Product Description

"The SanDisk Cruzer Micro is an incredibly small USB Flash Drive that connects to a computers USB port. Cruzer™ Micro is an incredibly small USB Flash Drive (UFD) that connects to a computer's USB port. With capacities ranging from 512MB to 4GB, users can easily store their key documents, pictures, music and video clips on a Cruzer™ Micro and transfer them to another computer with a USB port. Cruzer™ Micro is small, portable, and the compact size fits on any keychain. The New retractable USB port eliminates the need for caps and protects your port. Cruzer™ Micro provides the latest in UFD technology, a U3 smart capable flash drive. With U3, your programs are available at any time on any PC and is loaded with the following U3 programs; CruzerSync syncronization tools, Signupshield password manager, Skype software and AVAST virus scan."

Product Details

• Brand: SanDisk
• Model: SDCZ6-4096-A11
• Released on: 2006-03-16
• Platforms: Mac, Windows
• Format: CD
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .30" h x .75" w x 2.00" l, .20 pounds

Features

• 4 GB Capacity
• 2 year Warranty
• High speed USB 2.0 Certified
• U3 Smart enabled
• Brilliant Amber LED

From the manufacturer
Cruzer Micro is an incredibly small USB Flash Drive (UFD) that connects to a computer's USB port. With capacities ranging from 512MB to 4GB, users can easily store their key documents, pictures, music and video clips on a Cruzer Micro and transfer them to another computer with a USB port.

Cruzer Micro is small, portable, and smart. Small, compact size fits on any keychain. New retractable USB port eliminates the need for caps and protects your USB connector.

Cruzer Micro includes U3 smart technology. Co-Invented by SanDisk, U3 gives you the ability to carry your files AND your software on a USB drive. You can have your wallpaper, preferences, favorites, profiles, and more - everything you need for a familiar computing experience on any PC, wherever you go. Your digital universe on a USB drive.

Features

• Retractable USB connector
• Brilliant amber LED
• U3 smart enabled
• Loaded with U3 programs: CruzerSync synchronization software, SignupShield password manager, SKYPE, AVAST antivirus software
• Hi-Speed USB 2.0 certified (backwards compatible with all USB 1.1 ports)
• Compatible with Windows 2000, SP4 and XP
• Certified Windows 2000 and XP

Customer Reviews

Great thumb drive, U3 software not as good as expected.
The thumb drive performs well and is up to Sandisk quality. Having 4GB capacity is great, I had outgrown my 1GB Lexar device. I currently use 3.5GB to carry around software as a computer professional as well as some personal files. The drive is slim allowing insertion in 'tight spots' at the rear of computers.

The feature that attracted me to this unit is the U3 software and the bundled apps such as Avast anti-virus and Skype. Being able to run your favorite apps on any computer using your preferences is wonderful. The drive can be optionally protected via a password which is important to me since I keep scans of important documents on it 'just in case' they go astray.

The U3 software isn't as good as expected however, here are my findings about the U3 software.

It is slow to run on older computers. I have come across one computer it crashes on everytime I insert the drive (Medion brand computer). Since my files are password protected I can't get to them on that computer. To be fair I have run the software on dozens of other computers without a hitch.

The password protection works well, however I preferred the Lexar secure drives, they partition the drive into 2 areas, a protected and unprotected area. Making the entire drive secure prevents me 'passing on' my drive for someone to load a file on their system unless I type my password in, which of course gives them access to all my sensitive files as well.

Running software apps as part of the U3 platform works quite well, both Sandisk and U3 provide a wide range of software to choose from, much of which is free. I have Firefox, Thunderbird, Gimp, Avast, Open Office, an FTP client and much more available to me while I use another computer. I find the apps run too slowly to be my primary software platform as I hoped it would become, this is true even on USB 2.0 systems, on 1.1 systems it's hopelessly slow. Consequently I use the application software more as a troubleshooting tool or option of last resort. Both U3 and Sandisk 'certify' the apps they provide as true U3 applications which means when you run the software from the thumb drive it will not impact the host computer at all after it is unplugged. The downside to this certification is that the latest versions of apps are not immediatly available until they go through the certifcation process.

Someone else here complains that the U3 software cannot be removed. It can, there is a special removal tool available from U3 website. Warning - once removed it can never be reloaded on the device, they do not and will not provide a downloadable version of U3. I have updated the U3 software and apps from the Sandisk website without any hitches.

I would unload the U3 software if I didn't also lose the password security. If you do not need security and want a better option to run your apps, I suggest 'Portable Apps' (do a google search on portableapps) as an alternative to the U3 software. Using the PStart utility to replace the U3 launchpad you can make it run as well as the U3 software and gain the ability to run the very latest apps of your choice without waiting for U3 or Sandisk to certify it. You can also copy the entire contents to another drive or backup the drive to a personal computer. System transfer or total backup can't be done with the U3 platform. I run the portable apps software on my Sandisk U3 drive with great results, I rarely use the U3 certified apps anymore and have unloaded most of them.

Great Travel Companion
I travel 3-5 days per week in my job and end up using many different computers. That's why I love U3. I use Firefox to keep all of my bookmarks and plug-ins available on any computer. I use Thunderbird to manage my personal e-mail. I use Zinio Reader to store and read the several digital magazines to which I subscribe to avoid paper. I can do all of this from any computer with USB anywhere I go without having any effect on that computer. This is great given my company's incredibly rigid IT policy (absolutely no personal software on company machines, including laptops).

U3 can be a bit slow, but not frustratingly so. You can set your computer to not run U3 on connecting.

The drive has great capacity in a small and durable package. I recommend it to any traveler.

It works fine with a Mac
To clear up some confusion, the DRIVE works fine on a Mac, the SOFTWARE doesn't work at all. When I inserted this drive into my Mac (OS X.4.7) my computer said it was a blank CD and I needed to select which program I wanted to use with it. I selected Disk Utility so I could erase the drive and selected Mac OS (Journaled). Once I did that (and provided a name), it works just fine. It's very fast for transfers and I'm a happy camper.

If you want to keep this drive available to transfer data back and forth between Macs and PCs, do what I just suggested, but select MS-DOS File System for the formatting. This will ease the U3 software on the drive, but who cares. Note: if you do format the drive for this format (and not Mac formatting) file transfer on the Mac will suffer a performance hit. That's just the way it is. When you run a PC formatted disk on a Mac, you have to have some emulation going on and that eats up cycles. However, if you place a Mac formatted disk into a PC, it will not know what to do at all other than to offer to erase the drive. So, if you want/need to play with PCs you will have to accept the performance hit. If you never go near PCs, just format for Mac and be a happy camper too.

Since the U3 software is irrelevant to me, my review is not based on the significance that I removed it entirely from the drive.