Customer Reviews

SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 4 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ7-4096-A10

5 star:		(170)
4 star:		(58)
3 star:		(16)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

This is the deal... This is my fourth one, since I keep selling the previous one with less capacity and getting one bigger...
Also, the feel on this one is very sturdy as well...
I would say that is a lot better then my previous one, which was the regular black plastic case.
The U3 program, it is a handy (and I shall say MUST) factor.

If you want the program to auto start whenever you plug it in at your USB port (which takes around 5sec.) you just point it out at the installation of the U3 Launchpad, and I bet most of the users having this problem did not try to run and update or at least go to the settings and check this function.

I have most of the programs I use with this USB drive and whenever I travel and need to use any computer, I just plug it in, and have, all my documents and files (as a regular use of a USB drive) and also the advantage of having my own browser with all my favorites and plug-ins (and cookies and passwords functions as it is set at the USB drive, and not at the computer you are using...), and lots of other programs..

There lots of software to anyones interest, Free and paid for... And all of the ones I use are free !! (open office, firefox, skype,etc)

And if you ever decide to have just an ordinary USB Drive with all the space availabe just to store files.. Just Uninstall it.. [ just look up on google "u3 uninstall" and you will get there..]

But nowadays, who would not want the REAL Upgrade you can get with a USB Drive.. This the perfection...

To me, it is a regular Usb Drive most of the time, just transfering documents... But sometimes, I go ahead and start the U3 Launchpad and start using the programs I need, without worring about leaving trails and information at the computer behind...

And more.. You have all sort of data protection with it, in case it is stolen, lost or someone want to get the date out of it for any purpose....

Think again and you will see that this is the Future of USB drive... Just learn how to use and you will not want to have just a regular one anymore...
U3 is a must ... Once you get used to it...
Take your time, instead of just listening to people who over react to something that is new...

As I mentioned at the beggining.. You decide what you want..
Regular USB or a Real portable system with all the information at any computer...

Perfect choice... :-)

This gem of a flashdrive is amazing, this sucker survived my car driving over it(personal test I was bored) even worked after I fell(got pushed) into a pool with it(sadly my laser pointer died). The LED on it is cool capacity is great the write speed is pretty quick for a flash drive it's compact the sliding motion is awesome for a super nerd like me, makes me feel like a hero everytime someone says "Oh no I'm having computer problems" i just take out my handy "Cruzer" and slide out the usb and say " I CAN FIX IT" and use my handy set of computer utilities.

Now I recomend formating it and losing the u3 software asap cause it can cause problems, I've gotten al ot of errors with it the little icon it puts on my screen drives me nuts, and on some computers(my work computer which has some protection on it(doesn't allow unrecognized exe's from being run which isn't uncommon on work and school computers) doesn't allow my cruzer to be recognized which drove me nuts. in a nutshell the u3 program was a great idea but it's just not perfect and not worth having.

more on the u3 system:
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

SanDisk has installed a software application called "U3" on the Cruzer 1GB Micro. This software loads automatically every time you insert the drive. It load very slowly, and you have to sit there looking at the U3 startup window. When U3 finally does start up, it takes you to another window which you have close to continue working.

But that's not all...

After you're done starting up the U3 application, you will see that it also installs an extra drive in Windows Explorer. You have the drive for the Cruzer itself, but there is another one that appears as a CD. It causes confusion every time you explore your computer, since you have to remember that this is for the Cruzer, and not an actual CD drive. There does not seem to be a single use for this extra drive, except to take up space and cause confusion.

But we're still not done...

When you want to eject the Cruzer, you MUST use the U3 application. You CANNOT use the Windows XP "Safely Remove Hardware" option. In fact, if you fail to use U3 to "eject" the Cruzer, you get an error message next time you insert it. This causes further confusion, since you can't tell if this was a real error or just a quirk.

We're not done yet...

You might think, "Well, I'll just delete the U3 application." Think again. If you manage to delete the U3 software, the Cruzer simply re-installs it next time you insert the drive, and you start all over again.

This is pure over-engineering. Why would the people at SanDisk take a simple concept and ruin it by adding this extra layer of complication? Like most users, I like to insert a flash drive and then access it. I don't want to run a whole application every time I insert the flash drive, and I certainly don't want it installing all sorts of applications on my computer. I'm just baffled by this. Are the engineers and programmers at SanDisk starving for something to do with their time?

This Thumb Drive is a little gem, but the U3 software that comes with it should be made optional to non-technical users. For me, I cannot use the TD with its software because of security issues imposed by what I do. Trying to delete the software from the drive, non-techies will find that it replicates upon reconnecting the TD. To clean the drive, you can use the U3 removal software that is available online by doing a search for U3 removal software... or better yet just format the sucker! If you work in a highly secure environment. After you do this... the TD is SUPER! However you may want to save your U3 software on your personal computer before your zap it! The best thing I like about this TD, is there is no cap to lose, and it comes with a secure carrying system. Both Pocket Clip and Necklace system. I only wish this design would be available in an 8-16 GB version.

The best USB thumb drive I've owned. Enough memory to meet my needs. I'll probably buy another.

Pros:
- U3: could live without it but having Skype, Firefox (and Favorites), FileZilla, OpenOffice, Yahoo IM etc. configured and ready to go on any Windows PC I pop this into is a "nice to have".
- Plenty of memory for quickly moving big files like movies from laptop to laptop.
- Enough extra memory to install an entire Linux OS installation (I use PuppyLinux) on its own partition. I can boot from this Linux partition right into PuppyLinux and have both an entirely secure OS (firewall and all) and all my apps (OpenOffice, GIMP, Skype, Firefox, Thunderbird, Yahoo IM) favorites, IDs/passwords ready to go. Really pretty amazing.
- I've broken a few of these plastic USB drives so the titanium shell is really appreciated. But, I've lost a lot of those removable caps so the absence of a cap and the retractability is really well done.

Booting these thumb drives to your own custom Linux installation on a random or unknown PC is the best alternative for travellers who rely on various PCs as they move around.

In my opinion, it's the only secure solution short of carrying your own laptop. I like this alternative for banking etc. while on the road. I simply don't trust others to keep their PCs clean of malware or key loggers so I'm hesitant to use friends/public PCs for anything important that would demand a secure solution.

This product only reinforces the earlier versions of itself with the 1 and 2 gig versions. I feel it is even better well made than the 2 gig version. The quality is better than what I could of asked, and now with 4 gigs make life even easier.

The U3 driver preinstalled on this USB drive is not compatible with Windows Vista. (Vista does not recognize it as a valid disk drive). As of the date of this review, SanDisk hasn't any Vista U3 driver for this yet. With Windows XP, it works just great. I like this drive for the password protection capability of all my data. If not for Vista compatibility, would give it a 4 star rating.

Note: I was able to get this drive to work with Vista, but I had to disable the U3 Security and U3 Autostart (from an XP machine first) in order to get Vista to recognize the data on this drive.

The 4GB Cruzer Titanium (U3) is extremely well made and very fast. I was able to backup ~ 900MB of data from my employer's ThinkPad to it in a little over 5 minutes. The USB connector extends and retracts easily, and eliminates any concerns about lost caps. I've also owned a 512MB Cruzer Titanium for 3 years and it has functioned very well, although it is noticeably slower than the 4GB device, no doubt due to the 512MB's USB 1.1 connector.

I purchased the device primarily for use in conjunction with my work and highly recommend it for that purpose.

My one complaint about the 4GB Cruzer Titanium is that the U3 software doesn't yet work with Windows Vista. I contacted Sandisk about this and was told that a Vista compatible version would be available sometime in Q3'07, so hopefully the incompatibility is temporary. Overall, though, this is the best USB device on the market today.

This product is very well made, with a strong and sturdy casing. Sandisk is a great company and they continue to live up to that reputation with this product, despite overlooking a serious design flaw.

The Good: The design looks sharp, the retractable USB prong works well (extends easy, locks in place, and retracts simply), the active light is big and bright, the weight is perfect, and there is even a lanyard ring for hooking it to something. There is also this new U3 launchpad technology installed that makes it very easy to launch programs from the USB drive, without being installed on Windows. This gives you amazing portability, as you can configure your browser with all its plugins on this, plus any other software programs that you need to run when you're away from your main computer. The transfer rate on this USB drive is excellent--Sandisk consistently makes fast and reliable USB drives. It's worth paying more for this as your data is more valuable than any hardware.

The Not-so-good:
* The casing is NOT TITANIUM! It is only coated too look like it is. It's a steel alloy of some kind. And guess what that means--in the winter time, static electricity can be conducted through the casing. This is a potentially serious problem, as you could lose your data and even trash the drive altogether. I suspect all of the positive reviews are from people who haven't used this drive in the winter time. So, definitely be careful to discharge yourself before using it.
* The U3 software is incompatible with Vista and the Mac OS. You need to uninstall it before using... and unfortunately for Mac users, they can't uninstall U3 from their native OS--it must be done in Windows XP.
* The U3 launchpad increases the time it takes for the drive to become ready after inserting it. The only viable way to remove the USB drive is to use the EJECT menu item on the U3 launchpad icon.
* If you accidentally pull out the USB without ejecting it, the U3 programming gets confused; inserting the USB drive back in won't restore access and you have to reboot.

The U3 launchpad is pretty cool technology, but you can uninstall it if you don't care to use it. You'll have to if you're using Vista or a Mac. And you may want to if you're only interested in performing large file transfers with this USB device. But its nice to have the option either way. If there was anything I could wish for on this device, it would be to have the casing made of REAL titanium, or completely coated in an insulating material to prevent static discharge issues. I expect Sandisk will be phasing out the "titanium" metal casing very soon, so you might see these discounted heavily once folks in the USA complain about discharges destroying data during the winter months.

The U3 software for the drive doesn't work under vista. Their newer drives do work with vista, which is why I'm at a total loss why they can't update this device. I sent email to their tech support, and they've taken over two weeks to send me a broken link that supposedly has my answer in it.

As a drive, it works fine, but the total package is lacking because it doesn't deliver what is promised: It advertises itself as a Flash Drive with U3. They neglect to mention that if you have a new computer, U3 doesn't work.

Check the SanDisk website under products, it states in big letters that it's not considered Macintosh compatible. But everyone selling it says it is.

if you plug this into your mac, you can use it, but only PART of the drive! That U3 junk is stuck on there. you can't reformat or partition it to remove it, so you end up with a 3GB+ drive not the 4GB you thought you were buying. (DO NOT TRY REPARTITIONING WITHOUT RUNNING THE UNINSTALLER FIRS FROM A WINDOWS MACHINE)

If you don't own a windows machine, steer clear of this one