SanDisk Cruzer Micro Jump Drive Product Review

In the world of "jump drives" there are a lot of options these days. Without knowing what you are doing a buyer can easily get "burned," shelling out good money for something which simply does not work as it should. I know, I have tried several other jump drives, unsuccessfully, before settling on the SanDisk Cruzer Micro.

First a few basics about jump drives. Basically, a jump drive is a small, portable hard drive which may be carried from computer to computer and plugged directly into the USB port. You use it much like a brief case is used for hardcopy, or paper, files. This is to say, a person may copy files, from one computer, onto the jump drive then unplug it, put the drive in their pocket and carry it to another computer. Thereby "jumping" files from one computer to another.

A jump drive is also handy for keeping personal files you wish to have with you where ever you go. For example, I keep the articles I write with me. This article will be stored on my SanDisk Cruzer jump drive. I can then carry it with me and access it where ever I go without having to lug a laptop around with me.

Now, for some of the differences in jump drives. The most obvious one is physical appearance. Often jump drives are flashy and very showy. This really tells you little about their capability. Most jump drives have a cap to cover the male USB plug to protect it. They will frequently have some form of indicator light to show that the drive is active when plugged into a computer.

The second difference is storage size. My first jump drive was sixty-four MB. They now have them up to 16 GB, that I have seen, and it would not surprise me if larger ones were not available.

The third difference is the proprietary software on the jump drive itself. For some reason, every manufacturer I have tried seems to think they must put a cutesy pie little operating system on the jump drive. Usually this just gets in the way and the real question is, can you get rid of it? Some of them can be quite annoying, popping up and auto running software every time they are plugged into a computer. This can be basically bad if you plug it into your work computer and your employer has strict rules against installing unauthorized software.

The SanDisk Cruzer Micro comes in 512 MB, 1 GB, 2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB and 16 GB capacities. Mine is 2 GB and I have never come close to filling it up. The proprietary "U3" software was quite annoying but it can be easily disabled by following the instructions from SanDisks' website. Once it is gone, the whole capacity of the jump drive is available as storage for you.

One of the best features of the Cruzer micro is the retractable male USB connection. You do not need a cap, which can easily get lost, for this jump drive. Simply retract the connection and it is safely stored for travel. The slide piece is also the light indicator, to show drive activity, and it is nice and bright.

Unlike other jump drives, I have had no problems having different computers recognize my SanDisk Cruzer Micro as soon as I plug it in. Saving files to the jump drive is easy and reliable. To top it off, the SanDisks are not over priced at all. You can often find the 4-8 GB ones on sale between $19-$29 these days.

As I have stated, I have not come close to filling my 2 GB SanDisk yet so I am not in the market for a replacement. However, when my family needed jump drives I did not even think twice, I purchased them SanDisk Cruzers. When I finally do need more capacity I will also go with a larger Cruzer myself.