SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB Review

We review the SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB thumb drive here. Now we bought this at Walmart, to save some electronic manuals on.The Cruzer Glide™ installed easily, received copied data as quickly as other USB 2.0 storage drives we’ve tested, and is easy to find, buy, plug in, and use. This flash drive accepted several gigabytes of data without a single error.

Picture of the Sandisk Cruzer Glide 16GB original package, front view. — The SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB original package, front view.

Gives new life to the “sneaker net” means of sharing data amongst friends, teachers, bosses, and so on. Folks shared data like this widely in the ’80s and ’90s. Almost as cheap to buy as yesterday’s floppy disks. Plus, USB thumb drives like this one, quickly load with data.

Then you can ship them by courier from place to place, just as those sneaker-wearing couriers did in the eighties with floppies. Further, this drive comes with 128-bit AES encryption programs. These allow password protecting files stored on this drive; something you could not easily do with floppies.

Picture of the back of the original package. — The original package back view.

SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB Review: Benefits, Pros, Advantages, and Features

USB 2.0 Speeds

Supports USB 2.0, for high speed data transfers to and from.

USB 3.0 Compatible

Note however, that while this flash drive will work when plugged into a USB 3.0 port, it does not run at USB 3.0 speeds.

Compatible with Popular Computer Brands

Works with both Windows and Apple Mac based computers.

SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB Review: FAT 32 File System Preinstalled

The SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB drive comes pre-formatted with the FAT32 file system. So it works across computers running most any version of Windows or Mac OS.

Windows can Natively Format This Flash Drive

Retractable USB Connector

Attached cover, that protects the USB connector when not in use. You won’t lose the cover.

Lots of Sizes

Available capacities are 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, and 256 GB currently.

Illuminated

Has a built-in flashing orange light that shows that power is applied, and blinks during data transfers.

SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB Review: Cool Operation

The SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB thumb drive makes little heat. So that means very little wasted power. Thus, use this thumb drive in your battery-powered laptop or notebook computers, without fear of it draining your batteries much faster. Current draw is nearly zero.

High Speed USB 2.0 Transfers Noted

Data transfer speeds were as snappy quick as expected for a USB 2.0 storage device.

No Other Software Needed

Requires no additional or special drivers or software for most computers, to be installed when employing on a Windows based computer.

Sandisk ® SecureAccess ™ Software Provided

This flash drive comes with file encryption software, that allows you to protect files and folders stored on this drive with a password. 128-bit AES encryption.

Less Volatile than Magnetic Disk Storage

Data stored herein are not easily erased or corrupted by exposure to magnetic fields; unlike floppies or data tapes.

SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB Review: Is Plenty Fast for Archival Storage

Though data transfer speeds arelimited with this USB device as compared with class 10 and higher SD cards, the SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB thumb drives work well for archival storage. They are plenty fast enough for streaming audio and most video. While a bit slower, these flash drives are cheaper than SDHC and compact flash cards per gigabyte.

Upgrade with Ease

Easily replaced with a bigger USB drive when you need more storage. This is owing to the USB standard itself and the high degree of interoperability and interchanging of devices that conform to the USB standards. For this reason et al, USB key drives have become nearly ubiquitous in so many information tech applications.

Big Enough to Easily Work With

USB flash drives in general are rather small in size, and so, can be easily misplaced. However, this SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB storage device is over an inch long. It has a hole through which a lanyard, key chain, or other form of necklace or string can thread, to prevent loss. Plus, it is bigger than SDHC memory cards, and way larger than MicroSD memory chips, which are really too small to be rightly referred to as, “cards.”

Two Year Limited Warranty

Picture of the drive held in hand to show its relative size. — The drive held in hand to show its relative size.

SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB Review: Problems, Cons, Limitations, and Disadvantages

Its Long Body is a Curse in Some Situations

The body of this flash drive spans more than an inch. So when plugged in, it protrudes from the USB port almost two inches. Take care therefore, not to move the host computer, camera, or media player with this USB drive plugged in, as it would be easy to snap off or otherwise damage this drive, should you pass too close by a wall or corner while carrying the machine.

No USB 3.0 Speeds

This particular model does not support USB 3.0 transfer speeds, although Sandisk® does offer flash drives that do.

Not Labeled as RoHS Compliant

Hard to Retract the USB Plug

Be sure to truly press the red retract-release button when moving the

SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB Review: Not Waterproof

The end of the USB port and the connecting prongs inside are always exposed, even when retracted.

SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB Review: Our Rating

This line of high speed flash drives is priced on the cheap side (we paid $8 for this one), and is available at Walmart, Target, and other brick and online retail outlets. Be sure to shop around to get the best deals. With USB 2.0 speeds, higher storage capacity, why would you not replace your older disc storage mediums with thumb drives like the SanDisk Cruzer Glide 16GB? Given all of that, we rate it at 95 out of 100.