25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Very fast drive. U3 software is terrible, but removable!, October 9, 2006
This review is from: SanDisk 2 GB Cruzer Micro ( SDCZ6-2048-A10, Retail Package) (Personal Computers)
Just FYI, on Mac OS X, it formats down to 1.78GB. (which is standard loss for any formatted drive).
First the good. This drive is very fast! I was able to copy a 500MB file to it in less than a minute! It's the fastest USB drive I've used. It has a small protective case, solid feel, a bright amber status light when plugged in, and a retractable USB plug. And it's reasonably priced.
Now the bad. If you have horizontal USB ports (like iBooks/Powerbooks/Mac Books), the drive is too wide to use next to an occupied port. You must unplug any USB devices next to it to make room. The supplied "U3" is useless for Macs. The drive always shows up as two separate drives on your desktop (which is annoying). Contrary to other reviews, SanDisk's tech support replied to an email within 24 hours and gave me instructions on how to eliminate the U3 partition. Unfortunately, the instructions are for Windows XP only (which isn't that big of a deal since I have an Intel iMac with Boot Camp). But users with older Macs will have to find a friend with a PC.
In a nutshell, this is a fast USB drive from a trusted brand name in memory devices. But ditch the U3 as soon as you buy it, it's pure (useless) marketing hype.
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19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Don't panic! This is a great value!, March 22, 2007
This review is from: SanDisk 2 GB Cruzer Micro ( SDCZ6-2048-A10, Retail Package) (Personal Computers)
Stop panicking! If you don't want ANY removable media to run---not just flash drives, but CDs, DVDs, floppies, anything---just hold Shift after you've inserted it. The complainers here obviously didn't know about this standard Windows shortcut.
Yes, I question SanDisk's decision to include auto-running "portable desktop" functionality by default. Obviously, though, they thought they were helping people, offering them something of value at no extra charge.
If you don't EVER want the Cruzer's auto-run functionality, just download SanDisk's U3 Launchpad Removal Tool from their website and run it. Voila---you have a blank USB drive to use however you wish. (You can Google "U3 Launchpad Removal Tool" to quickly find the tool's webpage.)
If you're really geeky, you can even use a repartitioning tool to reclaim the Cruzer's tiny (~5MB) system partition (which SanDisk adds to make Windows think it's CD and enable AutoPlay).
I think the Cruzer's an outstanding value. When I was in L.A. this week, I couldn't pass up this name-brand, 2-GB flash drive, on sale at Staples for $25! I suspect the price has been driven down so low because so many people have complained about the built-in (and, as I've pointed out, optional) software. If so, the rest of us win. It's a terrific deal.
By the way, AutoPlay is one of the first things I turn off after installing XP. If you're tired of holding Shift each time you insert removable media, get Microsoft's free TweakUI utility from their website---which, among many other things, lets you activate/deactivate AutoPlay on all of your removable drives. Why does it take extra software to do something so basic? No doubt Microsoft worried that people would turn off AutoPlay, then forget how to open a file window to run whatever they wanted to. But we're not that helpless, are we? (All together: "No!")
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100 of 126 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Deceived !!, May 8, 2006
This review is from: SanDisk 2 GB Cruzer Micro ( SDCZ6-2048-A10, Retail Package) (Personal Computers)
The Ultra3 software that auto launches from this USB drive does indeed install software on every pc you plug it into. It does not ask before installing. It automatically launches when you plug it in and creates a c:\documents and settings\user\application data\u3 subdirectory. This directory does not disappear when the device is ejected. This was confirmed by SanDisk Tech Support after they told me it left no trace initially. For me this is unacceptable as I use it on PCs that are not my own. When the drive is plugged in it creates a CD drive and a removable drive. The CD drive is where U3 software auto launches from. To stop it from auto launching you have to get rid of the CD partition. That tool is not provided by SanDisk but if you look around on th internet you can find it. The RAM is this drive is also very slow.
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