Best-designed Flash Drive: the Cruzer Titanium

By all respects, the Cruzer Titanium from SanDisk is a beauty. This is a USB 2.0 flash drive that comes in capacities of 512 MB, 1 GB, and 2 GB. I've got the 512 MB version, which should be roomy enough for most people. Why do I like it? Well, as the name suggests, it's made of titanium. Yep, titanium. It's not just some cheesy name that the marketing department thought up to make the product appear sturdier and more reliable. The shell of this nifty flash drive is made of real, honest-to-goodness titanium. Uncrushable up to 2,000 lbs. How's that for data security? This thing was built to last. Even the graphics and body markings are laser-etched, so you can be sure they won't rub off after constant use (or abuse).

Another cool thing about this flash drive is that it doesn't have a cap over the USB connector that can fall off and get lost. Instead, there's a white plastic sliding mechanism in the middle of the flash drive's body. You push down lightly on the white button, and slide it forward along the length of the opening in the titanium case, and the USB connector slides out easily through another opening at the right end. When you're done using it, you can retract the USB connector to keep it protected inside the titanium shell. This means, of course, that the connector is still exposed to air and moisture from the environment. I used to worry that not having the USB connector covered would compromise the performance of the flash drive by letting dust particles enter. But I've had my drive for about a year already, and it has yet to give me that kind of problem. (Of course, I wasn't daring enough to let water get into the drive).

Like most of the good flash drives of today, the Cruzer Titanium is backwards-compatible with USB 1.0 drives and works in both Macintosh and Windows environments. You don't need to install any drivers, except if you're using Windows 98SE. You just plug it in, and it works. A bright blue LED light switches on when you plug the drive in, and it blinks to show activity. I've used my Cruzer to transfer files from my iBook to the family PCs countless times without a hitch.

This flash drive is also one of the faster ones on the market with read speeds of 15 MB/s and write speeds of 13 MB/s. (The cheaper flash drives usually don't go past 10 MB/s). Last year, it was the fastest one on the market. But since then, other flash drives like the Corsair Flash Voyager have trumped it with speeds of 19 MB/s.

In terms of aesthetics in design, though, I think the Cruzer Titanium is still the best-looking one on the market with its simple, sleek lines and gently rounded edges. I'm expecting SanDisk to release faster versions of their Cruzer Titaniums in the near future. It's definitely too much of a good product to be left in the dark.