SanDisk 8GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive Review
The SanDisk 8GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive is a good example of how far flash based USB thumb drives have come in the past few years. When I first bought a USB thumb drive in 2003 I bought a 128MB drive for over $100. Today, you can buy a SanDisk 8GB USB Drive for well under $50. Let’s take a look at some of the features of the 8GB Cruzer Micro and see if it’s right for you.
review continued below…
Of course, everybody these days has a thumb drive. I have at least a dozen of them ranging in size from the 128MB up to the SanDisk 8GB. What helps set the Cruzer Micro apart from the crowd since a thumb drive is a thumb drive, right? Here are some features I found attractive about it.
One of the big selling points for me was the fact that the SanDisk 8GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive is a secure drive. I like to have certain sensitive information that I carry with me and I really needed the security offered by the U3 smart technology that allows you to carry files and software with you securely. This technology also allows you to carry your preferences like wallpaper, favorites and profiles with you to other PCs. One warning here though, you won’t be able to use this feature fully under Windows Vista or on a XP system that has been tightly secured itself, something that is increasingly common in businesses.
Another thing I liked about the SanDisk 8GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive was that it has a retractable USB port. Of those other USB drives I mentioned, I think I’ve lost the cap to about half of them. That won’t happen with the Cruzer Micro. The body seems tough and durable and the guts of SanDisk drives hold up well too. For example, I ran an older SanDisk thumb drive through a washing machine cycle and it still works fine.
The bottom line is that I think that if you’re in the market for a USB thumb drive you can’t go wrong with the SanDisk 8GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive, particularly at its current price point.
I think the retractable USB port on the SanDisk 8GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive is a very useful feature. Like you, I’ve lost the caps off a bunch of these little fellows, and it leaves them wide open to getting damaged when I toss my thumb drive into my backpack.
Hi Gothic,
Losing the cap is always a problem. One of the worst designs for a thumb drive I ever saw was a Lexar that had the loop for the lanyard on the cap, not on the drive. Hey, if you lost the drive you would still have the cap.
I’ve been using one of these SanDisk 8GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drives for while now, and I’ve been very pleased.
Personally, I’ve found the U3 smart technology to be more trouble than it’s worth, given the level of security on most corporate machines. I’m confident that the computers in my office are secure, as are my machines at home, so I’ve taken to using my SanDisk 8GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive without the U3 and I’ve yet to see any problems.
I like my SanDisk 8GB Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive very much … I use the Portable Apps suite and am able to carry pretty much my whole office on a thumb drive! Combining that drive with my Cect 168 Phone gives me a portable office so that I can work easily almost anywhere I want to.
hi Frank, I got an email from buy.com two days ago for a 4mb thumbdrive drive for $15 with free shipping. I don’t know if I really need it, but for that price I couldn’t resist. I can’t even remember the brand right now (maybe Kingston?) but it was a name brand. It doesn’t have the retractable USB connector (ir I understand what that it), but a review of it said that like a ball point pen, you can stick the cap on the OTHER end when you’re not using it so that you don’t loose it. Seems cool. I can’t believe how cheap these things are getting. ~ Steve (no portable thumb drives here but plenty of portable trade show booths)
hi Frank, I got the 4gb Kingston USB drive yesterday for buy.com. I’m happy with it but it doesn’t work in my old computer’s front USB port, but works fine in the back USB2 port. The drive is USB 2.0. I assumed it would work with USB also, but maybe it doesn’t? The 128mb thumbdrive I’ve been using on the front must just be USB. Anyway, your readers may want to keep in mind if they have any older computer with USB 1.0 ports, these USB 2.0 drives might not work. Then again, I could be wrong… but it doesn’t work on mine. I’m happy though because it works fine on my laptop and it’s not that big of a deal to go around to the back of the dektop computer. ~ Steve (aka Mr Trade Show Booths, aka the guy with the old computer that keeps thinking he should get a new one!)
Hi Steve,
I’ve seen problems with the front USB ports on some computers. They sometimes aren’t powered properly, which can cause problems, or they’re on a bus that lags too much for true USB 2.0 compatibility.