Sandisk launches Cruzer Blade itty bitty USB flash drive

USB Flash drives are continuing to shrink. Pretty soon you won’t be able to spot a drive once it’s plugged into your computer — which is probably just going to make drives that much easier to misplace when you’re not using them. But until we get to that point, we’ll have to settle for the new SanDisk Cruzer Blade, which SanDisk says is about the size of a paper clip and weighs abotu as much as a penny.

The Cruzer Blade comes in 2GB to 16GB capacities, with prices ranging from $14.99 to $77.99. It’s certainly not the cheapest USB flash drive you can buy. 8GB models often go for $15 or less. But it’s certainly one of the smallest — if that kind of thing matters to you.

via NY Times

Posted on Thursday, July 29th, 2010, 12:41 pm by Brad Linder

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Laars

I've tried a variety of tiny USB drives, from the ultra-thin plastic rectangles to the thicker metal rectangles, and both of those have some fit issues which you don't experience with traditional design of the plain metal shielded USB coupling scheme. That being said:

I'd like to put word in for the Lexar Echo ZE drive for “smallest practical USB drive” award – it's the size of a fingertip (actually smaller than most of mine), and serves as a plug-and-stay drive.

http://lexar.com/echo/echo_ze.html

Sizes are 8GB / 16GB / 32GB, and from my experience with the 32GB, they're a bit slower than industry average (maybe custom formatting would help this – I haven't tried yet) but the form factor and capacity make up for it. The only color I've found is blue with an LED in the exposed nub, if that's an issue.
Martin

That USB drive has been available here in Sweden at least 6month. Bought the 16gb 4month ago for around 35$. Verry satisfied with it! And it's soo light. Can't almost not feel it when you hold it in your hand.
http://www.netbookreviews.net/ Netbook Reviews

For some size comparison and use with a netbook you can checkout my hands on: http://www.netbookreviews.net/news/cruzer-blade/
Yong

i think fixed USB keys are a waste. i've got numerous USB microSD readers, the latest one being an elago Mobile Nano II and the reader cost me $8. i've already got numers microSD cards, from 256MB to 16GB. swap em out and you're good to go. A much better method than paying $80 for 16GB since you can get a 16GB micro SDHC card for $30-ish bucks. add the reader in there and you've already saved over $40.
http://home.comcast.net/~tomleem/ BigGoofyGuy

Here is a small USB drive that seems to be smaller and less expensive than the Cruzer.
http://www.amazon.com/PQI-Intelligent-i810-wate…
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/21TWoZ9x6…

I have a micro-sd card that has an adapter; together it is – it appears – to be smaller than the Cruzer.

I guess an USB drive can be too small. I like unique over smallness (ie; USB drive that looks like a toy, food, etc).
Laars

I agree about the pure USB vs the MicroSDHC adapter point up until you get above the 16GB size.

At 32GB+, you pay a bigger premium for MicroSD than USB (especially if you choose a fast card) – until that changes, that's where tiny USB keys still reign.

Sandisk launches Cruzer Blade itty bitty USB flash drive

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