SanDisk has long since upheld its strong reputation for making good flash memory products. In fact, SanDisk holds the patents to a number of flash memory technologies, so it makes sense that the company is also known for making some of the best stuff on the market. In particular, the Cruzer line of USB flash drives has always served me well and SanDisk recently released the newest addition to this family: the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus.
Features at a Glance
Although my original SanDisk Cruzer Micro is on the plasticky side, it is still one of my favorite thumb drives. It’s just the right physical size and it has a great slider mechanism. No more lost caps.
Improving on this tried and true formula is the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus. Yes, it’s got a great titanium metal casing, but the real story here isn’t the physical drive itself; it’s the automatic backup system that comes with it. Among the feature list, you’ll find the following:
- Automatic online backup service
- Password protection and AES hardware encryption
- Restore accidentally deleted files
- Rugged, crush-resistant metal case
- Lightning-fast data transfers
- BoomerangIt lost and found service
- Enhanced for Windows ReadyBoost
- Available in 4GB and 8GB models
What’s Included with the Drive?
The contents of the packaging aren’t terribly exciting, but you wouldn’t really expect them to be. You get the drive itself, a user manual, warranty statement, a service tag for the BoomerangIT service (looks like a SIM card), and a plastic ID card to remind you of the backup service.
Impressions and Build Quality
The main complaint that I had about the original SanDisk Cruzer Micro was that the plastic case felt pretty cheap. SanDisk addressed this issue by introducing the Cruzer Titanium. It was basically a metal version of the Cruzer Micro wrapped in a light and durable Titanium casing. The new SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus is once again wrapped in this magical metal alloy, but instead of silver, it’s a polished brown. It’s almost bronze-like. This adds a touch of personality and class to an otherwise mundane product.
The build quality is very good, but it is interesting that the white slider mechanism is still plain white plastic. Seeing how the entire body has been wrapped in titanium, I would think that SanDisk would do metal for the slider as well. Then again, the slider also serves as the access light so in hindsight, the material is appropriate.
Overall, I’m quite pleased with the physical aspects of the Cruzer Titanium Plus. It’s that perfect size that isn’t so small that it’s prone to being lost (or broken), though some people may enjoy thinner drives more.
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Performance Benchmarks
So how does the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus stack up against the compeitition? I ran the empty 4GB drive through HD Tune to see what kinds of numbers it would produce and I came up with this.
As you can quite plainly see, this is a very healthy drive with consistent data speeds across the drive. Performance is pretty much on par with most of its main competition, transfering data at a rate of between 22 MB/sec and 23 MB/sec. The access time of 0.6ms is perfectly respectable, but the burst speed is a touch on the slow side at 17.1 MB/sec.
To put these numbers in perspective, the OCZ Rally 2 USB flash drive (pictured below, also 4GB) came up with very similar numbers in this round of testing. It had an average data transfer rate of 19.9 MB/sec, an access time of 0.6ms, and a burst rate of 19.2 MB/sec.
In terms of real world performance, I pushed around a 350MB file to and from the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus. Writing this file to the drive took about 36 seconds, which translates to a write speed of 9.72 MB/sec. Copying the file from the Cruzer to my computer’s hard drive took about 15 seconds, translating to a read speed of about 23.3 MB/sec. Sounds about right, I’d say.
Extra Applications with U3
As with previous iterations of the SanDisk Cruzer line of flash drives, the Titanium Plus also comes with U3 functionality. This allows you to run applications right from the drive, not leaving a trace on the computer that you are using. This is great for Internet cafes and similar circumstances where you are away from your computer, but you want to use your own set of preferences, settings, and programs.
There are a number of different U3 applications available for download and these can all be retrieved right from the U3 icon in the system tray. There are Skype programs, multimedia programs, productivity software, OpenOffice, games, email applications, and more.
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Online Backup Made Easy?
So the real thing that sets the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus apart from the crowd is that it comes with an automatic online backup system. Each time you connect the flash drive to an Internet-connected computer, it automatically synchronizes with your online account, backing up any files that you may have added or edited. Further still, if you accidentally deleted a file from the drive, you can restore the “lost” file from your online backup.
Before any of that happens, of course, you’ll need to register for an account. The automatic online backup system is powered by ByInSync and the online interface is remarkably simple. There really sin’t anything to it. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that this drive only comes with six months of service. After that, you’ll need to pay to keep the backup thing going on at the price of $19.95 for one year. That’s apparently a 33% savings off the regular price. Your online storage capacity is equivalent to the capacity of your purchased drive: 4GB for 4GB, 8GB for 8GB.
The other bad news is that the online backup process can take a very long time. Part of this has to do with your own Internet connection, but it also has to do with SanDisk’s servers. Remember that 350MB file that I used for the performance benchmarks? The estimated backup time for that file was, get this, 75 minutes. Over an hour?! What if I were to back up the entire four gigabytes?
Final Thoughts
Realistically, SanDisk isn’t really doing anything revolutionary with the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus on the hardware side of things. Read and write speeds are pretty much in line with the rest of the competition and the inclusion of U3 is nothing to write home about.
The titanium construction is seriously solid and the bronze-like finish is surprisingly stylish. When I heard about the BeInSync online backup system, I thought that it really took flash drives to the next level. Even if you delete a file or lose the drive altogether, you can still recover all of your lost documents. Unfortunately, you’re not getting lifetime access with this; it’s only a six-month trial. The backup speed is pretty slow too.
Then again, after six months, you may be inclined to just buy a new drive. After all, in six months, a four gig Cruzer Titanium Plus may drop below the $20 mark anyhow. Why pay $19.99 for the service when you can get a whole new drive and six more months of service?
Pros
- Solid metal construction
- Trusted slider mechanism means no lost caps
- Automatic online backup system
- Consistent read and write speeds
Cons
- Online backup is only a six month trial
- Not a huge fan of U3
- Online backup can be very slow
- Only available in 4GB and 8GB (for now)
Overall Rating: 7.5 / 10.0
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SanDisk Cruzer Titanium Plus USB Flash Drive Photo Gallery
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