How to Restore a SanDisk Cruzer 32GB to Factory State

Reformat your SanDisk Cruzer 32GB flash drive to restore the device to its factory state. Reformatting the device deletes all data and reclaims space on the SanDisk Cruzer or any USB drive. Legacy Cruzer USB drives were shipped with an application named “U3 Launchpad“ installed on the device. Reformatting the drive does not remove the U3 Launchpad application. However, you can delete the U3 partition if you need to format the entire drive and recover all available space. Uninstall the U3 Launchpad application before reformatting the drive.

Plug the SanDisk Cruzer into a USB port on the computer to register the drive in Windows.

Click the “Desktop” tile in the Windows Start screen to open the Desktop.

Click the “U3“ icon in the Windows notification taskbar to display the U3 menu.

Click “Settings,” and then click “U3 Launchpad Settings” to open the settings menu.

Click the “Uninstall” option in the left panel, and then click the “Uninstall U3 Launchpad” button in the right panel.

Click “Next.” The Restore Option dialog box opens. Click the “Yes” radio button to restore the files saved on the drive after the reformatting process, or click “No” to permanently remove all files.

Click “Format.” The U3 Launchpad application is uninstalled and the U3 partition is reformatted. Next, reformat the entire drive to reclaim all space on the device.

Plug the SanDisk Cruzer into a USB port on the computer to register the drive in Windows.

Press “Windows-C” to open the Charms menu, then type “Computer” in the Search field. As you type, the Computer shortcut displays.

Click the “Computer” link to open the Computer window.

Right-click the “SanDisk” drive to display the context menu.

Click “Format” in the context menu to open the Format dialog box.

Click “OK” to format the drive. The Format SanDisk screen opens.

Click the “Restore Device Defaults” option to reformat the drive and restore the original factory settings. Note that this option will reinstall U3 Launchpad if the program was originally installed on your drive. If you do not want to reinstall the U3 partition, proceed to the next step without clicking “Restore Device Defaults.”

Click “Start.” The drive is reformatted, and the Format Complete dialog box displays when the process is finished.

Click “OK” and remove the USB drive from the computer port.