Jason Dunn
09-06-2006, 04:00 PM
<img src="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/dmt/2006/sandisk-cruzer-titanium-00.jpg" /><br /><br />USB Flash drives are so common in today's tech marketplace, manufacturers have to do something unique now to get their product to stand out – make it smaller and/or sexier, give it higher capacity, sell it cheaper, build it tougher, or include enhanced functionality. The <a href="http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1167)-NEW__SanDisk_Cruzer_Titanium_USB_Flash_Drive.aspx">SanDisk Cruzer Titanium</a> uses a few of those tactics to great success. Available in 1GB and 2GB capacities, and selling for $69.99 USD and $109.99 USD respectively, the drive is made of what SanDisk calls "Liquidmetal" and built to withstand pressures of up to 2,000 pounds. The drive, thankfully, lacks a USB cap (one less thing to lose) and instead has a retractable USB connector. It comes with a belt clip, but once I put it on I bent it trying to remove it, so I can't say much for the quality of that piece. The included lanyard works well enough.<br /><br />The exterior, clever marketing name or not, looks great – brushed two-tone metal with laser-etched writing for the product name and capacity. One thing it's missing that my previous SanDisk flash drive had is a spot to write the owner's name and phone number on it. If the drive gets lost, there's no way to identify who owns it by looking at it. Although I should point out that when I lost my SanDisk USB Flash drive a few months ago, I never got it back even though my name and phone number was on it. Drat.<!><br /><br />The drive itself is 7.14mm by 19.05mm by 57.94mm (DxWxL) and weighs 20 grams, twice as much as the plastic Verbatim drive I have. It's also physically larger than many other flash drives on the market: the Cruzer Titanium isn't designed to be a dainty little flash drive, and it shows.<br /><br />So how tough is this thing? Well, when I first requested the product to review, I had visions of running over it in my car to test how tough it really was. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get the product for several months, and when I did, I was too busy to review it right away. Then the folks at EverythingUSB did the same test I was thinking of – <a href="http://www.everythingusb.com/sandisk_cruzer_titanium_2gb.html">they ran over</a> the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium in a Honda Accord, and the drive survived. So, yes, it's tough.<br /><br />The drive is speedy – I was able to transfer 80.8 MB of MP3s to it in 9.5 seconds, which works out to 8.5 MB per second. That's very close to the 9 MB/s that SanDisk quotes as the write speed, so the 15 MB/s read speed is likely accurate as well. It's nice when manufacturers give accurate performance numbers instead of inflated numbers that can never be achieve in the real world. <br /><br />The U3 software is functional, though I can't help but think it's not quite as sophisticated as the <a href="http://www.ceedo.com/downloads/index.php">Ceedo software</a> that ships with the <a href="http://www.digitalmediathoughts.com/articles.php?action=expand,10598">Verbatim Store 'n Go USB Hard Drive</a>. For one, Ceedo allows you to install virtually any software to it, while the U3 system is limited to U3-specific applications. SanDisk is adding value to their drives through <a href="http://www.sandisk.com/Products/Catalog(1160)-sandisk_Cruzer_Family_Applications.aspx">software add-ons</a> as well, which is nice to see. When I first connected the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium, I was presented with a <a href="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/dmt/2006/sandisk-cruzer-titanium-01.png">nice introduction screen [image]</a> that told me about the drive and its functionality. The <a href="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/dmt/2006/sandisk-cruzer-titanium-02.png">U3 software [image]</a> is simple enough to use, and there's an application directory that allows you to browse and install third party applications to enhance the functionality of the U3 drive: virus scanners, communication applications, photo editors, games, etc. The SanDisk Titanium Cruzer includes AVAST anti-virus software, but it requires a subscription to continue using, so I don't consider it helpful in this instance.<br /><br />The security on the drive works quite well too – I'm no hacker, but it resisted all of my attempts to bypass it. If you connect the drive, ignore the password prompt and instead browse to My Computer and try to get into the drive that way, double-clicking on the removable disk drive gives an error about needing to insert the disk. I could find no way to access the files on my drive, even dropping to a command prompt and trying it that way. I'm sure someone has found a way to crack this security layer, but it's certainly more than sufficient to stop the casual snoop. <br /><br />What I didn't like, however was that the U3 security software seems to allow for unlimited password guess attempts: I tried over 30 times with incorrect passwords, and it never locked me out, or even added pauses between password guess attempts. This makes is vulnerable to automated brute-force password hacking attempts, which is unfortunate. A very simple scheme to avoid this trap is to double the length of time between each password attempt. So if you guess wrong the first time, you have to wait two seconds before you can guess again. Then four seconds, eight seconds, 16 seconds, etc. By the time you're at the 15th guess, you're waiting hours between each guess. <br /><br />The other thing I didn't like about the password login prompt is that there's no user identification information – since you can't put your name and phone number on the outside of the drive, the logical place is in the software so it comes up when the user connects the drive to a PC. There's certainly space for it <a href="http://images.thoughtsmedia.com/dmt/2006/sandisk-cruzer-titanium-03.png">on the password prompt window [image]</a>, but SanDisk doesn't allow for this possibility, which is inexcusable.<br /><br />All in all, I think this is a good value for the money, although I'd prefer to see it offered in larger capacities, as 2GB isn't particularly impressive compared to the 4GB and bigger drives on the market. I’d also like to see SanDisk put some thought into the scenario of losing the drive, and how they can increase the odds of you getting it back. If you need a supremely rugged, fast drive with U3 functionality, the Cruzer Titanium is a good bet. If a standard flash drive is tough enough for your needs, there are better solutions, with more storage, to be had for nearly the same money.<br /><br /><i>Jason Dunn owns and operates <a href="http://www.thoughtsmedia.com">Thoughts Media Inc.</a>, a company dedicated to creating the best in online communities. He enjoys mobile devices, digital media content creation/editing, and pretty much all technology. He lives in Calgary, Alberta, Canada with his lovely wife, and his sometimes obedient dog. He's still hoping that USB Flash drive he lost will find its way hope – his name and address is on it after all. Aren't there any honest people left in the world?</i>