Last year, I introduced you to thumb (Flash) drives as an incredibly simple—but equally useful—tool for police officers. I revisit the topic here to review one particular Thumb drive I recently purchased.
I found myself having to replace my thumb drive—I had damaged the plug that goes into the computer on my existing drive. I went to Office Depot, compared prices, and bought a four gigabyte SanDisk Micro Cruzer with “U3” software. To compare the storage space on this particular flash drive, my very first personal computer had four gigabytes of storage space. Now I can carry that same amount of data in my pocket.
This model is offered from one gigabyte all the way up to sixteen gigabytes of capacity.
Once I opened the package, I discovered to my happy surprise this particular drive had a USB plug that could be retracted, which means the cap could not be lost. I plugged the drive in and waited for it to be recognized by the computer. Once recognized a window popped up and asked if I wanted to register the drive. I selected yes and found it navigating me through several prompts requesting some generic data. Once this was completed a prompt asked me for a password.
I found out this particular password would be used to log into the flash drive. My advice is to use a password you regularly use so you don’t easily forget it. Once logged into the flash drive another window similar to a “Windows” Start button appears on the right side of the status bar. Inside this other Start button I found the U3 launch pad. Inside the launch pad you will find several links to software on the flash drive and online links to other software and software trials on the drive.
To unplug the flash drive you must select the U3 button then select the unplug feature. This feature is similar to the “remove hardware” feature found in Windows when you are unplugging external hardware on your laptop or desktop PC.
You will find that once plug the drive back into the PC it will be recognized by the PC and will prompt you for a password. Once the correct password is typed in the drive will open.
Once plugged in the top of the drive lights up in an orange glow and I found the Security software on this drive very secure and easy to use.
Other software features are offered on a trial basis on the drive and can be extended by purchasing a key. Check them out and see if they of any use to you.
If you would like more information or reviews on this particular flash drive go to http://www.sandisk.com and type Micro 4gig in the search box to find the information on this particular drive.
Until next time… stay safe!
