SanDisk Launches its Smallest USB Drive Yet

4:30 PM - July 27, 2010 - By Kevin Parrish - Source : Tom's Guide US

This new flash drive is the size of a paper clip.

Tuesday SanDisk launched its smallest USB drive to date in the U.S. and Canada, the SanDisk Cruzer Blade. The device weighs approximately the same as a penny and measures about the size of a standard size paper clip. Prices range from $14.99 to $77.99, depending on the capacity.

"At half the size of some other USB drives, our compact Cruzer Blade provides consumers with highly portable storage at a great value," said Kent Perry, director, retail product marketing, SanDisk. "The drive lets users transfer their digital data quickly between computers, and delivers a storage boost to devices such as netbooks that often need additional memory but are difficult to upgrade easily."

The little USB flash drives comes in four flavors: 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB. Based on the comment, these drives aren't packed with U3, the flash drive-based mini-OS that allows consumers to install apps directly on the device. Typically U3-compatible drives are partitioned into two drives--a small partition containing the U3 auto-launcher and a larger partition for storage and app installs.

But in the case of the SanDisk Cruiser Blade, apparently consumers are offered straight-up storage. The new compact line is now available nationwide, however consumers can head here to order the drive(s) online. Those who still want to tinker with U3 can head here to learn more and download the launcher.

Comments

AMOLED Shortage Causes HTC to Use Super LCD

Froyo Heading to Verizon Next Month

Comments

aaron686 07/28/2010 12:20 PM

Hide

I'll lose it...

polly the parrot 07/28/2010 12:22 PM

Hide

Looks easy to eat, so good news for that ATM scammer who ate the flash drive!

Still probably not pleasant to have it go out though.

enzo matrix 07/28/2010 12:23 PM

Hide

Supertalent has been making drives smaller than that for at least two years. Last year they got them up to 32GB capacity. Of course, only the 16GB is available in Canada, who gets everything last, worst and at a higher cost.

jimslaid2 07/28/2010 12:34 PM

Hide

Its perfect for a key chain.

belardo 07/28/2010 1:04 AM

Hide

Hope they keep making the bigger ones. Like SONY's current CLIC drives - that have a slide-cover that works great. I can feel those when its in my pockets. TINY ones beg to be lost... but they do have a place for some people.

peterkidd 07/28/2010 2:05 AM

Hide

I HATE U3. The idea is cool, but it is propriety crapware that runs so slow.

icepick314 07/28/2010 2:22 AM

Hide

it's a miracle that I haven't lost any of my USB drives....

especially when they're pico drives from Super Talent...

http://www.supertalent.com/product [...] ?type=Pico

paohyean 07/28/2010 2:31 AM

Hide

Err...
I've been using it for months already...
It's been available in the Malaysian market since early this year...

ncarlson 07/28/2010 2:59 AM

Hide

And that's "impressive"???

16GB NEON InnoDisk Plug-and-Forget USB2.0 Flash Drive

eddieroolz 07/28/2010 3:01 AM

Hide

I'll lose it, but technology is great.

BruceOTB 07/28/2010 3:38 AM

Hide

What?! I've had this thumb drive since 2 months ago. How'd this become new?

treefrog07 07/28/2010 5:12 AM

Hide

peterkidd :
I HATE U3. The idea is cool, but it is propriety crapware that runs so slow.

I agree, but I like their drives, so I uninstall the U3 and format it! Using one as my W7 install backup.

zhemin 07/28/2010 6:51 AM

Hide

i had that for like 8month and it only cost me 11.99 aussie which translate to like 8dollars american for the 4gig ONe

vikasnagpal_v2 07/28/2010 8:09 AM

Hide

i got it 7 months back here in india..................& yes it runs really slow

johnny_5 07/28/2010 8:44 AM

Hide

The usb card reader for my micro SD card is much smaller than that. It doesn't even have the metal frame part of the connector, just the pin part. Also, what ncarlson said.

hardcore_gamer 07/28/2010 10:25 AM

Hide

agree with treefrog07..U3 really sucks

tiga2001 07/28/2010 2:05 PM

Hide

how is this news, because it's SanDisk? Pqi, Transcend, and many others have already released such small usb drives a long time ago.

zaznet 07/28/2010 5:19 PM

Hide

ncarlson :
And that's "impressive"???16GB NEON InnoDisk Plug-and-Forget USB2.0 Flash Drive

I was thinking about that one too. If I was concerned about the physical size for a netbook this is what I'd want. You can still remove it but it barely sticks out. Oh and it's cheaper than Sandisk!

scatrdfew 07/28/2010 7:13 PM

Hide

I bought one of these from Newegg a couple months ago - 4GB. Tiny AND useful! I wouldn't consider this breaking news, however...

sviola 07/28/2010 10:37 PM

Hide

peterkidd :
I HATE U3. The idea is cool, but it is propriety crapware that runs so slow.

Well, there are many free (and open source) options on the market like:

Portable apps: http://portableapps.com/

or linux: http://www.pendrivelinux.com/

wildwestgoh 08/05/2010 1:22 AM

Hide

I have 1 of this 8GB, malaysia here, months ago.
Small and easy to carry but not for the performance, with 3MB/s write max, took near 1 hour to fill it.