Customer Reviews

SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ6-4096-E11

5 star:		(94)
4 star:		(54)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(18)
1 star:		(30)

 

 

The thumb drive performs well and is up to Sandisk quality. Having 4GB capacity is great, I had outgrown my 1GB Lexar device. I currently use 3.5GB to carry around software as a computer professional as well as some personal files. The drive is slim allowing insertion in 'tight spots' at the rear of computers.

The feature that attracted me to this unit is the U3 software and the bundled apps such as Avast anti-virus and Skype. Being able to run your favorite apps on any computer using your preferences is wonderful. The drive can be optionally protected via a password which is important to me since I keep scans of important documents on it 'just in case' they go astray.

The U3 software isn't as good as expected however, here are my findings about the U3 software.

It is slow to run on older computers. I have come across one computer it crashes on everytime I insert the drive (Medion brand computer). Since my files are password protected I can't get to them on that computer. To be fair I have run the software on dozens of other computers without a hitch.

The password protection works well, however I preferred the Lexar secure drives, they partition the drive into 2 areas, a protected and unprotected area. Making the entire drive secure prevents me 'passing on' my drive for someone to load a file on their system unless I type my password in, which of course gives them access to all my sensitive files as well.

Running software apps as part of the U3 platform works quite well, both Sandisk and U3 provide a wide range of software to choose from, much of which is free. I have Firefox, Thunderbird, Gimp, Avast, Open Office, an FTP client and much more available to me while I use another computer. I find the apps run too slowly to be my primary software platform as I hoped it would become, this is true even on USB 2.0 systems, on 1.1 systems it's hopelessly slow. Consequently I use the application software more as a troubleshooting tool or option of last resort. Both U3 and Sandisk 'certify' the apps they provide as true U3 applications which means when you run the software from the thumb drive it will not impact the host computer at all after it is unplugged. The downside to this certification is that the latest versions of apps are not immediatly available until they go through the certifcation process.

Someone else here complains that the U3 software cannot be removed. It can, there is a special removal tool available from U3 website. Warning - once removed it can never be reloaded on the device, they do not and will not provide a downloadable version of U3. I have updated the U3 software and apps from the Sandisk website without any hitches.

I would unload the U3 software if I didn't also lose the password security. If you do not need security and want a better option to run your apps, I suggest 'Portable Apps' (do a google search on portableapps) as an alternative to the U3 software. Using the PStart utility to replace the U3 launchpad you can make it run as well as the U3 software and gain the ability to run the very latest apps of your choice without waiting for U3 or Sandisk to certify it. You can also copy the entire contents to another drive or backup the drive to a personal computer. System transfer or total backup can't be done with the U3 platform. I run the portable apps software on my Sandisk U3 drive with great results, I rarely use the U3 certified apps anymore and have unloaded most of them.

To clear up some confusion, the DRIVE works fine on a Mac, the SOFTWARE doesn't work at all. When I inserted this drive into my Mac (OS X.4.7) my computer said it was a blank CD and I needed to select which program I wanted to use with it. I selected Disk Utility so I could erase the drive and selected Mac OS (Journaled). Once I did that (and provided a name), it works just fine. It's very fast for transfers and I'm a happy camper.

If you want to keep this drive available to transfer data back and forth between Macs and PCs, do what I just suggested, but select MS-DOS File System for the formatting. This will ease the U3 software on the drive, but who cares. Note: if you do format the drive for this format (and not Mac formatting) file transfer on the Mac will suffer a performance hit. That's just the way it is. When you run a PC formatted disk on a Mac, you have to have some emulation going on and that eats up cycles. However, if you place a Mac formatted disk into a PC, it will not know what to do at all other than to offer to erase the drive. So, if you want/need to play with PCs you will have to accept the performance hit. If you never go near PCs, just format for Mac and be a happy camper too.

Since the U3 software is irrelevant to me, my review is not based on the significance that I removed it entirely from the drive.

I travel 3-5 days per week in my job and end up using many different computers. That's why I love U3. I use Firefox to keep all of my bookmarks and plug-ins available on any computer. I use Thunderbird to manage my personal e-mail. I use Zinio Reader to store and read the several digital magazines to which I subscribe to avoid paper. I can do all of this from any computer with USB anywhere I go without having any effect on that computer. This is great given my company's incredibly rigid IT policy (absolutely no personal software on company machines, including laptops).

U3 can be a bit slow, but not frustratingly so. You can set your computer to not run U3 on connecting.

The drive has great capacity in a small and durable package. I recommend it to any traveler.

I mainly use my drive for playing mp3's in my car stereo. I plugged the 4gb drive into the computer and it starts running all the U3 stuff. I close that down and open the drive. I delete all the u3 files. I copy mp3's to it and forget about it.

The next day, I plug it in my car and it says no music data present. I get to work and plug it in. All the u3 stuff starts running again. I check the drive and the u3 files are back! What was worse is that all my other files were obliterated!!!!!

I have discovered that there is a U3 uninstall tool that will permanently erase the U3 stuff and turn it into a 'dumb' drive if you so desire. [...]

So be careful when you get one and don't just start copying files willy-nilly like I did.

I feel I have to write a quick review to balance that posted by an obviously upset patron ("Mike") who posted a review even though he didn't buy this particular model (he purchased the 512mb). Look, the bottom line is this thing works as advertised (it does say "WITH U3") and it works just fine. No problems to report after a month of us on my part. 4 gbs is a lot of photos and video to haul around and you can. And it is a Sandisk, best selling maker of flash memory products (haven't had one fail yet regardless of the type... CF, SD, the Cruzers, etc.). So, in the end... Don't be like Mike. Know what you're buying first and if you get this one, know that it'll work just fine.

I should have read the reviews here first but I saw the price and bought the Sandisk Cruzer only because I have had good experiences with other Sandisk products. First I am on an Intel iMac and the first thing is a CD image loads on the desktop as well as the USB Flash drive. The flash drive comes installed with "U3" no idea what it is because it doesn't work on Mac OSX. I ran disk utilities to erase, the Flash drive itself was erased but the CD image still stays. Even after reformatting with 1 Partition the CD image stays.

Mac users need to take this flash drive to a PC and uninstal the U3 software to get rid of the pesky and uneeded software. (This gets rid of the CDimage.) You need to again run disk utility and erase on a Mac to use. After this drawn out process, the drive operates fine. Funny heh? Sandisk obviously got sold on this idea by U3. Again I have no idea what this software does as Macs can't run it. But does a flash drive need any complicated software?

There are other brands of flash drives with the U3 software on them. So besure to look for the information. Most of the retail packaging has it written on them. But you will be hard pressed to see any indication online.

Again, Sandisk has had a good reputation of memory cards, but if they start this U3 nonsense on memory cards they will lose me as a faithful customer. After the reformatting, and about two weeks worth of use the drive works without any problems.

Cheers.

This is my first flash drive and it's been very useful at transferring large amounts of data between a partially crashed system to a temporary machine with no worry or fanfare. Two editions of Windows XP seamlessly installed the drive upon initial plugin, and it is recognized (and made available) in subsequent connections almost immediately - even in Safe Mode.

My informal measurements show it performing slightly above the advertised specs, but not a significant overachiever. It still works at USB 2.0 speeds and doesn't feel like a USB 1.1 connection at all - it easily met my transfer rate expectations.

The bundled U3 application launch environment certainly added to startup time after plugging it in for the first time, and the shipped applications didn't really do much for me. But, that's just me. SanDisk helpfully ships a U3 uninstaller with the U3 environment, itself - it's under Settings -> U3 Launchpad Settings from the launchpad. They also note in their online U3 FAQ that you *could* reinstall the U3 launcher after uninstalling it from your flash drive - code to do so is on their site.

I might also experiment with the alternative PortableApps Suite because it seems to offer more of what I might desire in temporary, mobile applications between PCs than U3. Having options for application launchers seems good.

I should add that the SanDisk U3 uninstaller removes the read-only partition that holds their U3 launcher+apps, and re-formats the *entire* flash drive as a single, blank partition up to its max capacity. Essentially, you get a blank slate after uninstalling U3 with their bundled utility. That was a thoughtful option, I felt.

The open/close slider took a few seconds of experimentation to get right: just press down on the raised "button" and easily slide it one way or the other . . . then, ensure it "clicks" into place when open. It is all housed in a plastic case, but still feels solid to use with our tighter USB slots. Plus, it's extremely light and conveniently small for carrying around a whole of 4GB (sure, 2 years from now that statement will seem horribly outdated), and I have it tied to the convenient lanyard in order to ensure that it doesn't get accidentally misplaced due to size. Dropping this doesn't cause trauma to it or me, fortunately.

I like the Cruzer's large, unavoidable orange glow under the sliding button when plugged in - there's no way to miss it as part of your computer, but it's also NOT so bright as to be annoying when next to your laptop's keyboard.

I'd wish for the writing speed to be a *little bit* faster, but it's not necessary. I'd expect to pay more for such speed, and that might also require a bigger form factor, etc. given today's technology. For the balance of what this product offers, it feels just right and not at all like a compromise.

After a day with this flash drive, it easily met all my expectations and worked without any external driver or other weird setup issues. Windows XP Professional and Corporate editions seem happy with it, and I am, too.

I should have rated this higher... read futher to see why.

This opens up two drives, not one. One of them is detected as a CD.

I am sick and tired of these companies stuffing software down your throat that "they" think you need. Along with nagging upgrades for a price and commercials of things they just know you would want. Imagine buying a car and before it will start you have to listen to a commercial.

I quit buying HP printers and advising my customers not to buy them because a simple driver that should take about 30 seconds to install becomes a 30 minute exercise in answering questions that you don't have the slightest clue about such as, "Do you want to share your data with the Professional Viewer in a secure and encrypted manner?" No, of course I don't... I want to share it with a goofball hacker that is not secure and I want to read the data that I save."

Anyway, my frustration was maxed out by this. They take what could be a simple and pleasing device and turn it into a pain in the rear end that makes you hate it every time you use it and leaves you guessing each and every time if it will work on a particular computer.

Until a little man jumps out of the package of these harebrained schemes, that are dreamed up by a 12 year old game player, and copies the files that I want when and where I want, I'm going to boycott these fools that try to give you what "they" think you need instead of what you want.

I only bought this because it doesn't have a cap and the connector is protected while in your pocket. So much for totally screwing up a great idea. Someone should be fired for this numskull idea. This is like protecting toilet paper with a password that comes with a toothbrush.

The key to the behavior of this boondoggle is called "U3." Yes, U3. When you see it on any product, avoid it like the plague. Here is the criticisms from Wikipedia:

Freezing the Computer ('strong possibility' if certain software is installed on host computer)
Closed Platform
Uninstallation issues
Leaves Traces on Host PC
Data Security (The drive is supposed to seal itself after a certain number of invalid password entries, requiring a reformat)
Insufficient user privileges
Two Drive Letters
Windows requirement for removal

If your idea of a memory stick is one where a Skype logo comes up when you insert it, this stick is for you.

=== The above was my rant. Since then I found SanDisk offers free software to remove not only U3 but the partition where you can make it into a simple big memory stick with one drive. Thanks to someone who replied I ran is software suggestion and it worked flawlessly. My first attempt was either the wrong software or for a different model and it still booted two disks. I am now much more pleased and would give it a 3 star rating. Why no higher? Because SanDisk does not make it clear that you can convert this into a true memory stick but offers software that removes the Launch Pad. It (unless there is more than one program that they offer) actually removes U3 and the partition.

Thanks due to the reviewers on Amazon, I now have a device that I like much better. If I can not change my star rating for this product, I will eventually delete my review so as not to affect the overall rating unfairly.

I recently purchased this 4 GB drive for two reasons - the storage and the U3. I am only half satisfied because I discovered only too late that the device is incompatible with Windows Vista. The stick still works as a storage unit, however, but that was only part of the allure.

I seems that the U3 element of this USB drive is hardcoded, and this particular stick has a device version that is incompatible with any Vista upgrade (merely upgrading the Launch Pad software is useless).

So, I must warn against purchasing this device, unless you plan on sticking with XP for much longer.

Something I hate of my computer's office is that I don't have the user rights to install anything. I can't change the wallpaper, I can't install Babylon (my favorite translator), I have to use the very nasty Outlook and I'm unable to install skype. With Cruzer Micro I've turned my boring office computer in my personalized computer. I needed about 1 GB of space in order to install: Foxit (a Pdf reader), Skype, OpenOffice, Avast Antivirus, Mozilla Thuntherbird and Firefox, Infranview, Babylon, Winrar, Zinio reader, etc.