Customer Reviews

SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ6-8192-A11

5 star:		(251)
4 star:		(81)
3 star:		(28)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(42)

 

 

SanDisk 8 GB Cruzer Micro

The Cruzer Micro is a great USB flash drive with some significant advantages. You don't have to worry about losing the cap. There is a chance of getting dust in the head, so make sure to clean it from time to time with compressed air. Kingston also makes some retractable USB models as well, but in general I still prefer SanDisk.

This guy has 2, 4 and 8 GB sizes. 8GB is kind of the minimum size I would purchase at this point, since I have a ton of smaller drives already. This guy has the smallest case out of regular USB drives out there. The only way to get smaller storage is to my a memory card or a micro drive.

The small slot and ring are not really sturdy enough to secure this drive. The Cruzer Slide, on the other hand, has a nice attachment ring. But it is much bigger than the Micro, meaning that many users will still opt for this one instead.

I make a point of obliterating the U3 software whenever I get a new drive. That way I don't have to worry about it loading itself every time I insert it. It just slows it down and I don't use those apps anyway.


Pros:
+ Great storage capacity in a brand that honors their warrantees
+ The case is small and attractive
+ The slide-back head means there is no cap to be lost
+ Nice color options for different tastes
+ Durable body and NAND memory stands up to a lot of abuse
+ Compatible with old and new Mac and PC Operating Systems (XP, Vista, OS X)
+ USB 2.0 connection is backwards compatible for older computers
+ Easy to format and enable encryption to protect your data
+ Prices are nice on a $ per gigabyte basis

Cons:
- Personally I'm not crazy about the U3 software on Sandisk USB drives
- The attachment slot is small and somewhat flimsy
- Not as easy to hook it on to things as the Cruzer Slide
- Still somewhat slow speed in copying large files, limited by USB transfer rate

Overall this is a great USB drive with good capacity. If you need something you can easy attach to key-chains and don't mind a slightly larger body, you may want to step up to the Cruzer Slide. If you want the smallest most stylish USB drive you can get, this is it.

Enjoy!

0. These instructions are for Windows XP.
1. In Windows Explorer allow hidden files to be seen.
2. Delete everything in 'new' Cruzer.
-- If you click on the 'U3...(E:) drive, it will now hang.
3. Right click on 'Removable Disk (F:) and choose 'Properties'.
4. Click on the 'Hardware' Tab.
5. There will be 2 listings for 'SanDisk U3 Cruzer Micro USB Device'.
-- Type = 'Disk Drives'
-- Type = 'DVD/CD-ROM Drives'
6. Highlight the second 'DVD/CD-ROM Drives'.
7. Click the 'Properties' button. A new pop-up will appear.
8. At the bottom there is a pull-down menu titled 'Device usage'.
9. Choose 'Do not use this device (disable)'.
10. Click the 'OK' button.
11. Now the 'U3...(E:)' drive will disappear from Windows Explorer.

Have been using this 8Gig USB drive for few months (replaced Sandisk 4Gig). Works great, no probelms in using and (so far) zero hassle in using.
So why 4 stars and not five?
-Does not come (at least in my purchase) a round-the-neck lanyard. Maybe this was a error in the original plastic packaging but without this, worried about forgetting it.
-I cannot get rid of the pre-installed software on this. (As soon as I plug in via USB, it "pops up" a message and then my (Vista) PC displays the device discovered message. I have tried to uninstall the software to make the USB drive a "dumb" device but after three attempts (format, erase and using the device software's uninstall programme), nothing works.

Otherwise, have used Sandisk in past, all have worked great and I really have recommended this to friends as an ideal backup solution.

I'm not a big fan of technology that tries to automatically load software on my PC, especially without asking my permission. I deleted the software Sandisk preloaded on the USB flash drive, but wait: this device mounts as *two* USB drives, and one is read-only and looks like a 5 MB CD-ROM to the OS. It has an autorun script and zipped software on it, and the only way I've found to keep it off the computer is to not use this product.

I guess Sandisk's business model is to have the bloatware makers subsidize this product. And, it's in the bloatware makers interest to have unsuspecting users loading their wares onto multiple machines.

Since this isn't clearly explained on the packaging, it seems sort of sneaky to me that they'd try to spread their software this way -- the type of thing that inspires class action lawsuits. Hence, the low rating.

I was given this product as a birthday gift, so it wasn't possible to return it. The product worked well on my Mac and I used in on the PC's at school. I can still retrieve my data from the drive, but the problem is, that the drive is telling me that there is no more room left for anything else. This is remarkable, since all that I stored on the drive was about several dozen word documents over the course of 30 days. Every time I try to save something more to it, it tells me that there is either no room left, or that the drive is damaged. Trust me when I say that I took very good care of this flash drive, so the fact that it could be damaged is very strange to me. Now I have to buy a new drive, and I was looking forward to using this one for many years to come. How unfortunate. If anyone has any ideas as to how I should try to fix this problem, please leave me a comment below.

The U3 applications take up very little space on the drive. I find U3 useful since I frequently use computers at 3 different locations. It's a great concept in my opinion. Everyone should try them before intantly hating them and uninstalling them. If you find that you don't need the U3 then of course you should uninstall it. It only takes a minute to remove the partition and convert the Cruzer into a normal flashdrive. If you decide you want the U3 system later it's easy to add it back again, but it does require a reformat so back up your information.

The most useful U3 application for me is OpenOffice 2.0. It is fully compatible with Microsoft office and allows me to work on presentations and papers from any computer I happen to be near. Firefox (browser) and Thunderbird (email) are my other two most used applications. These are all proven open source applications that have been around for years, and they are all available at no charge.

I own two 512mb Micro Cruzer drives , a 2.0gb, and the 8gb. I bought my first one about 2 years ago maybe? I have never had a problem with any of them. I really like the retractible plug and they have proven to be plenty durable for my purposes. They all live on lanyards and have been used daily while I'm at college. Very nice sturdy little gadgets.

Arrrrgh!!! I hate this stupid thing! Several hours worth of work is gone forever because I saved it on my new SanDisk 8GB Micro drive. I used it for a month or so with no problem. Last week, I had my first corrupted file. Now I have dozens of corrupted files! Thankfully, I have a backup of most (but not all) of them. If I didn't have a backup, I'd just be out of luck. I will NEVER buy another SanDisk product. (And yes, I was always very careful to use either the Eject button in the Cruzer program or the Eject button in Windows beside the clock.)

The U3 spam software is insanely annoying.

The stick is too wide and crowds out other devices next to it trying to connect via USB.

Get the Kingston DataTraveler instead

I've had this thing for a little over two weeks and I love it. I finally have enough space to hold all my critical backups and then some. I can't speak to its durability since I've only had it for a short while, but I accidentally washed my 4gb Cruzer along with a load of laundry and not only did it still work perfectly afterward, THERE WAS NO LOSS OF DATA WHATSOEVER! These things are tough! Can't wait for the 16gb Cruzer so I can devote a full 4gb to Vista's ReadyBoost and still have 12gb left over for general data storage.

I bought this because of two reasons. Huge capacity (8gb) and Capless design (Never have to worry about loosing a cap). I really enjoyed using it and really really liked it. But sadly and luckily, it stopped working exactly after 30 days (I bought it from Bestbuy, which had 30-day return policy. SO I at least got my money back although what's stored inside was priceless....!!!) I ALWAYS use safe removal feature of the Windows. I saved all my critically important data and documents, but the device just wouldn't be recognized. Not even a "Device not recognized" ballon on the lower right hand corner when plugged in. It just refuses to be recognized as if nothing is inserted into the usb port!!. Tried every possible way to retrieve the data, but ended up loosing all my experiment data. Should have done back-up regularly. Hope others had a better luck with this device.