The SanDisk Cruzer is the world's first portable, pocket-size storage device with upgradeable flash memory. Its stylish, compact design can be slipped into a pocket or purse for easy transport of personal computer data files, image files, video and audio between homes, offices or any other location where one would want to transfer personal files and information.The Cruzer fills a void in the portable storage market that neither floppy disks nor CDs can address. The all-in-one unit plugs directly into the industry-standard USB port that is built into desktop PCs and without any additional components necessary. It's powered right from the USB port! The Cruzer is created for today's active, on-the-go lifestyle.
The SanDisk Cruzer is the world's first portable, pocket-size storage device with upgradeable flash memory. Its compact size lets you slip it into a pocket or handbag whenever you need to move image, video, audio, or data files for personal use or for work. You can even use it as expansion memory for a digital media device like a camera or a portable music player.
The Cruzer comes with a removable, 256 MB Secure Digital memory card; most other USB drives come with embedded, nonremovable memory. This all-in-one unit plugs directly into the industry-standard USB port, and needs no additional components or driver. It gets its power directly from the USB port.
The Cruzer measures approximately 3 inches long, 1.75 inches wide, and 0.75 inches thick, and it's fully compatible with both PC and Macintosh computers (Windows 98 SE, 2000, Me, and XP; Macintosh OS 9.1 and later, and OS X 10.1.2 and later).
1 How many pictures will it store?
How many pictures will it store? It is the most commonly asked question from digital camera enthusiast but usually the question that is the most difficult to get a straight answer about. Well, considering I worked in the memory industry for over 7 years I can help clarify this perplexing question and do so unbiased as I have since changed industries.
The SanDisk Cruzer with 256MB Secure Digital Memory, like most 256MB cards, will store on average 284 pictures when used with a 2 megapixel camera, 213 images when used with a 3 megapixel camera, 128 pictures when used with a 4 megapixel camera, 102 images when used with a 5 megapixel camera, and 80 pictures when used with a 6 megapixel camera. These numbers are based off the assumption that you are going to shoot your images at the highest quality JPEG setting available for the camera and understand that they are estimates and may be off by as much as 10 percent due to numerous factors including the complexity of the scene being shot and the compression algorithm used by your specific camera.
I truly hope this review was helpful to you in determining whether this card is the right capacity for your specific needs.
2 Problems in Windows 98SE
Suggestion for Kay Wischkaemper from Atlanta, GA
Use the install disk that came with the cruzer or download SDCZ1 from sandisk.com
Drivers dropdown, Cruzer (SDCZ1)
Windows 98SE
Exe File
2.14MB
3 Problems in Windows 98SE
Cruzer Mini 256 is great on a Windows XP machine, but on Windows 98SE success is yet to be had. Have downloaded the drivers off Sandisk website(and there are 2 zip files) and installed them according to each individual set of instructions and still no recognition of the Cruzor Mini. In the Cruzer_Family_98Se.zip file there are 2 zip files for CAB's that neither Windows XP nor 98SE recognize? Any suggestions would be helpful.
4 *Edited* New design out.
Handy, tiny, reasonable price, fast interface are the plusses.
Their old design did not fit into quite a few of my USB ports because of the body shape is a big minus. I had to get a USB extension cable to plug it into the front panel ports on my computer.
Their new design is much more slim and trim -- and seems to have no trouble with fitting the front USB ports on all my machines.
Overall, good price for a good product.
5 It does exactly what it says it does!
It's like a tiny USB floppy drive, except it stores up to 256MB of stuff at a time. Great for moving files from one machine to another, I also end up using it as an SD card to USB adapter for the SD card I use in my Palm Tungsten. It works as advertised and is quite handy!
6 Works good, but too big
Drive works great. I bought it because of the ability to swap SD cards if needed. BUT... it doesn't fit in the front port on Dell machines. Plus, I have 2 ports on the back of my laptop. It won't fit if I have my mouse plugged in to the other port. On other machines, I have to remove the keyboard in order to plug it in. Not very useful. I've been using the small cord that was included, but it suddenly stopped working. I'll be buying a smaller one that won't give me these problems.
7 MC
A very sweet product. I bought my Cruiser 256MB a couple of months ago from Amazon for $45, but I see the price has increased quite a bit since then. Works fine using a USB 1.1 port, and quite fast on a USB 2.0 port (250MB in 2 mins).
8 Be Careful...
This cruzer/card combo is a great deal, but after a month of no problems, my Palm suddenly stopped recognizing the card. Sandisk says on their website that sometimes the cards have glitches on them. Hopefully I'll get this taken care of, but just be aware that there might be a problem with it.
9 Excellent - Best Design
best design for a thumb sized usb drive I've seen so far. The cap fits snug on the back of the device. None of the device problems I've encountered with other 2.0 usb drives. The strap allows quick connect / disconnect from the drive allowing easy plug and play access.
- I dont use my 2 clunky old lexars any more
10 This is great!!
When I bought this through Amazon (front-ending J&R) it was $79 for the card and the Cruzer. I was pretty stoked. I got this for my daughter's mp3 player expecting to also share it with my Pocket PC. It turned out that my daughter's mp3 player needed to format the card a certain way so that I could not use it in the PocketPC without losing all the data.
I wound up buying another one, this time direct through J&R as Amazon had raised the price $20 in about 2 days.
For $79 this is well worth it. Keep a look out as there is also a refund with this if you buy it at the right time. . .
11 Almost Unbelievable
I was looking for the lowest price on a 256MB SD card for my new cell phone/Palm/MP3 player when I stumbled onto the Cruzer. What a great invention! I was able to download the songs I wanted almost instantly. With Windows XP, it took absolutely no setup...XP recognized it immediately. Total plug-n-play. Just today, I bought another SD card for the Cruzer to back up my important data. I am completely amazed by these little SD cards and how simple the Cruzer is to use. I was backing up my Quicken data to CD-RW, but now I'm just backing up to a SD card and sticking it with my receipts for safekeeping. This is a fantastic buy on a great product.
12 Works with GNU/Linux
The SanDisk Cruzer is a nice little portable storage unit. The small size is a plus. Another positive point is that it is upgradeable with other secure digital media cards -- thus it can be used as a reader for Palm or digital camera memory cards. One complaint would be that it is a little flimsy feeling. It would have been nicer if they had made the shell out of thicker and therefore more rugged plastic.
While not officially supported, Debian GNU/Linux support for the SanDisk Cruzer was very easy to set up. I used kernel source 2.4.20 and configured it for USB support and made sure USB mass storage support was also enabled (CONFIG_USB_STORAGE=y). Also added file system support for DOS FAT (CONFIG_DOS_FAT=y), FAT file system mounting (CONFIG_MSDOS_FS=y), and VFAT (win95/98/ME long filenames, among other features) support (CONFIG_VFAT_FS=y). Thus configured I compiled and installed the new kernel.
When plugged into the USB port, the Cruzer comes up as the sda1 device on my machine. Depending on the configuration of your machine with respect to number of SCSI hard disc drives or other external USB or Firewire mass storage devices, where your Cruzer attaches may vary.
I also added the following line to the /etc/fstab config file:
/dev/sda1 /cruzer vfat rw,user,noauto,noatime 0 0
This allows any user to mount and access a SanDisk Cruzer device as /cruzer.
13 A few glitches, but it's ONE OF A KIND!
I first saw the Cruzer in a retail store and was immediately blown away at the value. In this case, they were selling it at $10 bellow the price of the SD memory card itself. I kept wondering why anyone would buy the card by itself, when they could get the Cruzer with the same exact card included in the box.
I've seen quite a few pocket sized memory drives out there, but thus far this was the only one I've ever seen that used regular removable memory cards.
Prior to getting the Cruzer, I used to load things into my PDA via the cradle. I took it for granted that it was slow. I assumed it was the nature of the beast. When I popped the card into the Cruzer, it copied information so fast I couldn't believe it was actually working. I double checked... the files were there and intact and it was done in seconds, not minutes.
That said, I have two issues.
1. I had to return my first Cruzer because it was from a bad batch of cards. SanDisk knew about the batch and was happy to replace it.
2. It's USB 1.1, not 2.0. I'm not sure if the card would work any faster under 2.0, but if it does, I would buy it.
The bottom line:
1. If you were shopping for memory alone, buy this instead. The price is almost identical, and you'll get both the drive and the memory card in the same box.
2. If you were shopping for a pocket drive, consider this one. It's got plenty of memory, and you can remove it.
14 Crown Royal
These cute and inarguably convenient little inventions are hardly worth hours of consumer research, but the SanDisk Cruzer is my 3rd such device in 3 weeks, and I'm satisfied. I started with a Lexar, but it was so tiny and elusive I gave it to my wife (who has since misplaced it). Then I tried a Cyclone, but it wouldn't fit into my hub without some reconfiguration of cables. I like the Sandisk because it's the size and weight of a cigarette lighter, not a cigarette butt, and because the included short cable makes USB connections a breeze--both into tight places and ports that are not in plain sight.
Finally, when I did the number crunching, the SanDisk--at the price Amazon.com was selling it for (just divide total megs by total price to determine cost per MB)--provided the most bang for the buck. At that price, it's cheaper than many memory cards, yet you've got the equivalent of a Zip Drive in your pocket. (On the other hand, if you spend more, you may wish to consider a storage device that also plays MP3 files.)
For the record, I've had no compatibility problems with any of these flash drives, at least with Macs. The SanDisk comes with its own little storage "pouch," so it must be the Crown Royal of the breed.
15 At This Price I'm Buying Three More Just For The Memory Card
Don't know why some people said they couldn't get it to work on their computer.
First tested it on my XP computer and downloaded files on another computer that has Win2000. Cruzer comes with a CD with drivers for Win98. Installed drivers on my Win 98 machine and it works great. I actually got Win 95 to recognize the removable drive and copied and downloaded files to that machine.
Just plug it in to a XP, Win2000 or ME computer and it automatically detects the cruzer.
What makes this product so nice? If your other toys (Digital or Video Camera) use the same type of memory card, you can interchange.
16 buy something else
So far I had nothing but problems with Sandisk products.
And you will not get support - it does not exist.
i gave it 1 star because there is nothing lower
17 Doesn't work, crashes computer and has no support
I bought the Cruzer for on-the-go backup of digital pictures (I take a lot of pictures when I travel and download them to the hard drive of my laptop). My laptop, a garden variety Dell Latitude C400 running Windows 2000, recognized the Cruzer at first, but then installation hung and the computer locked up. When I uninstalled everything and reinstalled, the whole operating system crashed and I had to reboot off the W2K CD and do a system repair. I sent 3 or 4 e-mails to Sandisk customer support over a three week perion and never received a response. Be wary of this one.
18 Too Small To Be So Good
It is about the size of your thumb and weighs half as much. So, when I first saw it (and felt it - all two ounces of it), I didn't give this much hope.
But, like most SanDisk products, it is great.
Setting it up requires no more computer skills than being able to pop it into a USB port. And, that's it! All set and raring to go.
The 256 holds the data that could fit on approximately 170 floppy disks. And when you take into consideration the cost, the size and the convenience, this baby is worth every cent.
So, if you need to have an Iomega Zip (they still crank out the 256) and want the added bother of power cords and space to put the drive, then go that way. But if you want something that is light, portable and works like a charm - this is the only way to go.
19 Nice value
This is a nice value if you want a 256Mb SD card and don't want to have to spend extra for a separate card reader. The card reader is a big help, it's faster and more convenient than a direct USB connection between the camera and computer.
I really love having a 256Mb card for my camera. I can store hundreds of high-res 2048x1536 JPG images on my camera before having to download to my computer.
Once the Cruzer is attached to the computer, it works great. I didn't need any software at all to get it to work with Windows 2000 (it shows up as a removable drive).
But I agree with other reviewers that the Cruzer reader is a cheaply built device. The slide mechanism is plastic and usually gets stuck, requiring a little extra effort to get it to work. Also, the accompanying USB cable is only a couple inches long, which makes it inconvenient if your USB port is on the back of your PC.
When I bought it the price of the Cruzer/256Mb card combo was exactly the same as the price of the card by itself. Since I was buying the card anyway, it made sense to buy the combo.
Bottom line: as long as the Cruzer/card combo costs as much as the card alone, it makes sense to buy the combo. However I wouldn't buy the Cruzer on its own.
20 Nice Idea, but...
Well...It started out being great. It saved me a lot of hassles moving large files back and forth between different computers during a business trip to the UK (Sept-Oct). In late November it started going south on me. Today it finally failed (Jan 23).
The memory card wouldn't seat, or lost connection when you slid the USB plug out (which also moves the card forward) - when set to the operating position it stopped working! At first, gentle pressure on the card helped. The more force. Then force applied with a blunt instrument. And finally nothing.
This device has a serious design fault. If the card could stay in place while the housing retracted to reveal the plug, it would work better, longer. SanDisk did it backwards.
Look for a device that doesn't move the memory card. Less cute, more work.
SanDisk says they'll replace it -- what I really need is a better device.
21 SD Card great, problems with Cruzer drive
I use the SD card in my Palm (m505) with considerable success and am happy with it from a pure PDA expansion perspective. I have found that the Cruzer drive is unreliable, usually Windows sees it as "write only" which means the Cruzer is only useful to read what I can put on the card using the Palm. (I have checked the write protect slide on the card). This means I cannot use it to transport files, keep personal backups, etc. SanDisk tech support were very helpful and responsive, since I have been handed over to "customer relations", I have heard nothing in over a week.
22 HSA
The Cruzer works just as promised. Plugged into the USB port of my XP computer the Cruzer configured itself and added itself onto my "Explorer". From there it worked just like another removovable disk drive. The slider keeps the card and the USB plug safely tucked away when not in use. Simple but effective
23 Very good product
Although I have not begun using the item frequently, I am very happy with it's performance. It is exactly as described and seems very reliable. The only thing I have noticed (and this is only if I am doing something wrong) is that I have not been able to save directly to the Cruzer. I've only tried doing so through Photoshop 7. When I attempted to save my file and had navigated over to where the drive should reside, the Cruzer was not a visible option to save to. Of course, I could still copy and paste the file over without incident.
Something to consider...I purchased this item instead of a portable burner for my notebook and so far have been very glad that I did so.
24 Basically 2 items in 1
Pro: If you use Security Digital memory in your Digital Camara or PDA, then you're basically getting 2 items for the price of 1 package; you're getting a removable usb device as well as the expanded memory for your camara or PDA.
Well hidden USB head, no worry of damage the head or losing the cap like other USB flash memory.
Con: a little bulky. If you have front USB or extra unused USB slots pair, then you are in good shape, otherwise you will not be able to attach the head directly if the neighboring USB slot is being used - you need to use the extra cord that comes with the device which is inconvenient. With the SD memory so small compare to the whole device, I don't see why they can't make it a lot smaller.
[Poor quality] carrying case. Very poor, ... they should just forgo the case all together.
Overall, it's a great device, for those of you who need SD memory and USB flash memory, this is 2 birds with 1 stone.
25 I think there is something wrong
This purchase was the second time around I have purchased a SD Card branded Sandisk. The first time I bought a 64M in a local store and I had to replace it after 2 months when I could not read and write properly to it anymore. I don't know what I was thinking but I purchased this through a friend in the US ( I live in Canada) and was happy with it until few weeks ago when I started loosing files. At first I thought it was me but then it just become worse and I have now reached a point where I cannot successfully write to it again! I admit that I use it extensively but this should not be happening! since it really can't be me I have to wonder about the quality of the product. I have searched this site but have to yet find a reference to warranty and how to claim it. Sad thing is that alternatives are hard to come buy especially at this price but be forewarned!
26 Big Storage comes in Small Packags
This 256md SD card is great for storing MP3's, Maps, E-Books etc.. With my MP's compressed at 96kbps i'm able to store up to ... cd's and still have space for [many] e-books and serveral maps of my surrounding area. The plus is that it comes with a USB adapter that lets you transfer cd's back and forth easly. This is a must product for the new iPAQ's.
