I have been using SanDisk products since they first became available and have never had any issues with the 8GB, 16GB and 32 GB size. All have been 100% reliable over many years. (So far!) I think I there are still some 4GB units in daily use that continue to work flawlessly! Unfortunately, I can NOT say the same about the SanDisk Cruzer CZ36 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive, SDCZ36-064G-AFFP.
I bought my first 64GB model some time ago. In fact it was the SAME EXACT MODEL and it FAILED the SAME EXACT WAY as the one I just bought about a week ago.
My first 64GB drive decided to put itself into '-WRITE PROTECT MODE-' shortly after the 30 day warranty ran out so I could not return it for a refund. Based upon my experience with other Sandisk products I figured it was an isolated event and forgot about it since it was beyond the 30 day return period and there was nothing I could do about it anyway. Meanwhile, my old workhorse Sandisk 8 and 16GB SanDisk cruzer flash drives continued to work flawlessly.
Oh how I wish I had read the reviews for the 64GB model before purchasing another one!!!
I am a software developer and need a reliable device for backing up daily modifications to code that I write. I got about a week into my daily backup routine when all of a sudden I could no longer write to the SanDisk 64GB flash drive. Since I was using this on a Linux system I figured the read/write permissions somehow got changed.
After rebooting the machine and numerous checks with no change, I removed the 64GB Sandisk Flash from the system in question and tried it in several other computers. In fact, I tried it in every computer I had available to me and that includes systems running MSDOS, Windows 95, 98, XP, WIN7 and WIN10 as well as various Apple products running OS X, Android products with OTG ports, and of course the workhorse Linux computers which include several model Raspberry Pi including the latest Raspberry pi 3.
SAME ISSUE!
It appears my 1 week old SanDisk Cruzer CZ36 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive, SDCZ36-064G-AFFP had put itself into -WRITE PROTECT MODE-', the same exact failure mode of the previous unit. That's when I decided to check reviews on Amazon and this time sorted the reviews for this specific model flash drive and was shocked by what I saw.
Come on now. 518 critical reviews (?) and a very high number of them all claiming the same issue with the drive going into permanent write protect mode? That doesn't raise come kind of red flag that there is a serious issue with this device?
So here is my present situation.
I can not return the device for a refund without seriously compromising the proprietary in house source code which is now permanently stored on this device. The only solution is to back the data up to something more reliable then destroy the 64GB drive since there is no way to erase the data stored on that device.
I guess after I send this review to Amazon there will then be 519 critical reviews for this product. If I could give it ZERO stars I would as I consider it as product with a SERIOUS design issue. SanDisk may see this as a design feature (?) in order to '-PROTECT-' the data that is stored on the drive but in my case I see it as a VERY SERIOUS design flaw...
| Brand | SanDisk |
|---|---|
| Item model number | SDCZ36-016G-B35 |
| Hardware Platform | PC, Mac |
| Item Weight | 0.176 ounces |
| Product Dimensions | 0.82 x 0.44 x 2.37 inches |
| Item Dimensions LxWxH | 0.82 x 0.44 x 2.37 inches |
| Manufacturer | Western Digital Technologies Inc. |
| ASIN | B001XURP8G |
| Is Discontinued By Manufacturer | No |
| Date First Available | October 6, 2017 |
