U3 smart memory sticks were going to be the next generation of USB flash drives, unfortunately they are not being officially manufactured any more.

 

ReportComplete! can (optionally) be installed to a U3 memory stick. After installation, you can insert the U3 stick into any PC (running Windows 2000 and above) and it will automatically start ReportComplete! with your last report loaded and ready. Nothing has to be installed on the PC!

 

 

Teachers who have used ReportComplete! installed to a U3 drive are often amazed at how magically the system works.

 

U3 smart memory sticks main advantage over normal memory sticks is that they can auto-start and using built-in hardware encryption they can keep your data safe and secure.

 

From our experience, the reliability of memory sticks can vary from manufacturer to manufacturer, there are also a lot of fake "basic" sticks out there. U3 sticks are electronically more complex than normal sticks and we haven't seen any "fakes" yet. This means that you know you are getting a quality product from a proper manufacturer. But memory sticks can fail, so we always advise you make regular copies and backups of your work on more than one type of media.  Because U3 has been discontinued, you can buy U3 memory sticks at bargain prices that are well below normal for a hardware encrypted memory stick.  We found lots of bargains on Amazon.co.uk.

 

Want a U3 smart memory stick, but cannot locate a place to buy one?

 

It has been brought to our attention that some SanDisk Cruzer sticks currently being sold as U3 sticks have no U3 markings on the packaging and/or the stick itself and don't have the U3 software pre-installed. We purchased a 2GB stick. It's manufacturing ID on the stick is SDCZ6-2048RB but on the back of the box was SDCZ6-2048-E11 (barcode number 6-19659-0368-9) - the 2048 in the code refers to the memory size of the stick. To get U3 working on this stick, just download the U3 installer from here and run it with the stick inserted. It will then install the U3 launchpad onto the stick and you can carry on as normal.

 

We have also bought completely different SanDisk memory stick called a Cruzer Blade (not advertised, packaged or promoted as U3 compatible), they are available virtually everywhere and the same U3 install method described above appears to work fine. Encryption seems to be the same as other U3 sticks (AES-128). We bought ours from Play.com.

 

How can I stop my U3 stick from auto-starting ReportComplete?

 

When you install ReportComplete on to a U3 memory stick, the installer sets it to auto-start when you insert the smart stick in to your computer.

 

You can turn this feature off by clicking the U3 icon, this will bring up the U3 menu.

 

Right-click the ReportComplete program, a popup menu will appear, untick 'Start on Insertion' - this will stop RepoprtComplete auto-starting.  If you change your mind and want it to auto-start again, just do the same thing but this time tick 'Start on Insertion'.