but have no method to restore an older version of the U3 Lauchpad software, as older version are replaced on their server instantly, overwriting the old version that could be used to recover a broken U3 drive,

SanDisk.... shame on you!

I`ll post follow-ups as soon as i hear back from U3 customer support
RvdH