The initial versions of the USB standard specified connectors that were easy to use and that would have acceptable life spans; revisions of the standard added smaller connectors useful for compact portable devices. Higher-speed development of the USB standard gave rise to another family of connectors to permit additional data paths. All versions of USB specify cable properties; version 3.x cables include additional data paths. The USB standard included power supply to peripheral devices; modern versions of the standard extend the power delivery limits for battery charging and devices requiring up to 240 watts. USB has been selected as the standard charging format for many mobile phones, reducing the proliferation of proprietary chargers.

I use this flash drive for multimedia storage in my car. I find the flash drive becomes very-very hot after a short while. I was very surprised how hot it is and the risk of burned skin is very real. I ended up using other flash drive. I am very disappointed by the quality of this product which is coming from one of the biggest player in the industry. I thought it becomes hot only if I use it in my car, but the same thing happened when I plugged the flash drive in my laptop, albeit not as hot.I don't know how this product passed consumer test. If this product was sold elsewhere, there will be a class action suit.This product does not deserve to be sold and should be recalled. Sandisk should pay attention to my comment.

Sandisk Ultra Luxe USB 3.1 (64GB, SDCZ74-064G)

Cloud continues to be all the rage in 2019, and SanDisk is riding the wave with the new SanDisk Ultra USB thumb drive. It offers a generous 256GB of storage for a reasonable price, but also includes a year of cloud backup for said drive. 256GB of cloud storage for a full year is included making this disk an excellent value if you are looking for a cost effective backup drive.The SanDisk Ultra 256GB is not overly different from other SanDisk drives. Its clad in a semigloss black with a slide mechanism to protect the typeA usb port when not in use. Its a tried and true design, and SanDisk rightfully doesnt mess with what works.Performance wise, the disk boasts performance up to 100MBs. This claim is not exaggerated for sequential read speeds in other words, large ... MoreCloud continues to be all the rage in 2019, and SanDisk is riding the wave with the new SanDisk Ultra USB thumb drive. It offers a generous 256GB of storage for a reasonable price, but also includes a year of cloud backup for said drive. 256GB of cloud storage for a full year is included making this disk an excellent value if you are looking for a cost effective backup drive.The SanDisk Ultra 256GB is not overly different from other SanDisk drives. Its clad in a semigloss black with a slide mechanism to protect the typeA usb port when not in use. Its a tried and true design, and SanDisk rightfully doesnt mess with what works.Performance wise, the disk boasts performance up to 100MBs. This claim is not exaggerated for sequential read speeds in other words, large files. Crystal disk mark placed sequential read speeds around 135MBs. The drive appears to use a fast write cache buffer.Sequential writes hover around 65MBs for the first gigabyte or so but sharply and predictably drop off to 2025MBs. Writes in bursts benefit from this cache, but it can easily fill up during large writes. The cache recovers pretty quickly however, so writing performs well in small batches. This squarely puts the SanDisk Ultra in the budget category as far as performance goes.The real interesting proposition with this drive is the cloud storage that comes with it free for the first year. You can backup all the data found on your drive meaning that if you have a 256GB drive, you can backup that amount of data to the online FlashBack service. I tested this theory by copying our family photos of around 70GB to the drive. While this took quite a while to accomplish, the backup took place during the copy, so I left it overnight. The FlashBack service not only had a copy of all my files, but presented them with a friendly photo browser, and broke down my files based on metadata, type, and provided a handy search feature. The user interface is modern and worked well with my files. You can share links to files, which is a plus, and manage those links. Essentially you could share out a document with someone, and then revoke the access to that link by simply deleting the sharing link. Its clear there was a lot of time spent to ensure a positive user experience with this service, which is appreciated. The app used to do the backup is unobtrusive and seemed to work well. It does get angry if its in the process of backing up files and you unplug it. It does take time to get to resuming a backup. If you delete files, theyll go in the Trash bin in FlashBack, and can be restored for up to 30 days.The first year is on the house, but after that pricing looks reasonable. At 9.99 for the 256GB drive a year, its hard to argue thats a bad deal. Having access to any of your files remotely and securely even with your pc off, and your thumb drive in the drawer is a nice selling feature. Do keep in mind that while SanDisk does look like they did a decent job with security, while still being able to provide sharing features, etc its still hosting your data remotely. Be sure to secure your account with a good password. Id like to see them implement two factor authentication to help bring further peace of mind to those backing up sensitive data andor financials.The SanDisk Ultra 256GB is a decent performing everyday USB pen drive with a large capacity.The real selling feature of the Ultra series here is the FlashBack service, and it seems to really hit the nail on the head. If youre looking for a good backup drive that can double as a carbonite or other backup service replacement this might fit the bill if your needs are simple. In any case, its a decent alternative to using Google Drive and offers a ton more storage for the money and gives you that storage free the first year. This new model of storage actually seems pretty compelling, I highly recommend trying it out.

Sandisk Ultra Luxe USB 3.1 (64GB, SDCZ74-064G)

I built a custom desktop for myself in 2013. At the time, I was a poor college student redundant, I know but using some gift money and the whole DIYinsteadofprebuilt thing I was able to put together a system that wasnt totally terrible. It ran Windows an objectively superior operating system and also Premiere an objectively accessible nonlinear editing program for someone using an objectively superior operating system sorry, AVID, which was really what I cared about, because I was a film student. Oh, how I lusted over the BH catalogue in those days. For much of that time, I used an SD card to transfer files between my system and others, because my camera used SD cards I was shooting mostly on a T2i that I had bought from BH several years prior, which was good enough ... MoreI built a custom desktop for myself in 2013. At the time, I was a poor college student redundant, I know but using some gift money and the whole DIYinsteadofprebuilt thing I was able to put together a system that wasnt totally terrible. It ran Windows an objectively superior operating system and also Premiere an objectively accessible nonlinear editing program for someone using an objectively superior operating system sorry, AVID, which was really what I cared about, because I was a film student. Oh, how I lusted over the BH catalogue in those days. For much of that time, I used an SD card to transfer files between my system and others, because my camera used SD cards I was shooting mostly on a T2i that I had bought from BH several years prior, which was good enough for the most part, though Ill admit that it wasnt perfect, but I was in college and it was better than the Panasonic camcorders they were trying to shove onto us I care about shallow depth of field because I am knowledgable about cinematic language and techniques and read internet blogs about how to make movies on budgets, and my laptop that I also acquired at some point during this time had an SD card reader, so it was easy. Sometimes, I had wished that I was using a flash drive, but... it just never happened. Flash forward to 2016. I have a job that pays me enough per hour that I could buy at least one flash drive every single week if I wanted to, but instead of doing that, I decided to take the logical extension of that and upgrade my custombuilt PC with some new hard drives. And by hard drives, I mean solid state drives. My 128 GB primary SSD simply wasnt big enough to fit all of the things I wanted, so I bought a new SSD. And then I remembered, Oh no Im going to have to create a backup or something I dont know how this works, exactly on probably a USB Flash Drive in order to transfer my OS to a new drive without having to buy a new version of the OS. The internet and by that I mean Microsoft said that I should get a 16 GB hard drive, but as a blueblooded American, I knew that supersize was the only size. But, as I said, I get paid enough for one per week, so I didnt go crazy. I got a 64 GB drive. Honestly, if I need more than that, Ill use a real external hard drive, which I wont be able to afford for several more months, but I intend to eventually get anyway. Ive been told they are very important for film shoots, though I wouldnt know because no one ever wants me to be on their set, which makes me sad but isnt relevant to this review. Anyways, so I bought this flash drive, went to the internet, followed the instructions on how to setup a bootable USB drive, booted from it, installed the OS, and now I have Windows 10 lovely, beautiful Windows 10 on a new solid state drive that is significantly larger than my old one, so I should be all good, which I am happy about. Without this drive, it would have probably been a bad day. But it wasnt, so I think four out of five stars are in order. Id give it five, but Im probably going to lose it because its small, and I wont be really sad when it gets lost because I dont Love it like five stars requires I just like it, which is what four stars is. tldr see title of this review

Sandisk Ultra Luxe USB 3.1 (64GB, SDCZ74-064G)

Overview The performance of the drive is decent, generally matching what is advertised, and fitting well with the price point. I found the valueadding software to be quite disappointing, and not something Id recommend using. While usage of this software is optional, and I wouldnt usually take them into consideration when purchasing or recommending this type of product, as a Tech Insider, Ive been asked to focus my review on this software, which includes Flashback and SecureAccess. As a result, my overall rating gives significant consideration to this software. Flashback The Flashback software and service are designed to automatically backup files that are on the flash drive, to the cloud. While it is perhaps misleadingly indicated that you get Flashback with these ... MoreOverview The performance of the drive is decent, generally matching what is advertised, and fitting well with the price point. I found the valueadding software to be quite disappointing, and not something Id recommend using. While usage of this software is optional, and I wouldnt usually take them into consideration when purchasing or recommending this type of product, as a Tech Insider, Ive been asked to focus my review on this software, which includes Flashback and SecureAccess. As a result, my overall rating gives significant consideration to this software. Flashback The Flashback software and service are designed to automatically backup files that are on the flash drive, to the cloud. While it is perhaps misleadingly indicated that you get Flashback with these drives, as found on the Flashback landing page, it is important to note that what youre actually getting is a oneyear trial period of the service, after which a scaled fee is charged based on the storage capacity of the drive. While the promotional materials direct users to the Flashback landing page sandisk.comflashback to create an account and download the software, I was unable to find a means of achieving either from this page. I had to go out of my way to search the web for the download page sandisk.comflashbackapps.Once downloaded, installation of the software was quick and simple, and directed me through the required account creation process. The software automatically detected my flash drive, at which point the automatic backups were working. The software quickly detects new files as well as file changes, and by default displays a notification that a backup is underway. This notification, thankfully, can be disabled. The flashback service site is clean and easy to navigate, allowing users to quickly find files that have been deleted or lost, as well as shareunshare, preview, and download individual files. Sharing a file provides a URL that can be used by anyone to preview the file for supported file types, as well as download it. While the ability to download all backed up content was included, its implementation is rather clunky, where an email is sent containing a download linkURL for the archive Both the software and service are quite basic, missing many features found in competing productsservices. Noticeably lacking are file versioning, which would allow you to viewdownload old versions of backed up files, control over which filesfolders get backed up, as well as integrated clientside encryption. Granted, you can still perform encryption independently, with either Sandisks own SecureAccess software or similar thirdparty software.Unfortunately, the Flashback software has what I consider to be a critical flaw, making it rather unwieldy to use. While the Flashback software is running, the flash drive is locked such that using the safe removal or ejection features of Windows fails, and the Flashback software doesnt seem to provide its own safe removal option. This means that in order to safely remove the drive, I must terminate the Flashback process. I then must remember to manually launch Flashback once Ive reinserted the flash drive, if I want the automatic backups to resume. SecureAccess SecureAccess is a way of storing and backing up files in encrypted form. This is basically sharewarecrippleware used to promote a paid product that goes by a different name. Setup is quick and easy, and usage is fairly straightforward, if a bit clunky. The features provided are a small fraction of what can be found in free competing products. Features such as singlefile containers, being able to mount a vault as this software calls it as a drive, having choice of encryption algorithm used, and integration with any type of backup service even Sandisks own are all noticeably missing. Hardware The outer design of this drive isnt great. The thin, tapered notch used for the mechanical sliding action is particularly bad, worse than those found on any other similar drive Ive owned, including several Sandisk Cruzers that each have different slide designs. On the potentially positive side, the case has a hole that allows attachment to a keyring with reasonable ease, whereas most other USB flash drives Ive owned are only designed for attachment to lanyards.The drive benchmarks well, backing up the advertised speeds as reasonable. These speeds are considerably faster than much cheaper drives while falling short of higher end drives that charge a premium for increased speeds particularly write speeds, putting this drive in a comfortable middle zone. The good capacity and performance to cost ratio should serve most people well. Conclusion My experience with Sandisks flash media have been mostly positive its a brand I trust. I find this drives capacity and performance at this price point to be a good value. The optional valueadding software is not great, and I wouldnt recommend their use. I would, however, recommend the device itself.

Sandisk Ultra Luxe USB 3.1 (64GB, SDCZ74-064G)

There are several options out there for cloud storage and several brands of serviceable USB drives. However, the SanDisk Ultra 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive with Flashback combines those two functions, providing ease and flexibility.I am a graphic designer, and I do the main part of my work on an iMac. However, some of my clients use Publisher and need me to provide things in that format. Publisher is not available for an iMac, so my office includes a PC. I have been using cloud storage to work between the two systems, which works just fine, but sometimes I want cloud storage as well as something physical that I can take with me to a client meeting or to a printer or other vendor where I either cant or dont want to log onto the internet and access my cloud storage. The ... MoreThere are several options out there for cloud storage and several brands of serviceable USB drives. However, the SanDisk Ultra 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive with Flashback combines those two functions, providing ease and flexibility.I am a graphic designer, and I do the main part of my work on an iMac. However, some of my clients use Publisher and need me to provide things in that format. Publisher is not available for an iMac, so my office includes a PC. I have been using cloud storage to work between the two systems, which works just fine, but sometimes I want cloud storage as well as something physical that I can take with me to a client meeting or to a printer or other vendor where I either cant or dont want to log onto the internet and access my cloud storage. The SanDisk Ultra with Flashback fulfills that need.Like other cloud backup services, Flashback enables me to share large files via a link, thus avoiding email size limitations or security blocks. Plus, if I make any changes to a file while I am away from my office and offline, as soon as I return and plug the drive into my office computer, those changes are automatically synched with the cloud. Very convenient.I havent done any speed tests on the SanDisk Ultra 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive with Flashback other than simply using it. That test has resulted in upload and download times that are fast enough for me not to notice them.The first year of cloud storage is free no credit card required, although there will be a charge thereafter. That charge currently is 9.99year for the 256 GB drive, less for a smaller capacity drive. According to my research, this is much less expensive than most if not all other cloud storage plans whose free option is usually for a very small amount of dataBottom line If you want portability combined with the peace of mind and flexibility that come with inexpensive, automatic cloud storage, the SanDisk Ultra Flash Drive with Flashback is a good solution.

Sandisk Ultra Luxe USB 3.1 (64GB, SDCZ74-064G)

I have been an avid SanDisk drive fan, whether it be SSD, compact flash, SD, or their older USB drives. However, over the past few years, I have found their USB drives lacking, and getting worse. Previously, I purchased some USB 2.0 Cruzer Glide drives, and found them painfully slow when writing compared to others I had from other companies. This week, I wanted to give them another try by buying the newer USB 3.0 Ultra SBCZ48032G and 128G the price was very attractive when on sale.Bottom line, I am returning the Ultra drives. They are still too painfully slow to use. I bought USB 3.0 drives and expect to get somewhere near that speed I do not expect USB 2.0 flash drive speeds with a USB 3.0 device.Comparing these drives to a PNY 128GB USB 3.0 drive I purchased a few ... MoreI have been an avid SanDisk drive fan, whether it be SSD, compact flash, SD, or their older USB drives. However, over the past few years, I have found their USB drives lacking, and getting worse. Previously, I purchased some USB 2.0 Cruzer Glide drives, and found them painfully slow when writing compared to others I had from other companies. This week, I wanted to give them another try by buying the newer USB 3.0 Ultra SBCZ48032G and 128G the price was very attractive when on sale.Bottom line, I am returning the Ultra drives. They are still too painfully slow to use. I bought USB 3.0 drives and expect to get somewhere near that speed I do not expect USB 2.0 flash drive speeds with a USB 3.0 device.Comparing these drives to a PNY 128GB USB 3.0 drive I purchased a few years ago, I did some testingbenchmarking. My tests were simple1 Use CrystalDiskMark 7.0.0f to benchmark the drives this is a commonly used tool.2 Copy 15 files, 8.62 GB total from a Corsair MP600 NVMe drive to selected USB Drives all using USB 3.0 ports, and as a checkpoint, to my local NAS this latter to ensure the MP600 NVMe drive was not the bottleneck.Summary see attached picture as well The PNY drive performed well and within what I expected regarding speed. It copied the files quickly, roughly 88 MBs consistently, taking approximately 1 minute, 41 seconds. The Ultra128 ran the benchmarks OK, but when it came to real world usage, it fell on its face after what appears to be that its internal cache was filled it went from roughly 78 MBs down to about 12 MBs after a few seconds of copying. It took approximately 3 minutes, 50 seconds to copy the same data to the Ultra128, more than twice the time required by the PNY. The Ultra32 ran the benchmarks fairly, but its internal cache appears to be smaller, and the 1GB benchmarks picked up on it. Unfortunately, the drive died become read only and I could no longer test it. And for those tech savvy folks out there, yes I did try DiskPart and other tools to fix it. From untimed tests, the 32G drive performed slightly worse than the 128GB drive.These benchmarkstests were performed with a home assembled machine Windows 10 Pro Asus TUF Gaming X570 WiFi motherboard AMD 3800X CPU Corsair MP600 NVMe 1TB Drive Corsair Vengeance memory, running at 3200MHz.SanDisk, time to pick up your game, or someone else will come along and beat you at it. If your SD cards are now able to handle up to 170MBs write speeds, why can your USB flash drives not handle even half of that Yes, I know, comparing apples and oranges.

Sandisk Ultra Luxe USB 3.1 (64GB, SDCZ74-064G)

I wanted to get a large flash drive to backup all my important files and photos Ive amassed a lot, and saw the prices of flash drives has come way down. I started using flashthumb drives for work back when the 1gb was considered a large drive, and when they announced a 4gb drive we all though whos going to put that much stuff on a thumb drive.Ive also used about every brand of flash drive available and still have a few of the old 1gb ones laying around and the only ones still working are the SanDisk branded ones, one in particular is the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 1gb, the super heavy duty all metal bodied drive you wont ever see again, and it still works perfectly.Physical ImpressionsThis 256gb drive is physically the size thumb drive have pretty much been for quite a ... MoreI wanted to get a large flash drive to backup all my important files and photos Ive amassed a lot, and saw the prices of flash drives has come way down. I started using flashthumb drives for work back when the 1gb was considered a large drive, and when they announced a 4gb drive we all though whos going to put that much stuff on a thumb drive.Ive also used about every brand of flash drive available and still have a few of the old 1gb ones laying around and the only ones still working are the SanDisk branded ones, one in particular is the SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 1gb, the super heavy duty all metal bodied drive you wont ever see again, and it still works perfectly.Physical ImpressionsThis 256gb drive is physically the size thumb drive have pretty much been for quite a while now, the USB plug is retractable keeping it safe and secure when retracted. There isnt an activity light so you wont know if its doing anything, not important for me as its on the back of my desktop computer.SpeedThe flash drive is USB 3 and backwards compatible. Speed wise using Crystal Disk Mark Im getting around 116MBs Seq read, and 50MBs Seq write, not bad at all and Ive attached a screen shot of the test.Included SoftwareThe really nice thing is the software thats included with the flash drive. You get one year of Rescue Pro Deluxe, the key is inside the packaging and with it you can recover lost and accidentally erased files. It works for everything not just this thumb drive. I took a file folder with photos in it, about 1gb worth on the SanDisk drive, deleted it, emptied the recycle bin, and then had the software scan to recover it. Now it does take a while to scan this drive, its big so sit back or do something else while it goes about its business. After about an hour it was able to recover all the files in the test folder I created, now this will depend greatly on if youve written files to the drive after losingaccidentally deleting files. For the most accurate and thorough recovery you dont want to be using the media you are doing the recovery on till after youve recovered your files. Youll also have to rename your recovered files after it has finished running, but you can click on them to view in the recovery window so you know what you are renaming.Also under the flash drives main directory is the SanDisk Secure Access application. When you run it the first time it will ask that you set up an account and password for the secure folder. After entering your password you will be greeted with a simple file manager window. Just drag and drop files into the top secure area and it will encrypt all the files. If you view the drive with a standard file manager like the one in Windows 10 you will see the folder name but theres nothing in them to view, you will have to use the Secure Access application to view and unencrypt these files and folders. The whole process is reasonably fast too. I copied all my important stuff, about 175gb, in a couple hours, not bad for that much data.There is an upgrade option for the standard software, you can get a lifetime license for 15, I think thats reasonable just havent done it yet. It gets you 1024 bit encryption, automatic backup, syncing between devices, and sharing with others. Ill probably be upgrading to this in the future as it adds a lot of for low cost.Im keeping all my medical files on this as I do have some health issues and like to keep my entire medical easily portable if I happen to go see a new specialist. This way I can always have a backup of my records and theres plenty of space on this drive for xrays and, MRIs, CT scans and Ultrasounds. Plus with everything being encrypted I used a very secure password I wont worry much about someone getting my personal information if I do happen to lose the drive.OpinionThis is an excellent thumb drive, theres plenty of space for a lot of files, and I mean a lot. The included software allows you to encrypt your sensitive data so you wont have to worry about it falling into the wrong hands and the recovery software makes it pretty easy to recover any file you may have accidentally lost. The new flash drives from SanDisk are a real value.

Sandisk Ultra Luxe USB 3.1 (64GB, SDCZ74-064G)

The SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 flash drive is exactly that, a 256GB flash drive in the basic portable format. I wouldnt call it rugged but the USB connector can be recessed into the housing to protect it. This necessarily increases the size of the drive a bit, but useful for something that youd essentially toss into bags, sit on in your back pocket, and generally abuse the way keys get abused on a day to day basis. Unlike keys which are typically made of metal and are both easy and cheap to copy, this drive is not so having builtin protection for this everyday device is nice to have.The 256GB capacity is nice. In fact, its almost hilarious thinking just how not too long ago, having a 256GB spinning platter drive was amazing in itself and certainly not something youd ... MoreThe SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 flash drive is exactly that, a 256GB flash drive in the basic portable format. I wouldnt call it rugged but the USB connector can be recessed into the housing to protect it. This necessarily increases the size of the drive a bit, but useful for something that youd essentially toss into bags, sit on in your back pocket, and generally abuse the way keys get abused on a day to day basis. Unlike keys which are typically made of metal and are both easy and cheap to copy, this drive is not so having builtin protection for this everyday device is nice to have.The 256GB capacity is nice. In fact, its almost hilarious thinking just how not too long ago, having a 256GB spinning platter drive was amazing in itself and certainly not something youd casually toss in your bag when heading out the door. Its an amazing amount of storage when you consider that typical drives in home computers are barely breaking 2TB. This means you have 25 to 100 or more of the typical storage available on an entire computer. The great news this can serve as ad adhoc complete backup for most home applications as there is likely few files too large for this drive.The drive does come with some features softwarefirmware that puts it above a basic drive. Namely backup software always a plus and a secure access vault pretty much encrypted storage for your files. This is the biggest selling point for me. Secure storage that covers a significant amount of my personal machine capacity thats easy to move around is awesome. Generally, I dont access such files as often so it is nice to have them stored and not taking up space on my main machine. Because I have large files that need to be stored encrypted, accessing them across a couple different machines can be a pain due to the bandwidth requirements necessary to bridge machines via cloud storage, storage needs on the cloud, and then keeping encryption software synchronized on multiple machines. This provides a onestop shop for such files. Now, to be clear, I still maintain yet another backup on my large network storage at home as due to the size and mobility, this drive is more likely to be lost.SanDisks software also has its own cloud backup feature. It works, but then youre tied to SanDisks ecosystem. Normally, this results in me dropping a star in the rating, however, given that youre completely free to use your own, no harm no foul.

Very slow - to the point of being unusable

I've used quite a few of these thumb drives in the past in both 128 and 256GB versions. While not the very fastest I've used, they performed well and were always very reliable and very robust with their metal construction. Not so with this 512GB version. Slow to mount, very slow to open folders within and transfer speeds to other storage media are so slow as to be totally unusable. Transfer times should be measured in decades rather than seconds. Further, the only successful method to dismount from Mac OS is to Force Eject and even then it can take 15-30 seconds. Had this version been of the same operating quality as the 128 and 256GB versions of the past I would have happily given a 4 star review. As it sits now a total waste of money. Don't waste yours. Luckily I ... MoreI've used quite a few of these thumb drives in the past in both 128 and 256GB versions. While not the very fastest I've used, they performed well and were always very reliable and very robust with their metal construction. Not so with this 512GB version. Slow to mount, very slow to open folders within and transfer speeds to other storage media are so slow as to be totally unusable. Transfer times should be measured in decades rather than seconds. Further, the only successful method to dismount from Mac OS is to Force Eject and even then it can take 15-30 seconds. Had this version been of the same operating quality as the 128 and 256GB versions of the past I would have happily given a 4 star review. As it sits now a total waste of money. Don't waste yours. Luckily I bought 5. Never again. Moving forward I'll use more Samsung drives which seem as solid as the T7's I own.