SanDisk Cruzer Slice - USB flash drive - 8 GB > Reviews (5)

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When it comes to digital storage portability, a flash drive is what most of us will opt for - the weight is secondary information that isn't that vital when it comes to portability - it's the actual size that's priority. Notably as you can see above, the SanDisk Cruzer Slice is more rotund compared to other brands of flash drives - even though the USB pin connector retracts back into the body of the drive, burrowed into its rectangular slot, to protect the pin connector. No cap is necessary thanks to a slide mechanism that resembles battery operated toys from the Early Learning Centre. Its black plastic casing feels and sounds hollow on touch, unlike the Kingston DT 101 G2 flash drive which comparatively is significantly tougher. Alarm bells shrill out at me in regards to 'SanDisk Slice's' durability. Product manufacturing wise the device imitates a flimsy PNY swivel flash drive, without the audacious pin pirouette and click in place design. SanDisk's 'Slice' for the adventurous type will seem banal, rather ordinary and unassuming looking. There is a half-hearted design quirk that SanDisk implemented and that is to design one corner rounded and one corner remains a sharp corner, on each side. I would like to say it reminds me of something, or has a meaning, but I can't - it has no resemblance to a slice of anything to note. SanDisk 'Slice's' product design is unique for that very reason.

The brand SanDisk gets lost in dark red, on top of the platform of black plastic that capsulate the device. Printed on as an afterthought, it is only underneath the device in grey I was indeed notified this flash drive is indeed a 'Cruzer Slice'. Obviously two words adjacent to one another in a game of Scrabble, joined together at the letter 'C'. Also the storage capacity of 8 GB is nonchalantly mentioned "underneath?" Surely the storage space facility is a selling point - it bewilders me why manufacturing companies as big as SanDisk tend to add such vital device information in obscure places on the device, as if ashamed of its storage space facility. Along with the 8 GB storage facility, the icons are warnings not to machine wash or 'tumble-dry my device - plus it has the 'CE' marking; 'Conformité Européenne' - EU recommended since 1993.

One 'Slice' is never enough.

For user friendliness the 'Slice' goes beyond the flash drive competition. SanDisk hasn't employed an application within its removable system, which is activated when the drive is slotted into a USB (Universal Serial Bus) port - except for the standard 'autorun' text file.

No add-ons, no gimmicks and overall very refreshing. Storage wise it is at full capacity; 8192 Megabytes available for digital media - in practice, storage for: 1,800 - 2,000 MP3 files - the late John Peel would be proud. Whilst activated in the USB port a naughty red neon light pulsates from the pin slider, radiating out seduction glows. Coming from a USB flash stick, it just seems wrong. Helpfully the petit slider bar has an arrow pointing in the direction the pin needs to slide out - quite useful for a hapless non techie, and no there is no manuals aiding you with this device. When the drive is open, drag and drop files from your workstation, or simply 'right click' onto a file you want to transfer to the 'Slice' and select 'Send To' to the removable storage file labelled 'SanDisk' on your drop-down menu. The test results of the 'read' and 'write' speeds are below:

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Read Speed: 17.86 MB/s (Mega Bytes per second)

Write Speed: 5.20 MB/s (Mega Bytes per second)

Duration of test: 36 minutes 53 seconds.

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Performance.

Being a flash drive enthusiast; I usually on the day of purchase, I tend to vigorously test the portable drive over a 35 - 40 minute time period, whereby the drive is block tested for a couple of cycles for speed of reading and writing digital data. For a storage geek, the results are compelling. As I have the tools to convey accurately my findings and also recommend the best drives, for whatever purpose you want the storage for; i.e. MP3/Video format files - or for the standard MS Office files for e.g. Adobe files tend to be 'raw' files and so if your loading up these formatted files that are requiring further editing - speed is paramount and usually a 8 gigabyte memory facility is at the bottom rung of what your storage facility should be at; to do the job efficiently. Just like most devices, the 'read' and 'write' speeds do deteriorate due to usage, over several years of incessant file transferring. Compared to other portable flash drives the 'read' speed is at the mid-range of the portable device speed league (in the top 20% of drives over 2GB of storage). However, the 'Slice's' strengths is in its 'writing' speed. So it is highly recommended for 'exe files' (new application start-ups); and editing files that need further work.

Compatibility.

CPU Systems include: Linus, Apple MacOS X 10.1.2 or above and Microsoft Windows 7, Vista, or XP.

Overall, the 'SanDisk Cruzer Slice'; lacks in finesse, portability, and it is not as rotund as many flash drives; nor has it a key-ring tag either - however, where it falls down on these big factors, the device is at the top of the storage game in 'functionality' plus has no irritating software add-ons that are apparent in a vast number of flash drive branded devices. Highly recommended for consumers wanting to edit larger files via different workstations - albeit, probably better to opt for a bigger 'slice' of storage; such as the 16 GB storage instead. 4/5 star rating.