Mini Cruzer Comes Through (Eventually)

I recently began work with a new company and they provided me with a laptop, which was great because I could work from home and not be tied to my PC. However, since I have slightly better software on the PC than the laptop (and it's easier to use keyboard and processor-wise), I still end up using my PC occasionally, as well. Unfortunately, that led me to having files on each computer with different document versions, which in turn meant a) having to hook up the home LAN to copy to and from the server; or b) emailing documents back and forth.

So, finding both methods to be somewhat cumbersome, I splurged to give myself Option C - a USB flash memory device to quickly transfer between the two - or potentially act a removable external hard drive. I looked at several versions, but had heard better reviews on SanDisk than several other and sometimes cheaper brands - plus, my wife's Nikon D70 camera used a SanDisk 1GB flash drive that had been great. So, that's the way I went, picking the 512MB version, figuring that should be more than enough for the documents, image comps and limited PhotoShop files I would need to transfer. I got it at Amazon for $39.95, which I thought was a steal.

[ • masterful piece of MINI MEMORY • ]
When I got it, I was amazed by how far technology has come to create a drive this big in this small a space. I joked with my wife that if I took this little device back to 1990, I would have been a god - not only because I had a hard drive of a whopping 512MB (as opposed to the 40MB monsters from then), but that it wasn't the size of a 4-slice toaster. Throw in the fact that it was 1/5 of the price, as well. But alas, onto modern times.

Still, this drive is pretty amazing because it is small. It measures only 7.9mm x 18.95mm x 52.2mm - smaller than a pack of Wrigley's gum or your car remote, and yet still takes enough memory to handle all of my transfer needs.

Anyway, I had bought this for a reason, so it was time to test it out. I inserted the microdrive into my laptop's USB port and waited for it to show up. It took a while to boot, but Windows 2000 saw it and loaded the drivers quickly. I opened the drive and moved some files to the drive. That's when things started to go screwy. As I watched the bright yellow light flashing (letting you know that it's working), I saw nothing moving - and then I got a warning that the device had failed due to an I/O error, and that all of my data had been lost. Uh-oh.

So I tried again with the same result - except that when I tried to "remove the hardware safely" by using the icon in the taskbar, the whole computer locked up. I removed the drive and then did a hard reboot of the laptop (Note: I have since found out that is the wrong thing to do). After the reboot, I reinserted the drive and tried it again - this time, it worked and accepted the copied files. I then moved to the PC (Windows XP) and everything worked fine. However, when I was done and wanted to move the files BACK to the laptop, I got the same error again.

So, I used my trusty Google to try to find an answer, but strangely couldn't. Then I went to the SanDisk site (funny, how they were the SECOND choice), and looked through their help files They weren't that helpful but they did have an option of emailing tech support, which I did. I have to say that they were very helpful, replying within 24 hours and telling me that if I reformat the drive, it should work fine. I did it and the drive has worked fine ever since. Strangely, the problem only occurred on the laptop running Windows 2000 - not WinXP. I don't know that it had anything to do with it, but thought it worth mentioning.

The drive is fairly speedy once it gets recognized, if not blazing fast. But heck, I'm only needing to transfer a limited number of files at this time so it's fast enough. If I was trying to fill it to capacity, the speed (13 MB/s WRITE, 15MB/s READ) might be more of a concern.

The drive actually comes with software pre-installed, although I can't say that I am really using any of it. It comes with CruzerLock 2, a data security program, as well as trial versions of PocketCache for back-up and CruzerSync to sync your Outlook & My Documents folders. However, keep in mind that installing these will decrease your available memory, which is already reduced by the operating software by about 20MB.

[ • what's IN THE BOX • ]
The drive comes with a few extras that are nice if not super cool. For one, in addition to the normal clear skin that it comes in, they provide you with pink and baby blue skins, as well. There is the software and it comes with a lanyard so that you can hang it around your neck. There's also a small keyring, should you want to keep it on your keychain instead.

[ • drive it HOME • ]
Now that I reformatted the drive, it seems to be working perfectly. I've gone back and forth between the laptop and my PC with limited lag and no problems, and have even saved directly to the drive to test that (worked fine). It must have been a glitch somewhere that was fixed when I formatted the drive.

So my experience since then - and overall - has been a good one. This drive saves me time transferring files and is small enough to carry on a keychain or in your pocket easily. For me, it has been a great solution to work between two computers.

[ • tech SPECS • ]
Memory » 512MB
Device Size » 7.9mm x 18.95mm x 52.2mm
Drive Type » USB 2.0 (backward compatible to 1.1)
Speed Rating » 87x
Write/Read Speed » 13MB/s, 15MB/s
Compatible with » Windows 98SE, ME, 2000, XP and Mac OS 9.1.x+, OS X v10.1.2+
Warranty » 2 Years
Includes » 3 skins (clear, blue, pink), lanyard, software