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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