Customer Reviews

SanDisk 2 GB Cruzer Micro ( SDCZ6-2048-A10, Retail Package)

5 star:		(42)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(40)

 

 

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.

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!")

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.

This is what I've come to expect from Sandisk: a reliable memory that I can use pretty much everywhere.

Sizewise, this unit is good. It is not as tiny as the non-U3 cruzer micro, but it is smaller than the Cruzer mini. The USB connector retracts, therefore there is no cap to lose :)

The performance of this unit is very good. I was able to transfer a 750Mb file in about 90 seconds on a Mac. Deleting was extremely fast, in the 1-2 second range. So, if you want a larger drive, this is the way to go, instead of the non-U3 micro.

With the drive, you also get U3 support. Windows will recognize part of the drive as a read-only unit. Software will trick Windows into thinking this is a CD-ROM, and windows will start the U3 tray application via auto-run (hold "shift" while inserting the drive to avoid it).

In this drive, you can carry many portable applications (take a look at [..] and[..]. I use it as a emergency backup tool, I have a small linux installed on it, so I can boot any computer via USB and perform diagnostics and repair.

Be aware that U3 support is not needed to run portable applications. All you need is disk space. Therefore, you will be able to install applications in pretty much any USB flash drive.

I agree that there should be an optional U3 uninstaller program coming with the product. I guess there were too many people complaining about U3 launchpad since they put an uninstaller for U3 at [...]. It works and completely removes U3 feature as well as its launchpad.

Right out of the box is a weird USB drive, i mean weird, because when you first connect it to the pc it opens the U3 Annoying Software feature, and installs itself without asking anything. It will be OK if at first it asked if you want to have that "Smart Drive" feature or just a Normal "Dumb Drive" used as usual. What i did is actually uninstalll the U3 feature right from the U3 menu and keep it as a normal USB storage drive. Now its a great USB storage drive with plenty of space to have lots of documents, pictures, videos, etc, etc, etc. If you want a "Smart Drive" function i recommend the www.PortableApps.com software, is freeware, easy to install and it does ask you to use this function or not when you plug your drive into a computer, with the same (or better) functionality as the U3 feature.

I was hesitant about the U3 launcher software included on this device - but after using it, I've found it very useful. Ordinary flash drives are great for copying files, but this is something beyond that. The ability to easily sync Outlook or other emails, and to bring apps with you that run off the flash drive and not the host computer is worth the price alone. It saves me lugging a laptop between home and work. I can run Skype anywhere without installing it on a host computer, because it's installed on the device.

If you need just a straight flash drive, buy this or another device, depending on price. But if you'd find it useful to run your apps on any PC without installing them, get this or something with U3, you won't be disappointed.

Contrary to some reviews, you are in full control of whether the software launches on startup automatically or not - it's an option in the setup. You can remove U3 launcher and downgrade the device to a dumb flash drive if you want. You'll get an extra few MB of storage space if you do so. If you browse or use email from a U3 app such as Firefox or Thunderbird, you leave no personal information on the host computer - negligible traces from the software yes, personal info no.

I purchased this unit with a great deal of reluctance after hearing so many negative comments about the intrusive U3 software. Perhaps my unit had an updated version of the utilities, but after plugging it in for the first time, a flash demo launched to promo the functionality of the flash drive. If you take just a few minutes to review the information, you'll find that there is a very simple utility already included on the drive that will remove the U3 software and configure the unit to utilize virtually the entire 2 GB of storage. Once I launched the utility, it took no more than a minute or two to reconfigure the drive. It was truly no big deal, even for those of us without a great deal of technical knowledge. Now it works just like a flash drive should.

The flash drive itself works great, and the performance is very fast! For the price (I paid under $20) you can't go wrong. So far I am very pleased.

Don't let the reviews fool you. At this price, it's worth a little research. Apparently U3 is annoying a lot of people and the people at U3 have created an uninstall download for you to get. So Google it, download it, and buy the USB drive. The size of this USB drive and the fact that you'll never have to worry about losing the cap along with an excellent price make it worth buying. After you uninstall the U3 software, it works like any other drive. It works great, it just takes you ten minutes of a little extra work.

I'm very satisfied so far and have carried audio, video, and a lot, lot more on a drive the size of a pen cap. Brilliant...

... All you have to do is go to the U3 settings in the software and ask it to remove itself, bingo, U3 wipes its own files and eliminates the read only portion of the drive for you. No more U3.

The device itself is good, access and write times are fine, I only gave it four stars because the slide mechanism for the drive tip seems a tad flimsy. We'll see.