SanDisk Cruzer Micro: A Quick Look
Thumb drives have become floppy disk replacements for things like transferring documents from work to home, and running applications directly off of them on public PCs, today I'm taking a look at the SanDisk Cruzer Micro in its 4GB capacity.
At first glance, the Cruzer Micro looks like any usual USB flash drive or thumb drive, but it has no cap. The slider in the top of the drive allows you to slide in/out the USB plug for easy accessibility, and so you don't have to keep track of that pesky little cap that is hidden under your couch. The SanDisk Cruzer Micro measures 7.94mm x 20.6mm x 57.15mm which is quite small once you get a look at it.
Enough of the size, let's get on to the good stuff. When you first get the device, there really is nothing to do but...plug it in! No drivers, no software, nothing. It's all on the thumb drive, handy, eh? Included on the thumb drive is the U3 software bundled on many other thumb drives today, along with a few applications which include but are not limited to: CruzerSync, Avast antivirus, Skype voice over internet software, and last but not least, SignupShield. I won't go over the details of each application, but they work like magic. Encryption can be used to secure the files and the U3 application itself.
The U3 application is similar to the start menu found on traditional Windows-based computers, and offers easy navigation between applications and browsing the thumb drive.
U3 also enables software developers to make their applications portable on a U3 smart drive with minimal effort. U3 smart drives and U3 compatible software — we call it "U3 smart software" — will make portable computing more personal, private and protected. Now consumers can access their most important information and software from any Windows XP or Windows 2000 PC without having to lug around a laptop."
Under our tests, we found no problems using portable versions of popular applications like Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Trillian (an IM client with multiple protocols); in addition to the applications already included on the thumb drive. Unfortunately, we encountered slowdowns in using the applications compared to installing them on a hard drive (7200RPM w/ 8MB cache).
The SanDisk Cruzer Micro also includes a lanyard for easy portability, and we found the build quality of the thumb drive to be excellent. Overall, we can somewhat recommend this thumb drive to any type of computer user.
The Cruzer Micro is available today at most online retailers including the ones listed at Shopzilla, our partner in it's 512MB, 1GB, 2GB, and 4GB capacities.
Spark'd Rating: 4.5 out of 5. Almost superb product, slow file-transfer speeds and programs suffered from a slowdown while loading the applications stored on the thumb drive. Great product with features like: encryption and the U3 technology.
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