SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ6-8192-A11
by SanDisk
|
List Price: Our Price: $10.00 You Save: $34.99 (78%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Category: CE See more product details |
|---|
Customers in the UK,
Buy this product at amazon.co.uk
for British Pounds
Digital Cameras Photo Reviews of SanDisk Cruzer Micro 8 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ6-8192-A11
Customer Review: SanDisk's 8GB Cruzer Micro - Great All-Around USB Drive
Summary: 4 Stars
SanDisk 8 GB Cruzer Micro
The Cruzer Micro is a great USB flash drive with some significant advantages. You don't have to worry about losing the cap. There is a chance of getting dust in the head, so make sure to clean it from time to time with compressed air. Kingston also makes some retractable USB models as well, but in general I still prefer SanDisk.
This guy has 2, 4 and 8 GB sizes. 8GB is kind of the minimum size I would purchase at this point, since I have a ton of smaller drives already. This guy has the smallest case out of regular USB drives out there. The only way to get smaller storage is to my a memory card or a micro drive.
The small slot and ring are not really sturdy enough to secure this drive. The Cruzer Slide, on the other hand, has a nice attachment ring. But it is much bigger than the Micro, meaning that many users will still opt for this one instead.
I make a point of obliterating the U3 software whenever I get a new drive. That way I don't have to worry about it loading itself every time I insert it. It just slows it down and I don't use those apps anyway.
Pros:
+ Great storage capacity in a brand that honors their warrantees
+ The case is small and attractive
+ The slide-back head means there is no cap to be lost
+ Nice color options for different tastes
+ Durable body and NAND memory stands up to a lot of abuse
+ Compatible with old and new Mac and PC Operating Systems (XP, Vista, OS X)
+ USB 2.0 connection is backwards compatible for older computers
+ Easy to format and enable encryption to protect your data
+ Prices are nice on a $ per gigabyte basis
Cons:
- Personally I'm not crazy about the U3 software on Sandisk USB drives
- The attachment slot is small and somewhat flimsy
- Not as easy to hook it on to things as the Cruzer Slide
- Still somewhat slow speed in copying large files, limited by USB transfer rate
Overall this is a great USB drive with good capacity. If you need something you can easy attach to key-chains and don't mind a slightly larger body, you may want to step up to the Cruzer Slide. If you want the smallest most stylish USB drive you can get, this is it.
Enjoy!
Customer Review: Mac users -- do not buy!
Summary: 1 Stars
I don't think I've written a review on Amazon for probably five or six years, but the Sandisk Cruzer 8GB has made me change my ways. I can't speak for PC users, but if you use Macs, don't get this drive. What's wrong with it?
1) Sandisk has installed some lame PC only software on the Cruzer. I have no idea what this stuff is, but it looks like junk and it's one of the reasons I dislike PCs in general. Companies are always installing "helpful" applications on their drives. Well, the road to Hell is paved with good intentions.
Okay, so that's not worthy of a 1 star review. What else?
2) The aforementioned software can't be simply deleted by dragging it to the trash (like, oh, any other application known to mankind). No, you must download an uninstaller from Sandisk and run the uninstaller. If you're thinking, "Couldn't they have at least included the uninstaller on the drive?" you would be one step ahead of the folks at Sandisk.
If it otherwise works, maybe that would make the Cruzer worthy of a 3-star or 2-star review. But wait, there's more.
3) The real kicker is that (at least on a Mac) you cannot leave this drive plugged in and then put your computer to sleep. If you do, the computer may not wake up, it may wake up but the Finder will crash, or -- at the very least -- when you wake up the Cruzer will not properly eject. In the last -- and best case -- last scenario, you try over and over to Apple=E the drive, nothing happens, and then when you finally physically pull the drive out of its USB slot in frustration, Apple gives you the warning that says, "You didn't properly eject this drive." In the first, and worst case, scenario you will lose unsaved applications, etc.
To be fair, this could be a problem on Apple's part. Maybe there's some incompatibility in OS X? Then again, after problems #1 and #2 I don't feel like being fair. I blame the Cruzer.
The drive itself has not failed me as a backup solution; it seems to save files and retrieve them just fine, at least so far. (I've had it about 6 months.) But I've lost my trust in it... and that's means its pretty worthless as a memory device.
Buyer beware.
Customer Review: 8 GB worth of nothing!
Summary: 1 Stars
I specifically bought this drive for use as my mp3 storage drive for my new Ford Fusion, which has the Microsoft Sync option. I spent two days trying to figure out how to get my mp3 collection onto the drive, and indexed properly so that the Sync software would recognize the music. I successfully transfered 1.1 GB of music that Sync would kinda recognize. Once plugged into my car I had to specify the name of the album for the music to play. If I tried the name of the artist, maybe 2-3 songs would be recognized, when there were multiple FULL albums by the specified artist actually stored on the drive. If tried to select music by genre, again only 2-3 songs would be recognized instead of the 100 plus that were actually on the drive. Again these problems were for the music that worked, because after the 1.1 GB, no more music could be recognized. It didn't matter what song/album/artist I tried transferring, what format the tracks were mp3/wma no further music could be recognized. The tracks would successfully transfer to the device via my laptop, and "show up" on the drive when viewed through my laptop's usb port, but they would NOT work with Sync.
For two days I researched online what the problem may be, I thought it was a problem with the Sync software in my car, or maybe mp3s were missing metadata ect. I mean it couldn't be my brand new state of the art Sandisk Flash Drive right? WRONG! After endlessly changing the metadata for a bunch of my mp3s in variously different ways looking for a way to make them work, I decided to try something else. I transfered the EXACT SAME ALBUMS , with the EXACT SAME METADATA, to an old 512 MB thumb drive that I have had for about 3-4 years. Guess what...., THESE SAME ALBUMS/ARTISTS/TRACKS were recognized by Sync FLAWLESSLY!!!!
This piece of "top of the line" garbage wasted 48-72 hours of my life. I will NEVER buy another Sandisk product. And if you are smart, you will do the same. This product receives one star because Zero stars is not an option. I feel guilty giving this product one star, because that is how terrible it is. One star is being WAY too generous.
Customer Review: Great little All in One Resource Device, for your Data & Programs
Summary: 5 Stars
As I started writing this review, I almost knocked off one star (down to 4), because the casing is just a little flimsy...not bad, but you have to treat it nicely. Also, the thumb switch is really cool, until you start trying to plug it into ports, on multiple computers. Some Dell ports are a nightmare. However I learned, a long time ago, to always carry a small USB extension, after watching a former boss dirty his knees, each day, trying to plug in his USB flash drive.
The sliding thumb switch issue is easily resolved, by keeping a short extension handy, and the main reason I am not reducing the number of stars is due to one, important factor:
I have accidentally washed this thumb drive, several times, due to lack of sleep (college), and/or not drinking enough coffee, before starting laundry.
Each time, the drive has not only survived (though I had to use a hair dryer, to dry it up, once!)...but it has always performed without any problems.
The case may seem a bit flimsy, but it seems to lock out the water, and prevents the chips from being drenched!
Also, the U3 system is very nice. You can import email, or do a quick Thunderbird "hack" to transfer your email, into the drive. You can walk around with all of your bookmarks saved, and all of the U3 options make college life much easier! If you are doing a big research project, U3 is the way to go. You can bookmark, save, download, email, use your college website, and the Library resources...save all of your work...and dash off, to class.
Same with office workers. Just plug in the U3, and enter your password, if you keep it locked, then open your Apps, and you can "pick up where you left off," as they say around this area.
However, if you want more storage space, and more options.... Please see my review for Corsair 32GB Flash Voyager USB 2.0 Flash Drive - CMFUSB2.0-32GB.
Customer Review: Unneeded Software Ads Included!
Summary: 3 Stars
The 8 MB Cruzer Micro may seem like an upgrade from a 4 GB flash drive (like my Kingston), but it actually only has 6.66 MG of storage space. That is still a great amount but there is a reason 1.4 MG of space is taken up with unnecessary programs that cannot be deleted. Every time you insert the Cruzer in a USB port, you get options of installing U3 `Launchpad' and U3 `Smart Programs', of which are `YouSendIt', 'Veoh Web Player', 'Launchpad Tour', 'SignUp Shield' and others.
Granted that it is great to have so much space for MP3's, photos and lots of data, but these inerasable programs are a real nuisance. Most of them are too expensive anyway. I'd suggest buying two 4 GB flash sticks as opposed to this one unless you can figure out how to `normalize' this memory stick. The transfer rate is about the same on this as any memory stick. The little metal hoop hook-on is ridiculously flimsy. It would be nice to have a plastic attached hole to affix this to you keychain or something similar.
It is nice, however, to not have a cap and I like the slide-able USB connection with an orange LED so you can see that it is on and working. The Cruzer `safely remove hardware' feature is also convenient instead of searching the lower right corner of your monitor for the little icon to `safely remove'. You don't want to lose data by pulling it out 'unsafely'.
UPDATE: Thanks to "Texguy63" for his info on how to remove that unwanted pre-installed software. "To remove U3 and get your space back, you can go to the SanDisk website and download the "U3 LaunchPad Remover". Go to this link (http://www.sandisk.com/driverdownload/download.asp?driverId=2), click "Skip Registration" and on the last page, download the remover.
I used this on my Micro Cruizer 1gb and it worked perfectly".