When I bought this thumb drive I did so at the recommendation of a site that compared equivalents and said that the Cruzr was 100% Linux compatible. I called SanDisk for support and they said it wasn't compatible. I believe it came with windows software:
"club_application/SanDiskSecureAccess/autorun.inf/RunClubSanDisk.exe/runSanDiskSecueAccess.Win.exe"
Just wondering if and how Iccan delete the Wincrap and Get Mint to utilize the drive for holding linux ISOs for installations and maybe having a few installations on it or even using it as an SSD with OS on it and using hard drive to store data. Pointers to sites where there are how-tos or suggestions welcome thanx!

I have an older (about 3 years now) SanDisk Cruzer 16GB and it works beautifully for making multiboot installers. Just save all the Windows stuff to your hard drive, format the Flash to FAT and use one of the many systems available through PendriveLinux for making an installable USB. You can even use the dd command.

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/de...-a-flash-drive

http://kb.sandisk.com/app/answers/de...JLRE9wbA%3D%3D


On my Cruzer drives with U3 software I did

http://u3.sandisk.com/launchpadremoval.htm

First get rid of any read only software on the thumbdrive before installing a persistent pendrive linux distro.

In Mint. Do like k3lt01 says. Use show all files in Mints file manager. Cut and paste software into a folder in Mint named Cruzer. You will probably have to open File manager as root to do this though. If software is read only. You might have to use the Sanddisk tools and Windows. I ran into that with U3 software. It would not go away with gparted or anything. Sandisk had that software dug in there tight.

I have 2 san disk cruzer hdd's & although the bootable U3 is for wins you don't need to remove it. Linux works perfectly as it ignores the U3 partition as it acts as a cd which is read only. I use unetbootin to install cd's to it & they are bootable, even with the U3 being there.

Thanx 4 input y'a'll appreciate your patience, sorry you're dealing with a 'crip' here.
I recently read somewhere that doing some things with the Cruzr can damage it.
F.U.D. keeping me from moving very fast here.
Command line is just an impossibility for me with dementia. I apologize again!
I'm close to being like The girl in the movie 50 first dates. I just don't have a completely blank slate every day like she did, but reprogramming is a must if I intend to be functional. Doing good to just use LQ.org here. And there is no such thing as on demand for me anymore. I demand it but it gets here when it gets here. Like when I started to design and build a computer desk.
Couldn't do any thing for 4 years and then whammy had it done in a week. Some things take so long to reprogram that there is no time left to use it in the day. I'm missing right brain from ear forward consequently right brain activity is retarded at best and rt brain is crypic abstract goal directed memory and function. And it feels like I have only one brain cell left and it's multitasking to overload capacity. Needed to change profile from Ubuntu as distro to Mint but cannot figure out how to do that. I found UNetbootin in Mint repos [and several other programs which I cannot find in the GUI menu] and installed it. Uncertain if I want the hassle with partitioning so half the drive is dedicated to storing ISOs and other half to running live distros etc.... or don't even know what my options are let alone how to do it all. Got that problem of learning and doing new behavior... Are there any how to's which give an overall descriptiond of uses for USB drives and how to accomplish them in detailed description?
Man pages and technical reading just lose me for not being able to hold that much information, understand it, and make intelligent decisions on what to do with it. I don't like surprises need to have it all ogranized ready to go
all the kinks worked out before I jump. Can't think as I work gives new meaning to the word screwup if I try...
To think; before I was working 116 hrs a week and carrying 33 semester hours for 5 years 80 semester hours a year. Could even sleep and drive safely... Thanx agin S.W.

Well, How about a video for starters since you say

Videos

1. you don't have to remove the cruzer software to use it.
2.You can use unetbootin toput an iso on it for installing to another computer. http://unetbootin.sourceforge.net/
3. If you want to install an Os on it just boot from cd & select the usb drive to install to at the partitioning section of install.

#1 How to use it like a flash drive.

Plug it in to a modern linux. If the usb came with exfat format then will have to convert it to a common format. (pretty sure there isn't exfat in linux free just yet)

#2 To use it as a live usb.

A few choices.

One is to use some program in linux or windows to make a faux install. See www.pendrivelinux.com or your distro's web help for ways and applications. Some distro's can boot to iso files directly. Can make it a multiboot usb.

Another is to use dd command with a hybrid-iso or a disk image of your distro choice.

Lastly is to use a modern distro and use the normal install method. Almost every distro today can use a flash drive just as if it were a regular hard drive. Might have to install default mbr while in the installer. Usually this is the best way to have linux on a flash drive. It will be able to update and keep updated this way.