SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ6-4096-E11
by SanDisk
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Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SanDisk Cruzer Micro 4 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ6-4096-E11
Customer Review: Sneaky auto-load software is never good
Summary: 1 Stars
Let me start out by saying that my job requires me to carry a jump drive and the security rules on my network do not allow me to install or use any software not specifically installed and licensed by the IT Dept. So of course I loaded it up at home.
I purchased one of these and expected there to be some software preloaded which I would simply delete and continue using it as a Windows compatible mass storage device. How wrong I was. After inserting the drive it installed the software automatically. So a little annoyed that it didn't even ask me I went into my XP Control Panel and selected add or remove programs. Well I couldn't remove the software from my hard drive because it was not listed.
So I went on to attempt deleting the software off of the Cruzer itself. Then I noticed that in addition to adding the Cruzer as a drive it had also created a second CD-Rom drive. I went into hardware settings and removed it.
Well after this all seemed well so I removed the drive and reinserted it. It reinstalled the same extra drive and loaded the software. I opened the drive and checked to ensure I was viewing all hidden files and to my suprise those files I had deleted were back. So I loaded up my nasty software removal tool which will wipe any trace of a file and deleted them again. I uninstalled the extra CD-Rom drive it had added and reinserted it. Same thing, everything loaded up as if I had never touched it and those stupid files I deleted are back.
The only other time I had an experience similar to this was when my computer years ago was hijacked by some malicious software. So I started getting pretty irritated that I had spent $30 on a piece of junk that was likely loaded with spyware.
Well at this point I started thinking about returning the item just for behaving this way. So I took some time googling the drive and found mountains of complaining about the drive online. I did find that the developer of this sneaky software (U3) has had such a crises they have provided a removal tool on their website. If you google "U3 removal software" you will find it. Of course to download it and uninstall the software you have to tell them about ten times that yes you do want to remove everything from you Cruzer and yes you understand that it will become "just a flash drive." Good lord that is what I wanted in the first place.
Some advice, don't buy this junk. Show the manufacturers that consumers will not stand for this type of behavior and no software should be installed on your computer without your express consent. Furthermore you should be able to delete or remove any piece of information you want without them trying to force it back on. This is the most ridiculous experience I have ever had with a piece of computer hardware and I will not be buying from this company anymore.
Customer Review: I am taking mine back.
Summary: 1 Stars
I bought two of these flash drives in the simple hope and expectation of unloading from my computer files like photos, correspondence, recipes -- stuff that I do not access often.
The drives both connected ok the first time on the USB hub for my home computer. My work computer (which is WAY more sophisticated than my home laptop) did not detect either of them AT ALL. At work, I got no response whatsoever, and the second time I tried them at home, I got a blinking light and an error message.
I have wasted four to six evenings of my short, nonworking life, online, searching for solutions to the problem when I could have been pursuing a hundred or so other and more productive and/or more entertaining activities.
But I found a solution: take the SanDisk drives back to the store tomorrow, get my money back, AND although I have purchased a lot of SanDisk products to great satisfaction, don't buy SanDisk -- at least not until it has proved itself again.
Re the USB3, I didn't like the extra software issues. First, all I wanted was a flashdrive and the packaging did not make it clear that this drive included a lot more than an ability to remember.
Second, I really hated the fact that the computers didn't detect the drives. What is the point of having a flash drive if no one and nothing but you knows it is there? I think that the retractable USB connector maybe isn't a stable, viable design. Go out and buy one and plug it in (very tight fit), then take it out and try wiggling the connection and you feel will how loose it is.
Third, when I put it in the USB hub, I got a variety of colors. Steady strong orange indicates a good connection. In my case, I had/have mostly flashing colors -- telling me that the unit is not connected, but is at least, detected. I had an alternately fading and brightening orange, presumably telling me that it is "sorta" connected but fading like the toner in the photocopy machine before it totally blanks out..
I cannot blame my USB hub because this has never, ever been an issue with my other connections and yes, I checked the lights for the other connections, all of which are strong and steady.
This Sandisk device seems to be poorly designed for the purposes for which it was intended. I tried but I am throwing in the towel
Anyone who has a recommendation for an alterate choice, respond ASAP.
ciao sandisk//l
Customer Review: It's functional, so please quit your complaining...
Summary: 4 Stars
I was surprised to have read some on the online reviews of this product. It seems that many a nit-picking nerd were complaining about how 'painfully' slow the SanDisk 4GB Cruzer is in tranferring data. What gives! I've had mine for about a month, and so far I don't have *anything* to complain about. And check out that price! Just a couple of years ago, we the consumer would have shelled out at least 200 bucks for a USB flash drive with the same capacity. Come to think of it, I don't there were *any* thumbdrives that were offered to the general public with 4GB capacity.
In my mind what makes this unit stand out from the pack is the cool U3 integrated software. Essentially, the software package preinstalled on the Cruzer is a minimalist OS that allows the user to launch and download U3-specific programs for use on *any* PC. Try doing that with your Dad's thumb drive. I was really pleased when I realized that my Cruzer came with the mighty Avast! U3 edition antivirus program. I could configure Avast! av to launch at startup to maximize av protection when I used the drive on public PCs, such as the campus PC which I'm using now. U3 has a 'Download Central' site where I can go to download other usefull apps as needed, many of which are totally free. Other features include an LED to let the user know not to disengage the drive while the drive is active, a necessary password protection system, user-enabled automatic U3 Launchpad updates including resident program updates, and a file sync program, along with other features standard among thumb drives.
Now as for the slow file transfer issue, I can say that I don't have much data on the user partition, just basic jpegs and a few text files. If the reported slow transfer issue does arise, I would think it would occur when the user attempted to transfer somewhat large MP3 and video libraries to the Cruzer from their home PC's hard disk drive. Maybe the Cruzer is slow in this regard, the fact is I don't know and I don't have a benchmark to compare this unit to. But consider this: If it's large data files that you wish to move on a regular basis, why purchase a relatively small storage medium such as a thumb drive to do the job when a portable hdd would be much better investment. In my opinion the Sandisk 4GB Cruzer is a good choice for the average user who wants to have a portable, compact, price-advantaged thumb drive in their pocket.
Customer Review: Works just fine, U3 is NOT a hassle to remove
Summary: 4 Stars
I just bought this drive today, and within 2 minutes of plugging into my (somewhat old) Windows XP SP2 computer I was quite easily able to find the option within the U3 software to permanently remove the U3 files from the flash drive. It formats to 3.82GB using a FAT32 filesystem.
I don't know if this uninstall feature was recently added to the U3 software or not, but it was super simple to find without any instructions. Take other people's complaints to the contrary with a grain of salt. U3 is meant to be some kind of environment for running portable versions programs directly off the USB drive. A simple alternative to this is the suite of the Portable Apps available for free at [...] ... I don't see any particular benefit to using the proprietary U3, but it's not at all difficult to remove and not worth worrying about. It did leave a phantom G: drive in Windows, even after ejecting the flash drive, but this disappeared on reboot (after uninstalling U3) and it has not returned. I see no evidence that U3 made any permanent changes to my computer, there's no reason to be paranoid about it.
The sliding plug mechanism is made of plastic, and seems suspicious to me in the long run, although in my brief usage it has not been problematic. The translucent slider glows/blinks a red-orange color when mounted/accessed.
With the benchmarking program HD_speed, I got sustained read speeds of 25MB/sec and write speeds of 5MB/sec. I don't know if this is considered fast for a flash drive, but it seems reasonably quick to me. Anyone getting slow speeds with this drive probably doesn't have USB 2.0 ports.
In summary, it performs quickly enough and the preloaded software is easily removed. It does everything a flash drive is supposed to, although I would prefer a more physically robust design without moving parts. Minus one star for that. (Am I the only person who thinks that losing a plastic end cap is not a big deal?)
I bought this primarily to use with an Apple Powerbook, which, of course, works great.
Customer Review: I Wanted To Love It, But After The Second Bad One In A Row...
Summary: 1 Stars
Unlike other reviewers, I don't have any quibbles with the U3 software itself, because I simply ignore it and don't use it. What I have observed, however, is that the filesystem and/or firmware on these things seems very fragile.
I am on my second "4GB Cruzer Micro with U3" at the moment. The first one lasted about 5 months, until, through a series of mistakes, a comrade at work accidentally removed the data partition. No problem, said I, I'll simply undelete the partition and recover the filesystem. And that I did, successfully, or so I thought. Upon ejecting and reinserting the device, the data partition was once again missing. So, lesson #1: if anything *ever* happens to your data partition on one of these things, you are very likely screwed - forget about recovering or repairing the filesystem.
SanDisk actually was very helpful and understanding, and sent me another one after I went through their troubleshooting procedures. So I've had this second one for about 3 months, and it has worked great... until yesterday. Yesterday it just flat out stopped working. After inserting the device, it either lights up solid, or flashes slowly, or flashes in repeating cycles of 3 quick bursts (is it flashing Morse Code at me? S-S-S-S-S :-)) Regardless of the light pattern, the drive fails to mount about 95% of the time. I did briefly get it to mount yesterday on my Mac (I use Mac and XP about equally these days), and the filesystem looked OK, which made me think perhaps my PC was just confused. But still no luck on my PC(s). Today I tried again on my Mac and things got scary - it mounts the drive, but the filesystem is clearly hosed (most directories gone, most filenames are hammered).
All in all, I'd recommend that unless you really *need* the U3 utility features (I don't really), that you look elsewhere for your ThumbDrive/JumpDrive needs. SanDisk generally makes good products, but this one in particular seems a little too fragile and unreliable for road-warriors.
Caveat emptor!