SanDisk Cruzer Micro USB Flash Drive 4GB

With more than enough space for you to store your music, photos and work, this 4GB USB is perfect for those who like and need to transfer work from computer to computer, for instance this is perfect for students, and even those who just want that little bit more memory for there computer. The U3 feature is great, but doesn't work for Mac OS. A U3 description can be found online describing it's features.

Very compact design with retractable USB head. Buyers be aware though that the U3 functionality does not work with Vista at the time of writing. SanDisk have promised a firmware update Q3 07, but who knows.... Full functionality in XP. 5 stars XP, 4 stars Vista.

First of all, this is a super small USB flash drive and which feels really solid and well-made in its metal casing. The outer rubber sleeve just adds to the overall well thought out design of this drive.

Important Feature No. 1
I handle quite a lot of flash drives which belong to other people and find that many of them require a USB port that can supply 'full power', otherwise they simply refuse to work. These drives require you to then crawl around on the floor to insert them into a USB port which is often on the back of the machine and which is capable of supplying 'full power' or full current.

In contrat, the SanDisk Cruzer Micro works on any port without complaint. This is an important consideration when you are in a hurry and trying to mount files for other people's PowerPoint presentations etc; believe me it's not much fun discovering that a flash drive will not work in the port you have just inserted it into when you are short of time.

The above factor may indicate that this drive will last longer as it is drawing a lot less current (mA) than other drives.

Important Feature No. 2
The green light on the back is on or flashing all of the time and the rate of flash slows to a more deliberate blink when actually saving or reading files. This is good as it shows that the drive is registered with the machine and also shows when it is actually performing file saves/reads etc.

However, most importantly, when you demount the drive by using the Windows 'Safely Remove Hardware' tool in the System Tray, then if this action is successful the green light on the back of the drive will turn off and remain off - thus indicating that you can safely unplug the drive from its port.

I realise that the above features may seem trivial to some people, but a flash drive is a simple bit of kit anyway, but what you do want is for it to work reliably and not to have you 'scratch your head' over is it working or why won't it work in this USB port, or can I remove it safely.

Overall, one of the best little flash drives 'I have had the pleasure of working with'.

Thanks Play.com for making these available at such a great price.

Not sure about those negative reviews - must have been a bad batch?

It does what it says it does, basically. You'll know when it's plugged in - the slider that extends the USB plug glows bright orange.

The only slight snag I found was that the catch on the slider is sensitive, so when you insert this drive, hold it by the sides, not the faces. Other than that, I can't fault it, and certainly not when it's on offer at £18 or less!

This is a U3 USB Drive. This means that it will appear as two drives in Windows Explorer (2000, XP, Vista onwards) - one read-only "CD ROM", and the other as a normal removable storage drive. The read only partition contains the U3 software, which by default is set to auto-run when you insert the drive. This places a moveable icon on the desktop which is used to access the various functions and programs. This can still work, even if you have disabled the auto-run feature in Windows, by installing a very small program in your startup sequence that detects U3 devices. This is what I have done, and it works well.

If the U3 functionality is not for you, and you just want a 4GB USB drive, then it can be completely removed, restoring the drive to a single partition. However, this removes the ability to (easily) encrypt the drive contents (128bit AES), and make use of an excellent selection of portable programs, including Firefox U3, Skype, Outlook sync, and many others.

A U3 program runs entirely from the USB drive, and installs nothing on the PC it is plugged in to. This is very useful if you find yourself using a public computer. A good example is the built-in Outlook Sync App, which opens as "look-a-like" Outlook, and allows you to access your email on any PC with an internet connection, whilst retaining privacy. Emails that are downloaded whilst on a public PC will be syncronised with your "home" PC when you next plug it in - those emails are also not stored on the public PC.

For the ultra paranoid, a U3 version of the popular iPig VPN client is available. This allows you to encrypt your internet access when using a public PC - in a cyber cafe for eg. This is only really of use if you have reason not to trust the owner of the public network you are using!

The drive operates at speeds you would expect from a USB 2.0 device, ie it's quick. Works fine in older USB 1 ports too, although obviously slower!

For anyone wanting more space - 8GB and 16GB versions are/will be available at some point. Have a look on the SanDisk website if you're interested in the details.
Or, you can save by going smaller. The 2GB version is £10 at the time of writing.

In summary, this is a brilliant buy. Highly recommended.

Just got one of these, and it has the latest U3 software already installed (v1.4) - so the U3 feature does work with Vista.