SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 512 MB USB Drive

Reviews: Storage

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Brian Kristensen
Kurtis
SanDisk
Jan. 28, 2005

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First Looks

The Cruzer Titanium is SanDisk's answer to harsh work environments where physical protection of portable data is required. This model has a titanium-coated metal casing which SanDisk claims is "virtually indestructible.' The drive can resist up to 2,000 pounds of pressure, but SanDisk makes no claims regarding extreme temperatures, corrosion or radiation. This was pulled from the fine-print, but I never saw any mention of water-resistance and will obviously assume it lacks any.

The Titanium is only available in 512 MB capacities and has a price tag of about $70. You can purchase the drive through SanDisk's website for around $130, though it is currently on backorder. Don't worry; there are plenty of other stores with much lower prices. The Titanium has read speeds of 15 MB/s and write speeds of 13 MB/s, is USB 2.0 compatible, and backwards compatible with USB 1.1. The Titanium can be used with any PC or Mac that supports USB and runs Windows 98SE/2000/Me/XP or Mac OS 9.1.x+ or OS X v10.1.2+.

As though it were completely inevitable, the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium was sealed within a frustratingly hard to open plastic package. Inside the package there is the Cruzer Titanium, a lanyard, a key chain ring, a pocket clip and a quick start guide. Aside from the pocket clip, this is a fairly standard bundle. There are no drivers included with the Titanium but they can be downloaded from SanDisk's website if needed. Systems with Windows 2000/ME/XP do not require the drivers, but those of you running Windows 98SE will need them in order to use the Titanium. Unfortunately, anyone running Windows 98 or earlier are out of luck, but that seems to be the case with almost anything these days.

Features

By far, the most prominent aspect of the Cruzer Titanium is its indistinguishable looks. The drive is housed in a slim 8.5 x 20.8 x 74.8 mm titanium-coated metal casing. This drive does not have a cap to cover the USB connector. Rather, the connector is retractable and moves in and out of the drive's body by using the slider on the front of the Cruzer. The slider is made of plastic and also doubles as the drive's activity monitor. There is a blue LED buried behind the slider that flashes when the drive is accessed, lighting up the plastic slider.

While working with the Titanium, I ran across several annoyances. The first problem I noticed was the titanium-coated metal case. For being titanium, it scratches fairly easily. I first noticed this when placing the pocket clip on the drive. When sliding the clip on and off, it left very light scratches. Later, when I was attempting to clip on the key-ring (which is another problem in and of itself), it caused a rather nasty gouge. Over time, being used on a keychain, the keys caused extremely light scratches that aren't noticeable at first glance, but cause the Cruzer to seem "dirty.' However, I have not had any problems with the text scraping off.

Another problem I had was the included key-ring which is required to use the lanyard or place the device on a keychain. Due to the shape of the hole on the Titanium, the drive can not simply be clipped on to any keychain. The included key-ring is small enough in both wire-diameter and overall diameter to fit the awkward hole. However, because of the hole's extra-super-duper-awkwardness, it is almost impossible to clip the ring on. It took me a week of trying every day to actually clip the ring on and once I got it on, the ring was slightly warped. And to top it all off, it also caused the aforementioned nasty scratch.

My final gripe with the Cruzer Titanium is the slider used to retract the USB connector. When initially trying to slide the connector out, I was met with intense resistance. It took some power to slide it in and out (get your minds out of the gutter!) which lasted for a week or so with daily use. The resistance slowly declined until about two weeks of use when the slider could be used without a problem. At first, the problematic slider gave me a less-than-stellar impression, but once the resistance wore down, I actually like it. (Kurtis' Note: As Brian said, the resistance gradually wore down on the slider, but I would also like to point out that over time you will get used to the motion required to slide it in and out, which helps in making the process easier. I rarely played with this USB drive, and when Brian found it to be very easy for him to slide it back and forth I still had a little trouble, though certainly not as much as when we first opened the package.)

Software

The Cruzer Titanium comes with three programs installed on the drive itself. These are Cruzer PocketCache for backing up data, CruzerSync for syncing all your Outlook data and CruzerLock for securing files on the drive. Both PocketCache and CruzerSync run from the drive and are not installed on your computer. CruzerLock however, must be installed for use.

Cruzer PocketCache

Cruzer PocketCache is a nifty little backup utility that comes on the Titanium. PocketCache allows you to use part, or all of the drive for backups of selected files and folders. PocketCache uses a "snapshot' technology that detects and stores new or modified files and only the modified parts of the files or folders gets stored. Every backup is a new snapshot which contains the changes from the last backup. This saves disk space and allows you to go back and restore any snapshot you want.

CruzerSync

CruzerSync is a program on the Titanium that allows you to transport all your Outlook information (emails, attachments, calendar, favorites, etc.) and access it from any Windows computer or mobile device. CruzerSync synchronizes and secures all of your Outlook data fairly easily. CruzerSync does not need to be installed on any computer - it is simply run from the drive. All of the data is secure and no files are placed on the computer during usage. While you can modify all of your Outlook data through CruzerSync, you can not actually send or receive emails. Any emails written in CruzerSync are placed in the "draft" folder to be sent after you re-sync to your computer.

CruzerLock

CruzerLock is a rather straightforward method of security. CruzerLock must be installed on a computer in order to use it. The program itself is an easy to navigate directory tree of your computer including all connected drives. Through the software you can encrypt or decrypt any file on your computer or on the flash drive. When you encrypt a file on the Titanium, it deletes the original file and creates an encrypted version. When you encrypt a file on your computer, it leaves the original file on your computer, but creates an encrypted one on the Titanium. This is a pretty nice method of security if you don't mind leaving the files and filenames out in the open, but want to protect the information within the file.

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Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: First Looks / Features / Software
Page 3: Performance / Physical Testing
Page 4: Conclusion

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13 User Comments

1 - Posted by kamesen on February 24, 2005 - 3:56 am

I like the crush-resistant feature, it sounds pretty handy to have. I can only think of one thing that this device is missing: a keychain attachment. DOH!!

2 - Posted by handrail on February 24, 2005 - 8:37 am

it does have a keychain attachment, it's just a pain to put on.

http://www.thetechlounge.com/image.php?img_url=htt...

3 - Posted by Kurtis on February 24, 2005 - 9:43 am

Yeah that keychain took Brian like 3 days to get on. When he finally did get it on he ended up scratching the usb drive...

"Another problem I had was the included key-ring which is required to use the lanyard or place the device on a keychain. Due to the shape of the hole on the Titanium, the drive can not simply be clipped on to any keychain. The included key-ring is small enough in both wire-diameter and overall diameter to fit the awkward hole. However, because of the hole’s extra-super-duper-awkwardness, it is almost impossible to clip the ring on. It took me a week of trying every day to actually clip the ring on and once I got it on, the ring was slightly warped. And to top it all off, it also caused the aforementioned nasty scratch."

4 - Posted by SAMSAMHA on February 24, 2005 - 12:55 pm

very nice looking. I love the retractable usb connector, I think all usb drive should come with it as you hate to loose your cap:).

5 - Posted by Kurtis on February 24, 2005 - 12:57 pm

it's a good feature but it's not implemented extremely well. it takes a while to get it 'loosened up' so that it is easy to move it in and out. also, don't run over it with a car, because that will make it harder to extend/retract it :-D

personally i like the corsair voyager more, i think water-proofing a USB drive is a brilliant feature that they should all have - and i am willing to bet that it will become a standard feature eventually

6 - Posted by Brian on February 24, 2005 - 3:06 pm

Well, the USB slider is back to normal again. Just have to wear it down after you run it over ;-)

7 - Posted by J2T on February 24, 2005 - 3:17 pm

Well, I know I got a good laugh out of the whole vehicle crush test you did. :-D

8 - Posted by mike on February 24, 2005 - 6:32 pm

I am all about the sandisc Cruzer micro. the cap nicely fits on the back of the drive. no moving parts, metal encased in plastic. But i doubt it can be used as an auto jack for my buick.

9 - Posted by kamesen on February 25, 2005 - 1:54 am

Oh sweet. Looks sturdy. But yeah, it also looks like a pain to attach. Ah well, anything is better than the keyring attachment that I have- er, USED to have. (it fell off)

10 - Posted by SlipSand on March 4, 2005 - 6:22 pm

Would you say that those are worth that much? I wanted one but I dotn want to pay that much.

11 - Posted by Guest on May 3, 2005 - 7:25 am

Thanks VERY much for such a detailed review - much appreciated as it has helped me decide to go ahead with my purchase. As far as the physical strength testing though ... forget driving a car over it ... this baby is designed to handle the daily battering it would receive in a woman's bag!!! (Being a woman I am allowed to say this!) I suggest you "road test" this gadget in a girl bag for a week, and if it still works then it has DEFINITELY passed rough handling :-)
Thanks again.

12 - Posted by Tyler on January 18, 2006 - 1:45 pm

Yes, this may look like a nice keydrive, being a nice silver color and the slide out connection. But what good does that do if the product doesnt work? Ive tried the drive in 5 different computers. One HP, a Compaq, a Dell, and two custom-built computers, none of them could even recognize the keydrive, even with the software that was downloaded.

13 - Posted by Kurtis on January 18, 2006 - 4:30 pm

maybe you just got a bad one - it happens.

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