Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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46 of 50 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A couple of things they don't tell you..., July 4, 2008
If you buy this drive thinking you don't need to subscribe to the Internet backup service and still have the other listed features of a U3 device with AES hardware encryption - you'll be wrong.
- If you don't subscribe you get hounded by a constant reminder running in your computer's system tray while the drive is plugged in.
- If you want to remove the backup software to rid yourself of the messages you MUST remove the U3 menu software crippling all other U3 software support in addition to losing the AES hardware encryption.
The crippling of all device features is not disclosed until after you buy the product and attempt to opt out of the registration/subscription to the Internet backup service where you are presented with a message stating the U3 and all security functions will be removed - but you will still have a basic USB flash drive. Nice...
Another side note - SanDisk has modified there *normal* U3 installation package to not work with this particular drive.
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33 of 35 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pre-Installed Software Caused Problems and Loss Of Encryption, August 8, 2008
I have always been a fan of SanDisk USB flash drives. I have owned several over the years, and have always found the Cruzer Titanium series to be a great, fast, rugged product. A few months ago the company I work for declared that no removable storage devices could be used in company computers, unless they utilized hardware file encryption. Well I realized that I would no longer be able to use my trusty SanDisk 2GB Ultra Cruzer Titanium drive for work. After doing some research I discovered the new SanDisk Ultra Cruzer Titanium "Plus", which boasted AES hardware encryption. I was delighted because not only would I be able to purchase another great SanDisk Ultra Cruzer flash drive, which would give me the hardware encryption that my company now required, but I would also double the storage capacity over my previous Ultra Cruzer drive. The "Plus" model was brand new, so the cost was higher than the standard Ultra Cruzer series drives (the cost has since come down), but I was sure it would be the perfect answer to my needs so I ordered one right away.
Upon receiving my new Titanium Plus drive, I quickly became aware of a few things that disappointed me. First of all, there was no pocket clip included. Since I have to carry the drive around with me every day, to be used on several computers throughout the business, I always attached previous Cruzer Titanium drives to my shirt pocket with the included clip. I do not wish to carry around my car keys in the pocket of my dress slacks every day, so using the included little chain seemed of little help. Now I would have to keep the flash drive in my pants pocket, which quickly became a nuisance. I also found that it was loaded with the U3 Launchpad and a few U3 "smart programs." I have already had several bad experiences with U3 junkware on my previous Cruzer Ultra Titanium drive and had to uninstall it. Therefore I decided to uninstall it from this new Ultra Titanium Plus drive as well. In fact, my company would not allow me to utilize the on-line backup service anyway, because they don't want their company sensitive data being stored on some Internet servers. So I went ahead and used the U3 removal tool to uninstall the U3 software on the new flash drive. Well that is when I realized that I had just wasted a bunch of money and placed myself in a horrible position.
Without the U3 software on my new Titanium Plus flash drive, I found that I no longer had the encryption capabilities of the drive. Oh, I was so ticked. The so called "hardware encryption" was exactly why I had spent the money on this new drive to begin with! Now here I was stuck with a plain old Cruzer Titanium flash drive, with no encryption. I may as well have continued to use my previous Titanium drive. I was fit to be tied, and I complained to SanDisk about this. I was told that in order to have the encryption capabilities, I would need to have the U3 software installed on the drive. I thought this was supposed to be hardware encryption! Why would I need that rotten U3 slop on my drive in order to have encryption? Well, after going around and around with SanDisk and ultimately getting nowhere, I eventually ended up purchasing an encryption utility called "Lockngo" by Keynesis. This utility, although a bit slow, allowed me to enable file encryption on my new Cruzer Titanium Plus drive. Since I wanted 256-bit AES encryption, plus the ability to use the "Quick Lock" feature, I had to purchase the Professional version of the Lockngo software. This cost me $39.00. When added to the cost of the new SanDisk Ultra Cruzer Titanium Plus 4GB flash drive, I ended up spending a grand total of $93.99. What a complete waste of money! I feel that SanDisk has really bent me over on this issue and I really wish I had never invested the extra money to buy a flash drive that supposedly came with hardware encryption. The product description and instruction manual never stated that uninstalling the U3 software would wipe away all ability to use this encryption feature. Oh Bollocks!
Well I went ahead and registered the new drive with the BoomerangIt service, and attached the little badge to the flash drive with the provided chain. Within a month of carrying the Cruzer flash drive in my pants pocket, all of the print on that little badge completely wore off. Nice! Now anyone who finds my drive will not have the instructions about contacting the BoomerangIt service so that the drive can be returned to me. Double Bollocks!!
So to summarize my dreadful experience; my employer advised me that I could no longer use my non-encrypted SanDisk Ultra Cruzer Titanium flash drive, so I trusted the claims of the new SanDisk Ultra Cruzer Titanium Plus flash drive and purchased one (at top dollar, since it had just been released). I then removed the preinstalled U3 software, as I didn't want the troubles that are associated with it. This fateful decision caused my brand new drive to lose its encryption abilities and it basically just became a more expensive version of the standard Ultra Cruzer Titanium drive. SanDisk Support was absolutely no help, so I then purchased a 3rd party file encryption utility, which cost me another $39.00 out of pocket. I then registered my drive for the free BoomerangIt service, in case I was to misplace my drive. Within a month, all of the print on the attached BoomerangIt service badge was completely worn off. On top of this, there was no pocket clip or lanyard included in the Ultra Cruzer Titanium Plus package, so there is no safe way to carry the drive other than in your pants pocket (which is how the print on the service badge got worn off). Other than the horrible experiences I have mentioned above, this new flash drive works great. It provides fast read/write speeds and the build quality is top shelf. If fact, it works just as well as my older SanDisk Ultra Cruzer Titanium flash drive. Wait a minute, if it only works as good as the older drive, then why did I spend all of this extra money for the newer drive? Hmm....GOOD QUESTION! I have been asking myself that question for the past 4 months now!
I have read that the latest release of the Ultra Cruzer Titanium Plus no longer comes with the U3 software preinstalled. I think that is a wonderful improvement. I am wondering how the encryption feature works on the drive now. They must have utilized some different software to make it work. However, I still cannot find anything on the SanDisk support site, regarding a firmware or software download that could restore the original encryption capabilities of my drive. Then again it doesn't really matter anymore since I already spent a bunch of money to purchase 3rd party software to give me this capability. Although I am happy with the durability and data transfer speeds of the Ultra Cruzer Titanium Plus, I am extremely unhappy with the way the features of this drive must be utilized, the lack of documentation to let consumers know that U3 was needed for encryption, and the appallingly poor customer service that SanDisk provided me with. If I were to rate this product strictly on the personal experience I have had, I would give it 1 star. However, since I do believe that it is a great drive for file storage, and now that I find that SanDisk has done away with that preinstalled U3 software, I am giving this product 3 stars for the quality and speed of the flash drive itself. I am sure that people who purchase the drive new today will have a much better experience, now that SanDisk has worked out the software issues. However, unless they redesigned the BoomerangIt badge so that the text doesn't wear off so easily, you will likely never get your Cruzer Titanium Plus drive back again if you lose it. And SanDisk, if you're reading this, would you be so kind as to send me a pocket clip for this drive? I think I have more than paid for it! =o)
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good Buy, April 6, 2008
I've used Sandisk drives for years and have never had one fail. My other drives are mico drives (1, 2, & 4 GB)and they all have held up to multiple runs through our washer and dryer, because I often forget them in my pocket. I purchased this new drive for additional storage and daily use. The backup software was a consideration, but it is only for use with the U3 software. Which I'm not a big fan of. If you uninstall the U3 software, you'll remove the automatic online backup features. Sandisk doesn't have the software to reinstall the U3 software with the backup software available yet. They promise my it will be available soon.
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