Cruzer Micro Really Skimps on Size But That's A Good Thing!

Brand name... check. Small size... check. Nice looking... well good enough. Decent amount of file space... 512MB is not too shabby. Smaller than the average USB key... double check!

Here we have the SanDisk 512MB Cruzer Micro. This USB drive is about two-thirds the size of the Cruzer Mini and adds USB 2.0 support. Note that Sandisk currently sells three types of Cruzer Flash drives... the low end Cruzer Mini, this one the Cruzer Micro, and the high end Cruzer Titanium. Sandisk in the past sold a Cruzer drive that was much bigger and used SD cards for storing data.

Pricing

Now I bought this from Amazon.com for $45 before a $20 mail-in rebate from Sandisk... so I paid $25 for a 512MB Sandisk Cruzer Micro. You can read my epinion The Art of Buying... Getting your money's worth! for some tips on shopping for better deals without going to shady stores.

Short Take

Overall, the Sandisk Cruzer Micro has performed well but there are some problems I find with the design of the Micro. The location of the lanyard attachment is at the opposite end from the USB connector... this is a problem in that the cap doesn't fit very tightly to that end when you're using the drive. Regardless, the caps quickly develop a loose fit after a few uses.

In the end, the drive is significantly smaller than other Brand name USB flash drives which makes this a bit more appealling. Also, Sandisk is planning to release 1, 2, and 4 GB versions of this drive as well.

My personal experience with the original Cruzer SD drive, two Cruzer mini drives, and this Cruzer micro has been very good. Up to now, I have not had any failures with the Sandisk branded USB flash drives to date (note that I have heard of frequent complaints by others on drive failure) and do trust these drives over the Lexar drives I own.

Specs?

The Cruzer Micro is silver and light grey in color encased in clear thick smooth plastic for protection. The dimensions are 7.9mm H x 18.95mm W x 52.2mm L which is slightly smaller than the JumpDrive Sport without the rubber cap. The unit is significantly smaller than the Cruser Mini. The end of the unit sports a large eyelet made of plastic for a lanyard or a keyring. The USB connector cover can fit over the lanyard so you don't lose the cap (unless you attached the Cruzer Micro to a keyring or large rope/chain... on the other hand, the thin fiber from the lanyard starts to fray when you attach the cap to that end of the unit). The eyelet houses a bright blue LED to show drive activity. The translucent USB connector caps fit snugly over the USB connector but quickly become loose after several uses. The included sleeve connector is useful in you put the unit in your pocket or with your keys... but the sleeve adds a bit of bulk for the added protection. The sleeve seems to be made of the same clear plastic material that composes the casing of the Cruzer Micro.

The Cruzer Micro easily fits into a USB port and will not block adjecent USB ports due to its thin profile. Recessed USB ports are not a problem and you will get a solid connection with the Cruzer Micro.

I am unsure of the official read and write speed of this drive are... but they should be similar to other USB 2.0 flash drives. I am assuming around 5-6 MB per second.

Transfer Speeds

I tried multiple computers with USB 2.0 ports, transferring about 275MB of data took a fairly consistent 4 to 5 minutes both reading and writing. Times seemed to be fairly consistent on multiple computers. When using the USB 1.0/1.1 ports, I transferred the same 275MB in about 15 to 18 minutes.

Compatibility?

Like the Lexar 1GB JumpDrive Sport, I've only tried on Windows OS systems so far. I haven't had any problems if the OS was Windows 98SE or higher. The Cruzer Micro pops up as a removable drive in My Computer on Win XP. Note I had to install drivers for the drive to work in Win98SE however.

Accessories?

The Cruzer Micro comes with a few accessories like the rather weak lanyard attachment (I broke that within three months of use), two protective USB connector caps (I lost one already), and a protective sleeve cap (already too loose after 30 uses) that covers the USB connector and the sides of the entire Cruzer Micro. Sandisk now sells additional caps if you lose them.

On the Cruzer Micro comes three pieces of software. The CruzerLock 2 allows you to encrypt files on the Cruzer Micro for security. CruzerSync 2 allows sync Outlook data to the Cruzer Micro... note that this is only a 30-day trial version. You have to purchase the full version. The last piece of software is Cruzer Pocket Cache which allows you to backup software and files from your PC to the Cruzer Micro. This software only has a 7 day trial period however.

Sandisk sells a Cruzer Micro MP3 companion which I've heard decent things about... but don't have hands on experience with at this time.

Warranty?

Sandisk offers a Two year limited warranty. I have only two experiences with Sandisk customer service on two SD cards that failed with use on a newly released PalmOne Tungsten T3 (when the unit was first introduced to market). I had problems with the customer service at that time since they claimed that the failure was due to PalmOne's Tungsten T3 device but I eventually got Sandisk to replace the SD cards for a nominal shipping fee.

Reviews of Other USB Flash Drives

SanDisk Cruzer Mini 256MB version

Lexar JumpDrive Sport 1GB version