Introduction:

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and some memories are irreplaceable. Nowadays almost everyone saves their precious photos and memories electronically. So what would happen if your computer or notebook crashed and lost all that data? Thankfully, SanDisk has created a convenient USB memory stick that has the capability to backup all of our dearest memories and hopefully there will be no more worrying about losing those decade old pictures and priceless memories. There are many portable storage devices out on the market, so does the SanDisk Ultra-Backup Flash Drive have what it takes to compete?

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Features

Simple – Back up at the touch of a button – no cables or software installation neededli>

Portable – Just put it in your pocket and protect your files wherever you are

Secure – Protect your data with password protection and AES hardware encryption

Backed by the minds behind flash memory – with our patent pending backup technology and a five-year limited* warranty

Available in 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB** capacities

Minimum System Requirements:

Intel® Pentium® PC or Macintosh^™ computer with USB support
Windows® XP, Windows Vista® (Backup and Storage)
Windows® 2000, Mac OS® X v10.1.2+ and Linux** (Storage only)
USB 2.0 port required for high-speed transfer
Requires high-power USB hub port

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Packaging:

The Flash Drive came in the universal package for basically all other usb memory sticks. It included the system requirements and extra information on the back about SanDisk and the flash drive itself.

Front View: Back View:

A Closer Look:

The flash drive is all black with the backup button located on the top. The USB is retractable and the button must be pushed down before you can push the connector outwards. This is a very nice feature that makes me feel less worried if I ever happen to drop it. It also has a small loop to hang it on a lanyard.

Here is a quick picture to see about how large it is:

Now, when you actually plug the flash drive in for the first time, a few windows pop up with license agreements and what not. Then it goes into what I would call an “Assessment Screen” where it has a few tabs for certain files you would like to back up, how much space is being used on the flash drive(it starts with 8mb straight out of the package) and how much space whatever you would like you backup would take. Here is a quick picture:

After that, it saves your selected documents to the drive for the first time! Whenever you want to go back and save more files to the drive it has a more familiar look:

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Testing:

HD Tune Pro 3.50:

The SanDisk 8GB backup drive is not exactly up to par when it comes to data access rates. SanDisk barely went over 23MB/S on average whereas some of the other new flash drive models are preforming at numbers at or above 30mb/s. However, even though almost all drives have a very quick flash memory access times, the SanDisk U.B. did not disappoint at all with a 0.6ms Access time.

CrystalDiskMark 2.2:

In the CDM benchmark tests the SanDisk U.B. flash drive showed quite an improvement in the sequential read/write tests at each of the different file sizes (50,100,500,1000MB) from the old 23.2MB/S up to almost 26MB/s. As you can see, in each of the 4 different file sizes all the read times were within about 0.2mb/s of each other and the write times steadly increase from lower speeds at the lower file sizes to higher speeds at the larger file sizes.

The “Backup Button”:

Strangely enough, I almost forgot the most important thing about this particular SanDisk flash drive. SanDisk flaunts the “No wires, No fuss” with backing up important files onto a memory stick. To use the button, obviously, you plug it in and run the executable already on the drive. Once the software is working(you will know if there is a small red box in the lower right part of your desktop) you can press the Backup button. NOW, Finally after all this work and hard effort the question still remains, does the button really add anything new or innovative to the world of flash drives? *Insert drum roll here* The answer is an astounding…YES! I was extremely skeptical about this before hand and thought it was just some silly button that did diddly-squat. After pressing the button the software immediately took it from there remembering what options I had chose from the first time I plugged it in on what to back up(See “A closer look”) and rocketed through my documents saving files onto itself in an extremely fast and efficient way.

Conclusion:

After it is all said and done, the SanDisk Ultra Backup Flash drive may only be about average with about 26MB/S with data access rates but the “Backup button” that they put up on a pedestal really outshines what few con’s the SanDisk may have had and made me wish I had one of the higher memory drives. The only unfortunate part about these drives are the above-average price tag, but take my word the extra capabilities on the drive really make ever penny worth the buy, plus SanDisk is renown for being reliable and efficient in this type of hardware. After this I can truly agree with their slogan of “No wires, No fuss,” and award SanDisk the Approved hardware Award!