very micro (Sandisk Cruzer Micro 512 MB)

Member Name: cheesycal

Product:	Sandisk Cruzer Micro 512 MB
Date:	09/12/05 (835 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: works very well, very fast, very small

Disadvantages: price is slighly more than these generic ones you get nowadays

so here's my review on the sandisk cruzer micro. quite a boring topic to discuss since the flash disk cant exactly be anything more than a flash disk. it connects to usb ports, it stores stuff and thats about it....but this has a little more!

i bought this flash disk after losing my miniusb adapter to my flash mp3 player. flash disks are very useful and can store more files than a floppy disk. how much more depends on the size of flash disk you get. this one you can get in 128mb, 256mb, 512mb, 1gb and 2gb which means they are equivalent to 90 or 180 or 360 etc floppy disks.

the two major advantages of a flash disk over floppies are its physical size (again variable) and its speed (variable once more). I'll go into these in a bit more detail later.


Design

this particular flash disk/drive is only .9mm x 18.95mm x 52.2mm. so its only about two thirds the length of my index finger and a third wider. this is the smallest i have ever seen and one of the main reasons i paid a little bit extra to buy this.

the cruzer micro is a small sliver object as pictured above. it actually has a clear transparent plastic cap over the usb port which comes off very nicely. the actual flask disk is grey/silver with a transparent plastic coating. in all it looks very nice. engraved on the plastic is "cruzer micro" and the size. I remember when i first showed it to my friends they were amazed at the size and then impressed by the design! (yes..indeed i have sad friends).

when you stick the usb into the socket, a brilliant blue LED flashes brightly from near the end to show that it is connected. this LED cant be seen when its not plugged in, very much like the power LEDs on imacs and ipod shuffles...(the led is hidden and shines through the plastic). It has a loop at the top so that you can attach it to your keys.

The whole thing is very solidly built and the cap isnt flimsy as it is in some other flash disks. I've taken the cap off many times and it still attaches very firmly.


Features+performance

the features of any flash disk is basic. with cruzer micro you can transfer all files. with newer cruzer micros, you can install programs into them as well. the transfer speed is very fast because it has a usb 2.0 support. if your computer has it too, then you can transfer files faster than your cd rom can. for example when i had downloaded mp3s onto the disk, it took me less than 5 seconds to copy and paste 256mb into my computer! amazing! :|

it also has password protect, if you want to protect the documents in your flash disk. the blue led shines when connected and flashes when transferring files.


Other random stuff
Thus, my reasons for buying this were...

1. Sandisk Cruzer micro is the smallest flash drive there is.
2. it supports usb 2.0 meaning i can transfer files quickly
3. sandisk is the leader in the flash memory industry. some cheap flash disks have been known to break down very easily but with sandisk, you know that you get quality!

If you dont already have an mp3 player, you can get a small, credit card sized sandisk mp3 player with a little socket where the cruzer micro can plug into. quite cool i'd say. i was temtped to buy one with a 2gb cruzer micro but i already had an amazing mp3 player so i decided against it.

so, i'd definitely recommend this over other slightly cheaper flimsier, unreliable flash drives! :P

(to be honest, its ONLY a flash drive and there isnt much to say about it..but i managed to write a lot somehow.)

Summary: very sturdy, good performance and very very very small