Customer Reviews

SanDisk 1GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive (SDCZ4-1024-A10/A11, Retail Package)

5 star:		(74)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(9)

 

 

This flash drive is GREAT. It worked well out of the box and works well after being washed and dried. Make sure you check your pockets before you do the laundry!

I've been buying thumb drives for a staff of engineers for the past 3 years. Out of the dozens of USB drives that I've purchased, Sandisk drives have always worked on a variety of different hardware platforms without a problem. With one exception - one drive died shortly after first use. It was covered by Sandisk warranty but dealing with their repair/support/RMA system was a nightmare. It took 5 e-mail exchanges through their automated system requiring useless (and repeated) diagnostics & unnecessary "hoops" before they believed me that the drive was dead. Without a doubt, it cost more in my time to replace the drive then the drive itself was worth. I'm betting Sandisk relies on this so that people just toss the bad drives and go out and buy a new one.

Basically the same as the smaller-capacity Cruzer Micro devices, but the unit is now separated into two pieces; a rubber sleeve (you get three: clear, blue and red) and the aluminum-covered core. The hard plastic cap is now the same rubber material as the sleeve, with small nubs that fit into the holes on the usb plug so it locks on. Unfortunately, the lanyard ring is now so small that the cap can't snap onto it when the unit is plugged in, so expect to lose the cap almost immediately.

Skins aside, it's an excellent unit, and almost the smallest usb flash drive you can buy.

I was given a USB flash drive from my company earlier this year. It was a generic 128-megabyte drive with my company's logo on it. It was an admirable performer considering it was probably a bottom of the line drive.

In more recent months I began to outgrow my generic drive. I run several programs directly from my drive including: a web browser, email client, and instant messaging program. I decided to purchase a new flash drive hoping for something with a larger capacity and possibly faster read/write time.

The SanDisk Cruzer Micro has so far met my expectations. It was already formatted right out of the box, which was nice. It came with a neck strap that attaches to the drive with a small ring (like the one you use your for your keys). I found it mildly annoying attaching it due to its small size. The strap itself is not exactly fashionable and I don't really have any need to walk around with the drive around my neck, although I do find myself doing that just because it's there. The part of the drive where it connects to the strap glows green when the unit is active. It was cool for about a whole minute when I first connected it but has since become ordinary.

It comes with three "skins" which are plastic coverings in clear, red, and blue. Personally I don't see much need for three of them but if you want to accessorize then be my guest. I walked out into the rain with the drive around my neck. The covering looked secure enough where I didn't feel the rain would really pose a threat. After more than a few raindrops on the device it seems to be perfectly fine.

There are some included programs on the drive which got me kind of excited. One called CruzerSync was only a 30 day trial so I didn't even bother with it. Another one called Cruzer PocketCache was also just an evaluation version which turned me off. The last program was called CruzerLock. This one was not a trial but a feature-reduced version. However it was completely functional. This program allows you to encrypt files on your drive that can only be accessed via the CruzerLock software with a username and password. It's simple and easy to use, no frills, and gets the job done. I normally don't worry about protecting my data but the software was simple enough where I thought, "why not?"

Performance wise the Cruzer Micro was superior to my generic drive (which is not really a surprise). I was hoping for even better performance but I can't complain. My Firefox web browser loads up in about 5 seconds when run from the drive and browsing works just as well off my flash drive as it would from my hard disk. Small document files around a few megabytes transfer very quickly.

So overall I am going to give the SanDisk Cruzer Micro a nod of approval. I would have liked it if they included only full versions of their software on the drive. But as far as the device itself goes, I cannot give it any low marks. You can buy this device and not worry about your purchase.

I bought several of these for friends and family, and I kept my self a 1 GB one. I'm happy with it, fast transfer rates with USB 2.0 ports, very small and portable, and, best of all, very cheap.

I did not give it 5 stars because the protective case does not fit tighlty on them, so if you are not careful, it may fall off and you can lose it (both cap and protective case). My wife already lost 1 cap after only two weeks of use.

But on the other hand, I can agree with other reviewers in that the little thing is washer-machine safe, after my brother-in-law had his pass the laundry test, twice.

I bought this for $36.99, superb price for 1GB price.
I have used it for about couple of weeks now and absolutely love it.
Here are some good/bad about this specific one.

Pros ::

1. Very darn small, less then two inches long and very very slim it fits on my keychain without any problem at all. this is truely a micro technology.

2. Transfer rate is awsome. If you are transfering Data files and documents, you would not even see the transfer window. (i some time have to go back and check if it actually transfered the file or just fooled me !!!)

3. Quite a large storage, with 1GB i can transfer pretty much anything including .iso image for my engineering softwares.

Cons::

1. Its so small, i never take it off the keychain or it will be missplaced.

2. The cover and the cap are fragile and will come loose pretty soon. so treat it as a fragile equipment.

3. Do not use the Keychain ring that comes with the drive. it is not worth a flip.

As overall this is awsome thing !!. I just love it

This drive is very fast and convenient. I liked mine and bought a second. Unfortunately, they were like mice, they moved quickly and died quickly, one at 2 months, the other at 3 months. With respect to tech support for the drive, it was easier to find on-line complaints than on-line service. But the price is cheap. If all you need to do is transfer documents between computers, I imagine you could buy a dozen and at least 6 would still function after a year. The company needs to learn some basic lessons about quality control. But did I say they were cheap?

All flash drives are very useful, and this one is no exception. It is great to be able to carry around files on a small dongle and not have to worry about drivers or network access.

But, all flash drives share that same functionality, so what sets this drive apart?

Well, it is 1GB of storage. Which is quite a bit right now (I don't think I'd need more at the moment), but storage capacities always increase as time goes on, and plenty of other manufacturers offer 1GB of storage as well.

This drive is special in that it is very small and slim. You'll never have to worry about whether or not it can fit in the space provided for a USB connection. It also offers fast read/write speeds, and doesn't overly try and load you up with extra software -- you can just plug it in and browse to it. However, it does come with optional software if you want to encrypt data, which is mostly useless since it is Windows-only.

The downside of this drive (and the reason I only gave it 4 stars) is that the rubber sleeves don't stand up to the test of time very well. The sleeve has two parts. One stays on the body of the drive, and one serves as the removable cap. The part that is supposed to stay on the drive begins to slide off easily over time -- especially when inserting and removing the drive from the computer. It just seems to lose its "tightness", and becomes almost useless. The cap fares better, and actually seems to stay on. The drive comes with three different sleeves and caps, but that doesn't address the problem, it only masks it for a while, until all three are loose. It would be better if the sleeve was not a separate removable part.

Other than the sleeve issue, it is a great drive. and should meet your needs.

it works well for a week or two. then just stops.
win xp sp2 beeps when drive inserted, but no drive letter shows up.
search the web - there are thousands of people in the same boat.
and not a driver in sight on the sandisk download page
it sucks!

And it still works.
I've never written one of these things before, but this seemed worthy of comment.