I recently bought this for my new Xbox 360 with only 4G internal memory. Searching the internet, I found out later that there are a lot of flash drives that does not work with the Xbox. Luckily, this drive works without any issue; the console ran it to a test and it passed.
It is refurbished, and it says so at the back. Not just printed on it, but printed and embossed. If you plan to give it as a gift, it is not a good idea. It also did not come in a sleek bubble pack.
The USB connection is retractable by sliding the plastic middle front button. The good thing is it will not retract while pushing it to a USB outlet, it will only retract by sliding it while holding that particular button.
For my purpose, I prefer a much smaller flash drive like the Verbatim TUFF 'N' TINY 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive 97168 (Black) or the Super Talent Pico-C 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive STU16GPCS (Silver) (I have not tried these 2 if they will work on the Xbox). This drive sticks out a lot. But for the buck and because it just works, I'll get my self a second one once I run out of memory. SanDisk 16GB Cruzer Micro USB 2.0 Drive SDCZ6-016G-A11 (Refurbished)
I own 2GB, 4GB, and 16GB versions of the black cased, amber LED, Cruzer Micro drives. All work well and I've never had one die on me. The 16GB Cruzer Micro should be just about enough instant portable storage for anything you could ever imagine. That being said, it's not the fastest drive in the world, but its compactness, retractable usb connector, and keychain ring make it one of the top USB thumb drives in my book.
If anyone's looking for speed data here's a snip from a review I did on a Blue LED 4gb Cruzer Titanium. (YES! the Blue LED makes a difference, as you'll see from the data below, so if you're looking for a 4/8GB drive I'd highly recommend the blue LED Cruzer Titanium if you can get your hands on one.)
With my 4GB & 16GB amber LED Cruzers. (Which should be similar speed to all amber LED Cruzers) I can write a 2GB .iso to the drive in 4min 32sec for an avg of 7mb/sec. I can read the same 2gb .iso from the drive in 1min 11sec, for an avg of 28mb/sec.
With my 4GB blue LED Cruzer I can write the 2GB .iso to the drive in 2min 12sec, thats an avg of 15mb/sec. I can read the same 2GB .iso from the drive in 55sec, thats an avg of 36mb/sec. Various file types take slightly different times, but all average about 1mb/sec+- from the ISO transfer speeds. This brings me to the conclusion that, in my tests anyways, the amber LED is 53% slower writing and 22% slower reading than the blue LED Titanium Cruzer.
*All NTFS formatted and connected to a Windows 7 64bit machine.
Quick rundown on a synthetic benchmark using Check Flash 1.15.1. (Test writes data to the drives capacity then reads all the data back)
4GB Cruzer Micro - Write Avg: 7.02MB/s Read Avg: 12.61MB/s
16GB Cuzer Micro - Write Avg: 6.14MB/s Read Avg: 19.98MB/s
4GB Cruzer Titanium - Write Avg: 14.03MB/sec Read Avg: 19.36MB/sec
Have a seat and let me explain the software found installed on this dongle. Introducing the software protection software called U3 Launchpad. The quickest way to get more information is at
[search engine "Wikipedia U3 LLC"] - but let me highlight the important information in this article.
Scandisk report the following on its website "The U3 technology has reached end of life. SanDisk began phasing out support for U3 Technology in late 2009."
Translation:
This is vintage (2004) OLD technology.
A U3 flash drive presents itself to the host system as a USB hub with a CD drive and standard USB mass storage device attached.
* This configuration causes Windows disk management to show two drives:
1. A read-only ISO 9660 volume on an emulated CD-ROM drive with an autorun configuration to execute the U3 LaunchPad, and;
2. A standard flash drive (FAT formatted) that includes a hidden "SYSTEM" folder with installed applications.
* U3 compliant applications can be (optionally) preloaded by manufacturers.
WHAT? You probably weren't expecting TWO drive letter when you inserted the dongle, did you?
The dongle autoruns if you leave Windows on it's default setting when inserting, installing the software on your computer - Did you expect that?
Autorun without implied consent.
Some of the dongle space used for the 'read-only ISO 9660 volume'
SanDisk shame on you.
- BUT THE MOST IMPORTANT PART -
Reformatting the drive will remove some of the software (the hidden "SYSTEM" folder), but not all of it. The virtual CD-ROM drive cannot be removed by reformatting because it is presented to the host system as a physical device attached to a USB hub; the official U3 Launchpad Removal Software was available on the U3 website and disabled the virtual CD drive device, leaving only the USB mass storage device active on the U3 USB hub controller, at which point the remaining software can be removed by a subsequent format, performed by the removal software itself. The U3 website is no longer accessible, but the removal tool is still available from other sources.
YUP - from SanDisk itself
[search engine "SanDisk U3 Launchpad Removal"]
If SanDisk decides to stop providing this file, use your favorite search engine to find it.
--- VERY IMPORTANT ---
Turn off the autoruns BEFORE inserting this dongle:
[search engine "microsoft kb 967715"]
THEN run launchpadremoval.exe to remove U3 protection
NOW you have a clean dongle.
Now for a startling conclusion that you probably won't expect:
A refurbished dongle is less that 1/2 the price of a new dongle - it's a steal. Compare SanDisk 16GB Cruzer Micro USB 2.0 Drive SDCZ6-016G-A11 (Refurbished) and SanDisk Cruzer Micro 16 GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive SDCZ6-016G-A11 OR [Search engine "refurbished SanDisk Cruzer"]
SanDisk made a good piece of hardware - they were just 'misguided' by installing such bad software WITHOUT INFORMED CONSENT.
Having said that - it is an ACCEPTABLE purchase.
Shame on the SanDisk software. - Flash Drive - Xbox 360 - Usb Flash Drive - Sandisk'
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