Customer Reviews

SanDisk SDCZ2-256-A10 256 MB Cruzer Mini USB 2.0 Flash Drive (Retail Package)

5 star:		(87)
4 star:		(33)
3 star:		(13)
2 star:		(14)
1 star:		(25)

 

 

It is a unit about the size of a 1/2 pack of gum. It actually measures 2 & 3/4 inches long, and 3/4 inches wide and 1/8 of an inch thick (measurements for you Americans). But hold on, it holds 176 floppy disks.
We first bought the Lexar jump drive, and loved it. However, on our laptop, because the USB ports were so close together, I had to remove my wireless keyboard. Not with the scandisk drive, it slim design fit with all my equipment
The ScanDisk also installed automatically, but did not put itself on my SEND TO menu like the Lexar jump drive. I had to put it on the SEND TO menu myself. It did give me a message about using an older type USB port on one of my older laptops. However, the unit still worked flawlessly on all my machines. I'm selling my zip drives on eBay this month. I now use the ScanDisk drive on all my client's machines too. Remember, no driver installation on Windows XP.
The ScanDisk drive worked better for a road warrior like me due to its ability to squeeze into smaller areas than the Lexar jump drive.
It appears like another hard drive (E drive). So I just open "My Documents" folder, hold down the ctrl key, select the files I want, click right mouse, go to SEND TO, then send to E drive. Instant backup! One of my favorite units to date, and absolutely no problems.

Gina Novelle
Exclusive Markets

At first after reading all the below reviews about this product and noticing all the negative reviews, I was a bit hesitant to buy the SanDisk 256MB flash drive. []
I figured hey, at that price, what do I have to lose? So needless to say, I bought it.

Upon receiving the unit, one of the first things I noticed was how incredibly small the unit was. They wern't kidding when they said this unit's about the size of a pack of gum. And its even lighter than one too! After using this thing for about a little over a month, these are my thoughts about this product:

Sturdyness: There were many complaints that this unit is rather flimsy. And I must admit, its not the strongest of cases in the world, but unless your throwing this thing around everywhere or stepping on it, its more than sturdy enough for regular wear and tear. Someone even complained that over time, the cap tended to fall off by itself. But losing the cap shouldn't be too much of a problem as the unit came with 2 more replacement caps for a total of 3 straight out of the box.

Price: Shopping around, you'll find that SanDisk is DEFINATELY THE cheapest flash drive around.

Size: As I stated about, this unit really is the size of a pack of gum! In fact, i'd go as far to say that this unit is SMALLER than a pack of gum! Weight wise, this thing is definately lighter than a pack of gum. It's so thin that I can have the SanDisk drive plugged into my USB port and have another USB device plugged into the port right next to it. Thats something that most (if not all) other flash drives out there CAN'T do without a USB cable extension.

Reliability: This is what it all basically boils down to. And despite numerous complaints from other individuals about their units failing, I've never had that problem with mine. I use my SanDisk to transfer large amounts of data between my desktop PC to my laptop and I've found the process to be both painless and easy. I merely plug the drive into my USB port, copy over the files I want onto the drive, then remove it and stick it into my laptop. And I've DEFINATELY NEVER had this drive get stuck in my USB port. In fact, I can't even see HOW it could possibly get stuck. ITS NOT THAT TIGHT OF A FIT! Not loose enough to fall out, but not tight enough that you'd have to force it into the USB port. After using it for a little over a month, I've yet to have the device fail on me.

Conclusion: All in all, this is an excellent product for a very low price. Fantastic price, excellent design, and great reliability, what more could you ask for?!?! My only real complaint is that it dosen't come with a keychain ring. Instead it comes with a strap to wear the drive around your neck. I mean, com'on! Who the heck would wear this thing around their neck?!?!

I bought the Cruzer 256 MB mainly to help transfer data files between home and office and so far I have mixed feelings. The Cruzer is a sleek little unit, well designed except for the cheap and flimsy plastic caps.

On the machine running Windows XP, I have had no problem at all. XP recognized the Cruzer in a flash (pun unintended!) and allowed me to drag and drop files smoothly.

However, the second machine running Win 98 was another story. I had to first download a driver from the SanDisk website. Finding the driver and instructions were simple but when I tried to install the driver, it blew the Win 98 machine¡¦s settings to pieces. My files and data are safe but the modem is no longer recognized (which means no internet ƒ¼) and the monitor settings have been re-set to a 16 color VGA with no options!! Nothing I do can restore ¡V not even after 3 hours with Dell Tech Support and I now have to reinstall Windows. So my short-cut has ended up making more work for me!

In sum, Cruzer is good if you are running XP (and maybe 2000). If you are on 98 (mine is an old machine) avoid Cruzer like poison.

You know it is a good electronics product if it can survive a 1 hour wash cycle (with suds and hot-water). it has come in ever so handy, and has never jammed in any of the computer that I have tried it in. I am very impressed and strongly recommend it.

This thumb drive works as well as any other.

Due to the storage manufacturer's misuse of the term 'megabyte' this device has an actual formatted capacity of 244 real megabytes (which is also true of all other "256M" flashdrive out there), so just be aware.

Also, like any other flashdrive it is only good for about 100,000 erase cycles before it gives up the ghost so don't use it for files you'll be modifying frequently each day and so I wouldn't recommend editing directly off of the drive.

Speed for this drive is average, it took a little more than a minute to fill up the entire 244MB.

Pros:
- really small! (look at your thumb, but half as fat)
- faster than a usb 1.1 drive
- no drivers needed

Cons:
- no keyring attachment
- not as fast as some other 2.0 drives
- not bootable (for me atleast...)

Bottom line: Very cheap but works as well as most other drives out there. At this price point it makes sense to buy it to just have around, because you'll never know when you'll need it =)

I got this product as a gift from my friend two weekes ago. Before this one, I always used a FUJI 256 MB one. obviously, this Cruzer Mini belongs to next generation, since it equipped with a USB 2.0 interface. For data transfering, it is much faster than my old USB 1.1 FUJI one. Also, the volume and weight of this cruzer mini is so small, thus it is really "MINI". So easy to carry!!!

With windows XP home and professional in my home and office computers, the use of this is a breeze. I am a guy need to transfer data every day, so, this cruzer mini really gives me big convenience.

The only cons: this product will be more convenient if it has a clap (as most of the flash drive in Market). But, do not be mislead by me - as an alternative, it is really equipped with a strap holder and comes with a nice neck strap.

Excellent product, I will strongly recommend it to any one who needs transfer data a lot.

Moments ago, I plugged in my g/f's cruzer flash drive, which she had inadvertently left in her jeans pocket when she did her laundry.

She discovered it AFTER running it through the dryer.

That was about three days ago. Before buying her another one, I just now plugged it in (to a remote USB cable -- I didn't want it shorting out my motherboard) and the damned thing works fine.

This flash drive is excellent, like all flash drives I have tried. It is a wonderful alternative to floppy drives, and it allows me to move large files around easily. My complaint - I carry the drive around in my purse, and although the cap starts out snug fitting, after taking it off and putting it on a few dozen times, the cap now falls off easily. I also have a Sony MicroVault, and I sure paid a premium for it, but it is so well designed that there is no way the cap can fall off - it snaps snugly into place. Verdict - I won't buy another SanDisk drive until they redesign the casing.

Purchased first through Amazon.com. Failed to work after the first week. Spent 5 weeks waiting on a new one from SanDisk (who were very easy to deal with). Received second drive which failed after a week. Received third 5 weeks later which, too failed. Have gone with different product. Recommend you do the same.

I have heard people complain about SanDisk flash drives, saying that they work for a short while and then drop dead suddenly. I got two 256MB SanDisk Cruzer Mini USB 2.0 flash drives 9 months ago and have been using both almost everyday to transfer files from work to home and vice versa--it's by far the most convenient way to do this. Sometimes I put it in my backpack, othertimes I hang it around my neck like a necklace. They haven't had any problem during these 9 months. Perhaps you just need to treat these drives like floppy disks, e.g. try not to drop them onto the floor. Also, before you unplug it from the computer, ALWAYS hit the "remove hardware" buttom first. Unplugging it without going through that may damage the drive.

This drive transfers files very fast if your computer has USB 2; slower if the computer has only USB 1, but that's still fast enough for me. It's pretty small (and hence its name "Mini"), unlike some other USB drives that are so bulky that I need to remove other USB devices to make enough room for plugging them in.

WARNING: It works with Windows 98SE/2000/Me/XP, but NOT Windows 98 or earlier operating systems. I have used it with Windows 2000 and XP, and it installs automatically and quickly. Have also used it with Windows 98SE, for which an easy-to-install driver needed to be downloaded from the SanDisk web site.