Description
With write speeds of up to 150MB/s, the SanDisk Extreme Go USB 3.1 Flash Drive lets you quickly copy and go. Up to 35X faster than standard USB 2.0 drives, so you can transfer a 4K movie to the drive in less than 40 seconds. The design keeps the retractable connector protected when not in use, and the included SanDisk SecureAccess software provides password protection of your private files while leaving the rest of the drive available for sharing. Super-fast solid state performance, read speeds of up to 420MB/s; write speeds of up to 380MB/s
Sophisticated design with durable aluminum metal casing
SanDisk Secure Access software included for 128-bit AES file encryption and password protection
Backward-compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0 ports
Mitch –
I have had this drive for a few weeks now, but Ive used the Ultras many, many times. I probably have 10 of these in varying capacities and not a single one has caused me any issue. If Im going to get a flash drive that I actually want to use to store something of mild importance, this is going to be the one.Also large capacity is nice, and the speed is decent, much, much better than a USB 2.0 drive. If you have USB 3.0 ports, get a 3.0 drive. Youll save so much time copying.
KC1202 –
This SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 Flash Drive works exactly as you would expect it to. Transfers to and from the card seem to work quite quickly. The drive is about standard size, and like many others, has a slide button to slide the USB connector in and out. It also has a blue light that indicates readyness, and transfer activity. The drive is labeled in a way that makes it clear which side needs to be turned up for it to be inserted properly. I hate drives that you have to try one way, and then the other, because you cant tell simply by looking at them which side should be turned up. Finally, there is a molded, hole, in the curve at one end, to allow the drive to be carried on a key chain.The one negative I found, which is the reason this is a fourstar and not a fivestar review has to do with the software on the drive. There is an executable that I believe has to do with drive security. When I ran it, it recognized that there was an update for the program, downloaded the update, but then the update would not run.
Norberto –
Pros .Super fast . Huge storage capability.. Excelente to transfer and save documents, photos and videos.. Free and clean the computer memory.. Good files system easy to organise . I can use it on any computer and do my computer work safe.. Only I can have access to the data through the activation codeCons Overall excellent product, a must and piece of mind to safe data from the computer in a safe way. Quality product good value for money
Ninny –
Works great.Love the color. Great quality. Lots of space.Easy to use. Lightweight. Works great. Love the color. Great quality. Lots of space. Easy to use. Lightweight. Works great. Love the color . Great quality. Lots of space. Easy to use. Lightweight. Works great. Love the color. Great quality. Lots of space. Easy to use. Lightweight.
Bob –
This SanDisk 256GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive is great for storing files that youve created yourself. So whether its Text or Graphics or Sound or Video youve got plenty of room for plenty of files with this baby. When a standard hard drive crashes, all youve got then is a paper weight… When a USB Flash Drive reaches its maximum period of use at least youve then got a ROM Read Only Memory device. All the data is still intact and can be read and copied. Too bad Hard Drives cant do that too. Just dont drop it into a microwave oven or under a rolling tire…lol
sirhawkeye –
The Sandisk USB 3.0 drives in general are good, except I have noticed that when copying large files or a lot of files, they can get slow. So far, Ive seen a few of my Sandisk drives copy files as slow as 12 MBs and this isnt specific to the computer, and it happens on multiple computers. Yet some of my other branded drives, like PNY, can write much faster. For flash drives and SD cards, Sandisk is probably my recommendation, just realize that they can write slowly depending on the scenario, whereas some of my other drives always seem to write at a faster rate, despite size or number of files.
Wayne H –
It has worked as it should for the last few months. The other day, I transferred a unreal engine project file over to it to transfer it to a different pc. Im not sure this is the cause however it seems likely.After this was done, it has since been automatically fully writeprotected. I can copy files off it to a different pc still however i cannot edit, move, delete any of the files currently on their nor can I add files to itThese files were not in the vault either so it has nothing to do with that.There is no lock on the device physically either so it isnt a case of a lock being accidentally pushed.I have spent hours trying to resolve this, from reinserting in different systems, to registry editing, hell I cant even format it. Attempting a format tells me it cant be done as it is write protected. I cant even scan the drive as a result. The same error everytime about write protection. it is now useless.I would like a replacement.This has caused me enough trouble already.Do Not Buy. Go with a different brand.
FirstTimeLearner1 –
This might be a five star flash drive for a user who needs the special security features that come with this SanDisk Drive. I value SanDisks products, and my purchase of this particular flash drive was purely my mistake. I saw a 128GB flash drive on sale and was looking just for extra storage, but ended up with a flash drive that created a folder I was unable to access, and even after signing up and creating a password, I was locked out of my new account. It seems as if I had no administrative rights to the drive, even though I purchased it with my own funds and used it on my personal device. I was advised by my devices manufacturer and by SanDisk that I could format the drive to erase the contents and use it as a regular flash drive. I have formatted the drive, but will be testing and using the drive with some trepidation, until I determine that it is going to behave the way a regular flash drive does. The security features are supposed to be optional. I will be paying more attention to the details in the product description the next time I purchase a flash drive. Except for this special flash drive, I am very satisfied with every SanDisk product I have used.
SteveC –
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 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.
TRSMNTN –
Great Value My grandson bought this for his Xbox to get more storage. It is a great value compared to the alternative storage options. And it works just as well and is more portable. He has it plugged into his Xbox constantly to play his games and he can take his digital games to any other Xbox by just this little thumb drive, he also stores school work and other things on it temporarily when he needs to. He fully recommends this product.
AkihabaraStation –
What can i say I love these so much I bought a bunch of them. Sandisk is my trusted brand for portable storage. Never gave me a problem and they last forever. Ive had this for a while and it still works like new. USB 3.0 is lightning quick and it helps me transfer content from my computer onto the TV. Good stuff.
Hibbah –
I am amazed by how secure the USB is. It has an extra secure feature where you can create and enter a password in order to access your secure files as well as storing files normally outside of that secure folder. Its simplistic but also ideal for many poeple. even if you forget your password, there is still a way to access your files Useful
GARGAMEL –
This drive runs unusually hot for a plastic flash drive. Even sitting without reading or writing while plugged into a USB extension cable, the USB connector gets uncomfortably hot. No other flash drive Ive tried has this issue, although I understand that some metal cased ones also exhibit this behavior.The second problem is that writes are slow, painfully so for small files. I should have paid more attention to the reviews here stating this fact.After doing some research, I bought the SanDisk Extreme CZ80 64 GB flash drive as a replacement. It runs much cooler, and the write speed is 5 times as fast for large files and 20 times as fast for small files this is with both drives formatted as NTFS. I was even able to pick it up on a Daily Deal for only 7 more than the Ultra CZ48, but even if you have to pay twice as much its worth it in my opinion.I dont recommend the Ultra CZ48, but I highly recommend the Extreme CZ80.
Kelly M T –
I must admit when I received my 64GB Sandisk Flash Drive I immediately took to the comments as something I previously read about a fake made me want to double check. Some of the reviews show two different looking flash drives next to each other and they look different, one looks like Amazons photo and the other looks like the one I have added. Some others have stated that one flashes and the other and have branded the one I have as a fake. I had my concerns and even reached out to Amazon who let me return said flash drive. I did not however do this and wanted to dig a little deeper so reached out to Sandisk themselves who looked into this for me.After a few back and fourth with information and pictures I had the confirmation I wantedYour drive is a genuine SanDisk product. I have already registered the drive under your account and your 5 years warranty period has been validated.Now the Drive itself is light weight feels solid when the USB is in or out and the data transfers pretty quickly. I knocked off a star because my first attempt crashed after 30 however it has been working ever since.Should I have any other feedback I will come back and update my review. Any questions please do ask.
Alec K. –
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 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
TimmyTimmyJohnJohn –
I would not trust this USB storage device for anything important. I flashed the free ESET virus scan live iso to it so that i could boot from the usb key on my cousins computer and even though I could flash the iso, I couldnt boot from the device. It froze after about five minutes. So its not very fast and its not very reliable. I tried it on two computers and it wouldnt boot on either one. I ended up using one of my cheapo USB keys that I got from Micro Center instead that was also USB 3.0 and that one worked fine.
Thebrassinator –
Be very careful with the Sandisk Secure Access encryption software. Have had two of these drives and both have failed and I have lost all of the data because I cant access the encrypted section of the drive. I updated the software to 3.1 on the drive and then it would not recognise my password. Only ever use the same password for my USB drives. Really, really angry as lost some really important documentation.
Pattye –
I needed a dedicated flash drive for some photographs for a special project. I found the nice little flash drive. Easy to use. My computer instantly recognized it. Lots of space for data. Great price. And its SanDisk. Not much more I can say than that
solidsnake –
It feels very light because its all plastic except the port. The key chain hole is not solid at all. I wouldnt use it personally.The data transfer speed is fast enough and faster than other drives I own.Its a great SanDisk USB drive. I prefer these bigger ones than the tiny micro sized ones because those tend to get hot really fast and a bit slower too.Cheap reliable drive. Recommended.
Mathai007 –
Bought 2. 16 gb version and 32 gb version.Both had the same problem. Getting a write error after plugged in for 1 hr hour or so. The item was shipped from 2 different places. Not sure if its a batch of USB having this problem. Tried many different softwares to make it editable. but its not. Bought samsung fit plus and tried on same laptop, read speed above 200mbs and small form factor and happy after a month of use.
SmoothJazzer –
Free Pickup Today order only took 3 days OOPS, WalmartTo NiceSeeingYou, July 29, 2018 you and I BOTH agree on the construction of this Flash Drive. NOT GOOD That said, we disagree slightly on the overall merits of this drive. It performs well, as a USB 3.0 flash drive should, but this construction is, at best, mediocre in my book. Some people have thumbed their noses on CENTON for their products, but after purchasing the SanDisk, I will absolutely stick with CENTON and maybe even PNY, as well, just because of the build of this and another budget Cruzer blade USB 2.0 drive a 5buck product in the school supplies section. It really doesnt cost that much to make a quality housing for your product, SanDisk Others do it at very competitive prices to you. That said, some might be asking, Why did you buy this, then First, neither CENTON nor PNY products are available to me for Pickup Today. Second, this product is packaged on the shelf in store such that you cant get a feel for the quality of the housing. And, to make matters worse, someone in my store didnt pull the last unit off the shelf and bag it for me for SameDay Pickup They inexplicably buckpassed the order outofstate, and I was forced to wait 3 days to get a drive that should have been in my hands in a couple of hours after ordering. That could have been due to the chaos in the store, due to remodeling, but cmonThe verdict NO to SanDisk Flash Drives, until such time as they DRASTICALLY improve the quality of the housing. Go with CENTON or PNY.
Elle –
Thanks to Best Buys computer guys knowledge, I purchased a quality, good sized flashdrive. I was able to safely download all every single photo and video that went back years. Memories. I was able to free up a tremendous amount of space on my computers hard drive, plus the Geek Squad helped me download all my photos from my Kodak digital camera. I have peace of mind knowing all the photos and videos I compiled over the years are safe and secure. Kudos to Best Buy.
Gerbil –
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 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.
Loomis1975 –
What sets this drive apart from other USB 3.0 flash drives is the ability to sign up for a service Free for the first year, 9.99 per year thereafter for the 256 Gb drive, less for smaller drives that backs up whatever you place onto the flash drive to Sandisks storage cloud.Other than that, it is your standard 256 gb usb 3.0 speed flash drive. I didnt have any issues in transfer speeds or playing videos directly from the flash drive on devices like TVs.I suppose if you were not adhered to storage solutions like Google Drive, Microsoft Onedrive or others, this would be a way to easily backup things to the cloud, maybe even set it up for the more technologically challenged, and they can use it from there and ask for your help if they cannot remember how to get the online files if they lose their flash drive.I found the Flashback online backup was easy to use. A program is installed and launched. You put the flashback compatible flash drive into the usb 2.0 or 3.0 A slot on your device. You click a button on program to link your flash drive to the program. Then you simply send or copy or cut files to the flash drive and the online backup happens automatically. Once things are backed up to the cloud, it does offer sorting and search features that are pretty useful to narrow down your quest to find a particular item. By type, date, etc.
Elizabeth –
Pros Its actually fine, But when I save to it, unlike my other flash drives it doesnt flash red so that I know its working. I just have to cross my fingers and hope. And as it doesnt flash I cant tell when it has completed its task.Cons When I save to it, unlike my other flash drives it doesnt flash red so that I know its working. I just have to cross my fingers and hope. And as it doesnt flash I cant tell when it has completed its task.
ALF01 –
Its a thumb drive….all it needs to do is accept and keep data. I wanted to copy all my CDs about 600 of them in a lossless mode to fully utilize the 36 speaker stereo in my new vehicle. Pretty simple. But, if like me you initially went with a less expensive option from the worlds leading online retailer you can learn a painful lesson….I though I would save a few by getting an offbrand. The offbrand WAS NOT 3.0 as advertised, needed to be reformatted took literally 50 hours and still failed. So I stepped up and bought this SanDisk product. It performed flawlessly. No issues…period. My lesson is learned.
SgtRock –
This is a very fast thumbdrive, with unique and convenient extra programs included at no extra charge from Sandisk.Its USB 3.0 compatible, and reads and writes as fast as any thumb drive Ive ever used. The speeds are even fast through a 2.0 USB connection.Sandisk includes two unique programsone for easy file retrieval, and one for easy encryption of files that you store. They both work very well from my usage so far.The easy retrieval program is called flashback and comes free of charge for a year. With this Sandisk basically copies the files you save on the drive to the cloud. If you want to share an individual file you can simply email a unique link for that file to someone and they can retrieve itor you can email the link to yourself if you know youll need it later and dont want to have to worry about keeping up with the flashdrive. Its essentially a onedrive or cloud type system, so it might be a bit redundant, but it is very easy to use, and free for a year with purchase of the thumbdrive.The other free software included is an encryption drive, to protect sensitive files you might be saving to the drive. This is fast, depending, of course, on the size of the file youre encrypting. I found most document files tax returns, medical files, etc only took a minute or two. If you were to lose the drive and someone else found it, theyd see the name of the file, but would not be able to open it. This is a great way to protect important information but still have it handy.Sandisk has long been a leader in the digital storage marketplace, and innovations like these are the reason why. Highly recommended
NanaM –
Im using it as plugin extra storage, especially as I move files and apps around while cleaning up my harddrive. Both my cloud backup and my external hard drive stopped backing up at the same time, so I needed a quick way to hold some files that I didnt want to lose. Scandisk is usually very reliable. Woundnt it be great to have a thumbdrive that could transmit via Thunderbolt
ConnieM –
I needed this 256GB SanDisk Flash Drive to use as back up for my work and professional files. Also to backup and transport huge business video files that shouldnt be shared through cloud technologies. I appreciate the performance quality and great reputation of SanDisk. Ive used them for many years and would recommend to anyone.
1videoguy –
Bought this to load some mp3 to use in my car for a playlist for a long trip which at some points may not have data connections. Worked great. Sandisk seems to be always compatible with all devices. Had a friend that bought a slighter cheaper USB stick and tried to use in his car and didnt work, tried to the Sandisk and no issues. Very light and the hideway is great since it slides the connector into the case which protects it from getting bent when not used.
BestBuyer –
Ive been using the 64 GB version of this flash drive for years without any interruptions, issues or loss of files. I dont necessarily baby these flash drives either I drop them several times. Now I get the 256 GB version and man what a Lotta space for a small flash drive. I believe in and trust the SanDisk products and have for years. I also have their 2 TB solidstate drive which is incredible. Other flash drives and probably not just for me Ive gotten super hot and actually started smoking. Not a good sign You can buy this product and not worry about it.
lego –
Ive said this before, and I WILL say it many more times AGAIN … SanDisk flash memory devices ARE the BEST FLASH MEMORY DEVICES YOU CAN BUYI purchased this particular SanDisk Ultra 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive to be loaded up with MP4 music video and concert files and some 4K, UHD demo clips so I could plug them directly into a brand new Sony XBR49X700D Smart 4K Ultra HD TV. … Loading 115 GB about 2,620 individual files more or less of video clips took about 25 minutes, thanks to a quadcore computer AND USB 3.0 high speed transfer standards.So far, the loaded drive has been inserted into the TV for about 50 days, and has performed perfectly, considering its nearly always on because the TV keeps this flash drive in a standby state even when the TV is turned off BUT still connected to the internet … think about it for a couple of minutes. This flash drive does run hot nearly all of the time, but NOT hot enough to be worrying about meltdown.Ive had some of my SanDisk USB 2.0 flash drives for more than a dozen years now, without one single failure yet. Ive had most of my SanDisk HighCapacity USB 3.0 flash drives for 2 to 3 years now, again, without a single failure yet. … I fully expect this new SanDisk Ultra 128GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive to last as long as the Sony TV its connected to. The TV it replaced was a 17plus year old Sony WEGA TV that was still working just fine when it was retired.Thanks Again to SanDisk AND Best Buy for GREAT, Reliable, Compact Data Storage Devices at Incredibly LOW Prices
SellerThink –
The features of the San Disk Ultra 32GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive are very valuable. It comes with reasonably easy to use, security software that can back up to the cloud.32 gigs is plenty of space for file documents, a portable Operating System like Windows 10 or Ubuntu, or my preference Lynx Mint. Can hold multiple hundreds of MP3 music files, or probably around thirty or more 1 gig videos.However, there are functional issues with this product. The USB metal pin is made to retract into the plastic shell. This sometimes gets stuck and can be difficult to push back out.Sometimes, this particular card I only have one, has connection issues, either not being found by the computer or failing to make a connection. Its the only card I have that has this problem.The price I paid at Best Buy, made it the best option for the video I needed to handoff temporarily for a film presentation.
sirhawkeye –
Reliable but very slow. And no, its not my computer. I can run a PNY USB 3.0 drive off the same port on the same computer , copying the same files, and that one writes 10x as fast. The sandisk on writes on average for large amounts of files maybe 12MBs. USB 2.0 can write faster than that.
BBReview –
I purchase these drives for backup purposes. I consider them WORN technology Write Once Read Never hopefully.The drive feels like flimsy plastic, but it worked well. The connector slides in and out easily its nice to not need a cap. In terms of speed, it depends on the number of files being transferred at once. For example, one 7GB file was transferred at a rate of over 100 MBs In contrast, a directory with 1,000 files, which represented a total of about 7GB, was transferred at an average rate of 5 MBs. these rates were all on a USB 3.0 port.I did a random check to make sure the files were backed up successfully, and the ones I checked were all fine.
Roberto C. –
I had a couple of 128GB version of this exact same model and bought were super fast at WRITING speeds and Im not sure if it is because the 256GB models use different controller or ICs that the speed of the 256GB model was not as good as I wanted to be or thought at least. I cannot test the unit any longer to show the speed but definitely slower than the 128GB version, and bought the 258GB SanDisk because of my PNY USB3.1 slow speeds also, its not that I dont have the time but I expected the same or better. Nevertheless, the drive performs well, never hothothot, and no hiccups at reading or transfer file to an SSD NVMe. I bought two but gave them to friends for back up of their most important files. I dont know what else to get but M.2 drives with M.2 to USB 3.0 adapters is my next move as the M.2 SSD have a 500MBs RW speeds and for an extra 10 or so its worth it IMO, this way I know Im getting super fast drives. Would I recommend this drive For storage and back up of your most important files Yes, definitely but I wasnt doing that with the drives and I may need a 512GB now I think. 4 star only because the 128GB version is faster at W speeds if it had been higher Absolutely a 5 star.
BogleheadsGuide –
Its hard to get excited about a storage device, but this SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 Flash Drive can shorten times needed to read or write. It provides read speeds up to 100Mbs and write speeds up to 10x faster than USB 2.0 devices, And the 256Gb offers enough storage space for most needs.What sets this device apart for most flash drives is that it offers free cloud storage for the first year. To take advantage of this free offer you simply download their Flashback program. Look for the free offer on the package when purchasing your flash drive to make sure you have a compatible device.Then, when you insert the flash drive into your devices USB port, the program automatically recognizes it and asks you to link it to the Flashback Cloud storage. Then, when you copy files to the flash drive, theyre automatically backed up in the cloud by the Flashback program.While this automatic backup is a great feature, I experienced some problems with the backedup files. My photos backed up great, but my text files were unrecognizable, both in the file names and in the content. Not sure why, but thats what I experienced.So, in summary, its a great storage device, and if you plan to store photos on it, theyll be correctly backed up to the cloud automatically. However, Id suggest you double check your text files in the cloud backup, since I found them unusable. Hopefully, this problem will be fixed by the time you read this.
daytonadan –
Lets face it. All USB flash drives are pretty much the same, as long as they have the same capacity, form factor and have the same basic specs. One USB3 256GB drive pretty much works the same as any other.But SanDisk is throwing in a nice little bonus with some of its new models. This SanDisk 256GB Ultra USB 3 Flash drive comes one year of free cloud backup for everything on the drive. It works with a nifty little app called Flashback, which is a breeze to install and setup and works seamlessly every time you plug your flash drive into the computer with the app.Once installed, all you have to do is drop the files you want backed up into the Flashback app and you are done. Since it is USB3, it uploads quickly, giving you a backup copy even if you dont have the flash drive with you. You can even download it from the cloud.As another bonus, you can share files with anyone you choose. Simply click the link icon that appears on the file when you open it in Flashback. It copies a Web link to your cache, which can be pasted into anyone you want to email. They can access the file simply by clicking on the link.Even better, this is not one of those come on deals where you have to give them your credit card and it renews automatically and your credit card charged if you forget to cancel it before the free trial runs out. This deal truly is free. No strings attached. Cant beat that.Advantage SanDisk, if you are in the market for a flash drive.Be aware that although this drives looks identical to some older SanDisk Flash Drives, those will not work with Flashback. The app reports they are not compatible.The app only works with Ultra flash drives like this one and the more compact SanDisk Ultra Fit flash drives.This particular drive is my preferred form factor, ie, not one of those tiny mini USB flash drives that are so easy to lose. Or one twisted into some bizarre shape. This one is an old school traditional size and shape about the same as a thumb with a USB connector that slides in and out.
JayOne –
Excellent device at a reasonable price. SanDisk and Western Digital are highquality products. It is worth the small amount of extra money to buy quality storage devices that will last. Failure is a bad option. And it is worth getting USB 3 storage devices for the speed advantage.
L J R –
Product arrived on time a while back I didnt ever get round to reviewing it. In this case, the product is simply a larger version of the previous USB flash drive I had the 16GB variant. This one is just as good, with the added bonus of having a larger storage space.As a student, Ive been using the device consistently for a length of time read and write operations are smooth and at a decent speed, though not breakneck fast. One wouldnt expect tremendous speeds from a device with a memory controller as small and lowpower as this, so thats anticipable.The build quality is decent the case feels fine when the USB port is retracted, though when it is extended it feels a little flimsy. This is expected since all the circuitry is on a tiny PCB inside the device, mounted onto the USB port. The case is designed to do the main job of protecting the USB stick, and that it does.There is a small light, not shown in the photo, to indicate that the device is powered and operational. It has endured countless read and write operations as it is where I transport all of my code and documents and it comes with a free encryption software.All in all, the very same kind of excellence Ive come to expect from all SanDisk memory.Dont expect to be blown away its just a thumb drive.But do expect a satisfactory product, and it wont let you down
guywthclss –
These 64gb and higher thumb drives are using this exFAT32 formatting that not only slows down in my windows 7 systems but my windows 10 cannot really read them well at all. Also I like to put movies and shows on the chip and plug them into my USB ports on my TVs and watch them. TV does not recognize the exFAT format. So I format in NTFS and all is FINE. However Ive used PNY thumb drives and they always get wrecked when I attempt to format NTFS Unusable. The SanDisc Cuzers ALWAYS format NTFS perfectly and run flawlessly. So this is my brand of thumb drive from now on. Fast and reliable and the HDTV recognizes and plays them perfectly
Jeremy –
This SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 Flash Drive works exactly as you would expect it to. Transfers to and from the card seem to work quite quickly. The drive is about standard size, and like many others, has a slide button to slide the USB connector in and out. It also has a blue light that indicates readiness, and transfer activity. The drive is labeled in a way that makes it clear which side needs to be turned up for it to be inserted properly. I hate drives that you have to try one way, and then the other, because you cant tell simply by looking at them which side should be turned up. Finally, there is a molded, hole, in the curve at one end, to allow the drive to be carried on a key chain.
jessbugg87 –
Need to supply our Pastor with a flash drive as well as upgrade to a bigger one for media use. Ordered this to replace the media one and reformatted the old one for the Pastor. Works great and I have plenty of file space. Have order a number of these over the last couple years and have only had one failure, which could have been due to an improper eject by another person.
ProtectingMyData –
I have an old Windows Vista Home Premium laptop with a 300 GB hard drive. The package does not indicate Windows Vista will work. My previous external backup drive FAILED Seagate, not SAN DISK. Needing to back up this old computer, I needed a drive Windows Vista Home Premium could access. Plugged in San Disk to the USB 2.0 slot and in under 10 seconds I am copying data to the USB Drive.WHY AN OLD COMPUTER I have an application on this computer I use occasionally, so I wanted to protect access to it. If need be I can restore to a new computer hardware should the laptop fail. Very pleased with San Disk brand never had an issue with any San Disk product, highly reliable
Heather R –
I have just become a fan of SanDisk. I have been trying to make an Apple Time Machine backup on a friends Macbook because the macbbok is being recalled by Apple for a firmware update. I have tried and failed with two supposedly USB 3.0 sticks from Kingston, a brand that I thought was reputable. Both ran very slowly and having given up with the first switched to a second different model Kingston stick that was even slower but did eventually complete the backup after 10 hours and grinding to a near halt several times and this was not running in the background. Following day I plugged this in to the Mac to make the first incremental backup after the first full one and it told me that the stick was corrupt So I looked for another stick and chose the SanDisk Ultra. When it arrived I wiped off all the encryption and security features so I cant comment on those and reformatted it for the Mac. The difference was startling as it completed a 30GB Time Machine backup not run as background in 45 mins. I did not do any speed tests but I would expect these sticks to perform very favourably in the light of my experience. It is quite a chunky stick and would be big for a key ring but it performs admirably and sometimes that is more important.
NossahmVSHS –
The flash is nice to carry around and has a good finish when it comes to looks. Since it has a nifty slide mechanic that protects the USB itself, there is no risk that it will break off if you put anywhere. However, when it came to working properly, I had my issues. It was transferring files fast as its 3.0 version title said it would. Then after doing some more transfers, it started saying that it was full even though it was empty it refused to recognize certain files that I tried to pass it on to. I still havent fixed until now, so it is essentially unusable. Besides that, it transfers other files well, just dont give it a stress test like I did. It wasnt supposed to break down as SanDisk has a reputation for not falling prey to those kind of situations.
Miss B –
I bought 2 of these, one 64GB and one 32GB, but it seems there are serious issues in quality control from the dispatcher, as the 32GB version I was delivered was clearly different from the 64GB and from the advertised images. The same version this reviewer received httpswww.amazon.co.ukgpcustomerreviewsR208HUJ91I3UKP , it had bent up metal over the connector, other connector differences and no flashing blue light during operation. It was also lighter, and the connector was looser in the casing. It seemed to perform just like a normal drive, but when I realised the flashing blue light was missing thats when I decided to return it, as I shouldnt be receiving an item not conforming to the product specification and advertisements. I wont be buying another SanDisk Ultra after this, but sadly there arent many good alternatives for USB 3.0 flash drives. Might have to go with the SanDisk Flair.Note in pics 1 and 2, the counterfeit is on the left. In pics 3, 4 and 5, the counterfeit is on the right.
Kyle –
This little flash drive was cheap and very handy. I bought a couple of them. Being USB 3.0 is a nice bonus. Im using one of them attached to a small raspberry pi server. The server backs up some files to the drive in case something goes wrong. I am using another at work. Overall it has been working very well.
MichaelInNC –
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 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.
5.33333333333333E21 –
Works fine. Has 116 GB of space. I have only had this two weeks but, generally, I have had no problem with flash disks while two new USB 2TB hard disks that I have bought recently have lasted less than a year. So, I am trying to get a lot of material on 125 and 250 GB flash drives. I have two old USB hard disks of 500 GB and 1 TB that I have had for 10 years and still work fine. I guess they just dont make them well anymore. If you get a new USB hard drive buy at least a 2 year warranty, as the dont cost much on a low cost item.
SUTHNR –
Great little unit. It slides open and closed easily. Nice that it has a loop for a keyring to be attached if you want. Files transfer quickly being USB 3.0. And its a SanDisk Ive been using their flash cards for 20 years remember SM cards with zero failures, so you can have confidence your data is stored safely.
FantasticOne –
This Sandisk Ultra Plus 256gb usb 3.0 flash drive is really a must have for people that need to store movies, audio books, photos, videos, files of any kind from their mac, pc, or laptop. This 256gb usb flah drive is super fast and quite easy to use just plug in transfer your files to the drive I have already loaded my apps, music, personal files onto it, so my laptop runs much, much faster I experienced no issues what so ever with this device. Sandisk is a top brand for its flash drives and micro sd cards, so I feel confident about its performance and longevity. The flash drive has so much storage space on it and my files are safe organized. The quality and performance is great I would absolutely recommend this flash drive to my friends family. I would definitely buy this product again Especially since the cost of this flash drive was really reasonable.
MrMusic –
The sandisk flash drive with 256g works great. Im using the flash drive to record tv programs on a DVR that doesnt have an eternal hard drive to record on. The first flash drive we tried to use was less than 100g and programs werent able to be played. The 256g has no problem with the play back, fast forward and reverse. This works great with no complaints.
Robbiebeast –
Ive had several of these SanDisk flash drives over the years and they have always served me well. I have some that are over 10 years old and none of them have failed yet. I like using flash drives over hard drives when possible because, for me, I have had better luck with them working a long, long time. I have had hard drives fail within a few years, but these seem to keep on going strong for much longer. Like I said, I havent actually had one fail yet, and considering they are not terribly expensive, I would highly recommend them.
classicbuses –
I paid more to get a SanDisk product because I needed reliability and Ive always had good experiences with the brand in the past. Theres a lot of cheap rubbish out there which can let you down I bought a new laptop which upgraded everything except storage capacity, so I thought Id get a tiny flash drive as a permanent fixture to store lots of files that otherwise I wouldnt have space for. As a plug and stay device it works perfectly and, because its so small, its unobtrusive and sits happily on the side of the laptop without getting in the way. Most of the time I dont even notice its there. It gets hot, but that doesnt seem to have affected its performance so far. It was easy to install and importing files presented no problem. In fact, no problems at all it does exactly what I wanted and is worth every penny. Ive got backups of everything on it, but hopefully I wont need that
good –
Flash Drive. Remember the days when an external harddrive was a big cumbersome box This is so light weight it can handle any media that need storing photos, downloads of .pdfs, documents. The added feature was the SecureAccess software for those of us that have had trouble with hacking, this keeps my most important data secure.
KJC1 –
I bought this SanDisk Ultra 256GB USB 3.0 Type A Flash Drive to transfer a very large quantity of files from my Daughters two no longer used and no longer useable laptops. This required the disassembling of the laptops to extract the hard disk drives and then connecting them to my computer using a SATA to USB interface adaptor. Once all of the files were transferred to my computer, they were then transferred to this USB Flash Drive without any problems. The USB 3.0 interface resulted in a surprisingly fast transfer.
Raiders –
Overall, this is your typical SanDisk flash drive. Nothing really different about this drive from all the rest, EXCEPT SanDisks Flashback software is included. Flashback provides softwarebased cloud backup of the drive, so that you dont lose the contents of the drive if it gets lost, or you need to access the contents when you dont have your drive with you. Unfortunately, it relies on a piece of software that gets installed onto your machine of course but theres no web portal or other means to access your files other than the software. So if you have more than one machine, or youre using a shared machine, you have to install the software on every machine you have to access your files. A webbased portal to access your files would be much better.Otherwise, its a flash drive. The USB port is retractable, and the housing is plastic, not metal, so its probably ok for general purpose use, but be careful with how you carry it.
Sean –
Just purchased this item as a means of triple redundant backup for my photo catalog. I have used other SanDisk products in the past, and rely upon their excellent quality for my memory and storage needs. This item, as every other SanDisk product I have purchased, worked flawlessly out of the box. It includes software to encrypt your files, if you feel the need to do so. So far, I have backed up nearly 156 Meg of files, moving them from multiple smallercapacity USB flash drives, to one. It does everything you ask of it.The one caveat I may have, and the only reason Im giving this 4 stars instead of 5, was an early problem I had when first using the product. Every time I plugged this device into one of the front USB ports on my desktop, my wireless mouse would freezestop functioning. If I removed the USB, the mouse would immediately start to function again. After some trial and error, and a few minutes of research, I discovered that USB 3.0 devices have a known tendency to generate RF interference with wireless peripheral devices. Sure enough, the receiver for my wireless mouse was in the adjacent port. After plugging in a USB extension cord, and moving the SanDisk flash drive away from the wireless mouse receiver, both functioned as intended. I dont have any other USB 3.0 flash drives to compare performance, so I cant say whether this is a SanDisk issue, or something that I would experience with another manufacturer as well. If you have any issues with wireless peripherals not functioning after plugging in your USB 3.0 flash drive, RF interference is a good place to start troubleshooting from.
HappyCamper –
A handy little flash drive with sufficient memory to store almost anything…music, photos, documents, etc. As usual it was a great value. I have a lot of music CDs that I transfer to flash drives. You can use several of theses to record all music, another for music by genre andor by artist. Use others for a custom play list for events, etc. Were happy to have a Best Buy nearby.
mike –
Good price for a large amount of storage Reliable product and quick transfer speeds. I think the design could be a little bit better as far as flexibility and the mechanism that slides out the connector. I feel the casing and mechanism is not as solid as it could be and extra care should be taken in using. I still give it five stars because of the SanDisk products reliability over the years with me, the price and the tremendous amount of storage it provides. It performs as it should, and B H is always a pleasure to deal with
cmoviefan –
I bought this SanDisk because I needed to store videos. 256GB is enough for storing quite a number off them in nearHD quality. I buy SanDisk as this companies products have proven themselves to be reliable and durable. This unit is no different. Its fast and works without a hitch or a hiccup. If you need a thumb drive that can hold more than a reasonable of memory, give this a shot.
JFed –
I bought 2 of these for my kids Toshiba Fire TVs. They seem to work just fine. Here is the only issue I have I leave the flash drives in the TVs at all times. Sometimes when I turn on the TVs, the TV will give me a notification that the flash drive was improperly removed. My guess is that this is an issue with the TVs, NOT the flash drives. Since I have no way of knowing for sureunless I try a different kind of flash driveI will rate this 4 out of 5 stars. Would I recommend it to someone Absolutely I have no regrets. If I did, I would just return them.
Teckgeek –
I purchased this over other USB flash drive because it has 5 years of warranty while others had 2 years of warranty. I use this flash drive as an installation media for windows 10 operating system. Files are copied easily to and fro from this USB flash drive and my PC. I wish if it would have been a smaller flash drive at the same price point then it would have been easier for me to carry alongwith me wherever I travel. It works with windows 10 operating system but I have not checked whether it also works with Linux and Mac operating systems.
Hikergal –
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 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.
Clorenex –
This SanDisk Ultra USB 3.0 Flash Drive works exactly as you would expect it to. Transfers to and from the card seem to work quite quickly. The drive is about standard size, and like many others, has a slide button to slide the USB connector in and out. It also has a blue light that indicates readyness, and transfer activity. The drive is labeled in a way that makes it clear which side needs to be turned up for it to be inserted properly. I hate drives that you have to try one way, and then the other, because you cant tell simply by looking at them which side should be turned up. Finally, there is a molded, hole, in the curve at one end, to allow the drive to be carried on a key chain.The one negative I found, which is the reason this is a fourstar and not a fivestar review has to do with the software on the drive. There is an executable that I believe has to do with drive security. When I ran it, it recognized that there was an update for the program, downloaded the update, but then the update would not run.I paid full Amazon price for this flash drive. I wrote this review just to try to help others learn a little about it. I hope you found this review helpful. On the other hand, if you did not find this review helpful, Id be interested in hearing why, so that I can attempt to edit it and make it more helpful to both you and others. If you leave a comment on the review, suggesting how it would be more helpful, I promise to respond to your comment, and to attempt to incorporate your suggestion in my review, if it is at all possible for me to do so. My goal is to write reviews that help people, as I have been helped by the reviews others have written. Thanks
aarondr –
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 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.
TheDataCurmudgeon –
Holds a good amount of data, does what you want.Its data storage, what do you want from it Data storage. What does it give you Data storage. They wanted 50 characters so I decided to give it some more.It stores data. What I am typing is data. Maybe if we all type enough of it, the electronic overlords will choke on it doubtful and leave us alone.ITS DATA STORAGE. What do you want to know about data storage I plugged it in and it worked. Thats why I bought it.I didnt ask it to make me a sandwich, which if i was asking would have been a simple grilled bologna and cheese with a touch of sweet German mustard and some sliced dill pickles.But it cant do that, can it NO. Its a stupid plastic encased bit of technology that stores and transfers data.It wont cure cancer, it wont solve climate change and it doesnt really matter, except to do the one thing it is meant for.And at storing data, its truly outstanding.
TechnoNinja –
I bought this flash drive to utilize the Live TV Pause feature on my new Roku TCL TV, which works when watching TV using the Live TV function with an HDTV indoor antenna. It allows you to pause the Live TV show youre watching while you answer a covid19 cyber shoutout and then you can rewind that show for up to 90 minutes and you can watch everything you missed.Warning dont use this flash drive to also store other files on it because you will only have the remaining storage space available for a TV show. It wont record over other files. Just keep it plugged into the TVmaybe even mark it as the TV flash drive so you wont forget.R. Hicks
Rocky11158 –
I recently bought the SanDisk USB Ultra USB 3.0 Flash Drive 64GB at my local Microcenter in Westbury, New York. I have used SanDisk fllash drives in the past, but this was my first experience with the 3.0 with so much storage space.I was please to see the new design features that SanDisk now builds into these flash drives. They are light, and have a pushlever to expose the port rather than a cover or manual pushpull mechanism that in the past was difficult on the fingers.But the best part is how fast they load into a Windows 10 platform and how quickly they accept data. I have 600 songs and 200 movies on my laptop. The songs transferred like they were simple text files, and the movies transferred from laptop to flash much faster than they downloaded through a wired internet connection.Granted, a large thanks goes out to my laptop. But even with the strongest laptop or pc, the process of baking up files is only as good as its weakest part. The SanDisk USB Ultra USB 3.0 Flash is as strong as the strongest part of any system, and I highly recommend it for your data back up needs.
Carrie –
I have had this for about six months now. It works great. I use it as my primary storage because I do not trust hard drives too many problems previously and my internet is not always the best so I cannot rely on cloud storage. It does heat up if continually using. If you are working on one thing or it is just in the port and you are not always using it, it will cool down. But be careful.
Roberto C. –
I bought this drive but I wish it has been 8GB and cost maybe a little less but you cant find 8GB I think. Anyhow, I needed a USB 3.0 drive to create a recovery drive for the new laptop I bought and everything went perfect when I created the recovery drive. I was going to clone the SSDs since that I have the cloning software available but I wanted to test the speeds. Installed new SSD, booted the laptop with the flash drive in and the menu screen came up, decided to do a clean install which prompted me to say that it was going to take a long time but…. and decided that method. I thought it was going to take 4 hours but ended up taking less than 1. After the installation, removed the USB drive and started to do the Windows process, everything went according to the menu, Windows is fully installed and updated. I like SanDisk drives, theyre probably the most reliable drives Ive ever owned Corsair and Lexar have broke and Corsair has taken over 8 weeks and still havent shipped me the new replacement drive, even though they couldve contacted me 6 weeks ago and say Hey, the drive you sent is no longer available, can we sent you a different one But no I had to contact them and find out what was going on. Lexar didnt take as long as Corsair. Corsair should just sent a replacement instead of just letting time pass, I imagine if I hadnt contacted them about the broken drive I sent………. and Im making SanDisk my primary choice from now on. Just like I bought the SDXC card and paid an extra 20 vs the least expensive but turns out the SanDisk Extreme Pro is a beast for WR speeds, Im so glad I made that choice.
Aaron –
I normally wouldnt write a review for a flash drive, but Im sharing my experience since I actually had one of these fail. The drive mysteriously became write protected after my first time using it. This meant that I could not copy any files to it, change its name, or format it. I looked to the internet for a solution, but none of them worked. After some digging around I discovered that this behavior is a safety feature to prevent data on the drive from being corrupted when there is some type of fault. Unfortunately, it also means that the drive is rendered practically useless. So I contacted SanDisk support to get a replacement since these do come with a 5 year warranty. Customer service was good and although the RMA process was pretty lengthy and tedious, I did manage to get a replacement in under a month. All this being said, its pretty unlikely that you will ever have a drive fail on you like this, but its nice to know that SanDisk will most likely have your back as long as youre patient. Other than that, its a great flash drive and works just as youd expect.
vishal –
Different USB flash drives have significantly different readwritespeeds. This SanDisk Ultra is several times faster than cheaper flashdrives. The SanDisk Ultra Pro is even faster, but a lot more expensive.This one seems to be the sweet spot in terms of performance vs. price.If you use a flash drive for transferring large files between your workcomputer and your home computer like I do, its worth buying a betterflash drive that has readwrite speeds like this one. Im attaching aCrystal DiskMark test that shows the readwrite speeds of this flashdrive
Rugby C –
Used a couple of times, even after just 5 mins of backing up some data, removed the flash drive and the metal part was extremely hot to touch. Darmm right dangerous infact. Also, my wireless keyboard was on a go slow whilst the flash drive was in use, whilst trying to insert numerical data there was long pauses whilst the data appeared on the screen. Have now started a refund of item. Googled the problems and it appears to happen quite often with SanDisk. Shall go back to using my Toshiba flash drives, which I have numerous without problem.
kwebbster –
The SanDisk Ultra 256gb Flash Drive is a huge storage medium that allows for transfer and backup of a massive amount of files quickly with minimal issues. Transfer speeds are way up there and make transferring files quick. Software preloaded on the flash drive allow for encryption and security of the flash drive and its contents were it to become lost. It also has software that allows for the uploading or backup of contents of the flash drive to be uploaded to a SanDisk cloud account. I have too many cloud accounts as it is. Anyway, I did not try this feature but definitely use the security software. If there is a downside to this flash drive is its physical makeup. It feels somewhat flimsy with not too thick plastic as its shell. As this is a retractable thumb drive, meaning you push the USB connector open and closed, the longevity of this seems to be in question. With prolonged use, Im not sure how this housing will hold up. Only time will tell. This is still a great flash drive with lots of storage at a great price and is recommended
Footestomper –
Much faster than my old 32 GB, which was close to full I think I got this on a sale day for only 58. Transfers files so fast. Also, you can set up password protection. Big plus. Just wish there was a easy way to get it on and off my keychain like my old 32GB. This would have been enough to downgrade to a 4, but so impressed with the speed, that makes up for it
Luigi –
I have enjoyed this flash drive after purchasing another one same features, capacity of 128 GB.I can save all personal files pictures, documents in PDF and office files word and excel.I normally use it, to add new files, once every two weeks, to back up documents.The only flaw is the plastic coating I tried to attach it to a key ring but the plastic ring on the edge broke. This has not affected the functionality of the USB. I hope I can buy another one made of metal, which is sturdier and more resistant. Overall an excellent product.
William –
Im not too smart with computers, this is the first flash drive I have ever bought or even used. It worked perfectly. My HP printer would not scan to my Chromebook without HPs software which I dont have. So I scanned from my HP to this flash drive and then from this flash drive to my Chromebook. It worked perfectly. Thank you Sandisc and thank you Walmart
User –
Theres a reason why this is the cheapest 128 GB USB 3.0 drive at Officeworks. Sandisk cut corners everywhere on this product. Ive tried 2 of these USB drives, both have the exact same issues.Firstly, the write speed is garbage. The advertised 100 MBs is the read speed. Write speed seems to top out at around 30 MBs which sounds okay but depending on what youre copying it can often drop to single digit speeds. So if you want to transfer gigabytes of data at once, be prepared to wait for ages while it transfers on your 100 MBs USB 3.0 flash drive.Secondly, the drive is formatted to FAT32 by default, so you cant store files larger than 4 GB unless you reformat it. This default file system of FAT32 goes against Sandisks own guidelines, where they say drives of 64 GB and up should be formatted to exFAT. You can format it to exFAT if you want, but for some reason formatting to NTFS wont work.Thirdly, you cant encrypt the drive properly using Windows Bitlocker, itll say the drive has some issues after encryption and every time you plug it in and unlock it. This is literally the only storage volume Ive used that has this issue, every other drive works fine with Bitlocker.So in conclusion, the drive is perfectly fine if you have simple usage like storing a couple of Word documents and pictures. But otherwise its trash. Performance is trash for a USB 3.0 drive and it has a plethora of quirks and issues from Sandisks costcutting.
zboot –
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 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.
Amanda M –
Write speed started at 40 MBytessecond, dropped to around 12 MBytessecond within a couple of minutes, and gradually dropped to 5.65 MBytessecond the more the drive was getting filled with data. It took 1 hours, 26 minutes and 25 seconds to finish copying 28.5 GB of data.I was then able to read the files back at a steady 104 MBytessecond in 4 minutes and 41 seconds. This is where the good news end, as the card died immediately after I formatted it, and it is now in a permanent write protected state I tried it on different computers, Operating Systems, even on my phone, and the card is really stuck in read only mode.So in the end this fine product son of a cheap manufacturing process died in less than 2 hours. This makes me very sad, especially when I think about the fact that the first 1GB drive I bought 12 years ago still works fine as of today as it was probably using a now premium SLC NAND flash.Given the price, Sandisk most likely used a crappy TLC NAND flash that could not cope with being used too much, too soon.The fact that Sandisk also offers a complimentary 1 year subscription to Rescue PRO Deluxe, does not help with the feeling that the controller within the drive is just giving us the illusion that our data is actually stored properly, when the whole drive could actually crap out at any time.At least I did not put sensitive data on it, so I can return it with peace of mind.
Shwanny –
Ive had several SanDisk products over the years and have always generally liked what you get for the cost. This flash drive is no exception. It works perfectly well straight out of the box and comes with a free year of their cloud drive service. Ive yet to try that out, but intend to once I finish copying files onto the flash drive Im using it to backup my music collection, which is over 150 GB. Speeds are fine. Im not getting 100mbs, but that may have something to do with my computer. I have a few other things I want to try out before I call foul on this one. Only complaint Im not a huge fan of the slider design, which this and so many thumb drives have. I find them to be a bit of a pain, especially when trying to insert the drive into the back of a computer that you dont have very easy access to. The connector always seems to want to slide back into the plastic when Im trying to insert it into the computer. But hey its not like SanDisk is the only one using that design. All in all, this is an accessory thats easy to recommend. It will do what you need it to do and it wont cost an arm and a leg to do so.
Orlando –
This little device is a big time saver copy times are excellent Most flash drives are USB 2.0. This one is not, its USB 3.0, and paired with a computer that offers USB 3.0 connections, is much faster than the more common USB 2.0 flash drives.I am using mine to move large video files from a Mac to a Windows machine. Loading to the flash drive is fast and copying them from it to the second machine is even faster. Doing the same job with a hard drive is faster, but not as simple. I enjoy the simplicity over a bit of lost speed.While this is a USB 3.0 device, I have also tried it in a computer having only USB 2.0 connections. No problems Although it cant achieve the speed of a computer having USB 3.0 outputs, the speed was good and the transfer went smoothly.Ive had great experiences with previous SanDisk purchases, and this product proves they are still topnotch. If you are looking for a fast, easy way to transfer files from place to place, this wont disappoint.
Babel10 –
The storage capacity for the price is amazing and the speed is comparable to the 64gb model, which surprised me.Ive bought 3 of these because they have an incredible amount of storage capacity and take up virtually no space on my desk. After reformatting one of these to NFTS I can now store files over 4 Gigs, which is great, since it saves me the trouble of having to always use an external hard drive.Flash drive technology has come a long way in the last 15 years. I remember having a 128 mb scandisk back in the day and being amazed at the capacity. Flash drives have completely left DVDs and other optical media in the dust.
Duluthian –
I am very happy with the SanDisk Ultra 256GB Drive. It is built nicely and not to big. The slide out design works great and stays locked in place. The capacity is far more than I can imagine ever needing on a flash drive. So far, I havent found it to get overly warm during use although that is a common thing with flash drives. Speed is great I use it for photos. I do a lot of location photography. I usually dump my photos onto my laptop until I can transfer them later on to my main desktop for permanent storage. This drives gives me not only an easy way to transfer photos, but an extra layer of protection with the inclusion of the Flashback service included free for one year with the drive. This service works as an automatic cloud backup for whatever you place on the drive. So far, it seems to work very well. Upload speed will of course be limited by internet speed. But the safety of knowing my files are safely stored away from the drive while traveling is nice.
Flower –
The SanDisk Ultra 3.0 flash drive has 128 GB storage. The USB stick finds, collects, and stores thousands of photos and videos. I had photos everywhere on my computer. It was disorganized and had many duplicates. I dont have much computer experience but installing the flash drive was not difficult. I now have an orderly collection of photos without any duplicates. I highly recommend it.
Eugene –
I have now purchased four of this USB drive. San Disk has been in the flash storage game for a while, and I have rarely been disappointed. I like that this drive is retractable why would you buy one that isnt, and I like that it has a hole in the end for attaching to a ring or to other drives. You can also attach it to a ring inside a binder to hold files associated with business documents or presentations. I specifically used this drive to hold large video files. The USB 3.0 interface transfers files from my computer really quickly. 12GB of files transferred in only about 3 minutes. A couple cons The button for retracting the drive into the housing is a bit tricky. You have to press down for it to slide in, which I understand, because you dont want it to retract when you insert it into the USB port on your computer. However, I had to fumble around with the button a bit to get it to retract the drive. The drive as whole is curved. I didnt care for this, because it made it difficult to lay the drive flat inside something like a case or binder. Im also attaching two drives together one as a backup, and the curvature makes this a little awkward. Overall, considering all the available flash drives on the market, I think this is a decent model. Whenever I shop for these, I always look at San Disk first.
S G –
Decent speeds for the 128GU46 version. Small files will suffer slower writes, but this is normal on all drives. I mostly deal with larger, single files, so this drive is fine for me.I couldnt see any benchmarks for the 128GB version, so see attached images.Real world Windows 10 test A Windows 10 ISO 6,800,801,792 bytes, took 2m55s to write to the drive using TeraCopy.Capacity 123,010,527,232 NTFSCapacity 123,005,179,760 exFATThe hole cutout doesnt feel particularly strong. I was going to put a metal ring through it, but it feels weak. Threading it through a lanyard gives me more faith itll last.
cjthelder –
I use one just like this to carry my podcasts that I download for listening while driving. There is one series I particularly like that is updated about once a week. So periodically, I just download them on my laptop at home and then add them to this USB drive. Works like a dream. Since I now have nearly 400 from that source, I needed one this size. Its like the card company says, dont leave home without it. So, I ended up buying another one for a friend who wanted a copy of my podcasts that I had downloaded. So of course, I recommend it for a friend, as asked below.
nthurston90 –
I wish I would have read reviews on this before buying one. I have used lots of SD products in the past and always had excellent results. The write speeds are a bit exaggerated depending on which kinds of files and if any compression is used when transferring, BUT it is very fast. The biggest downside to this is OVERHEATING The other reviews online about the flash drives getting hot enough to burn you are true I burned my fingers the 3rd time using it to transfer large audio files and then looked online to see if others had this problem and was extremely surprised by how many others had reported this. I usually do a lot of research before shopping online so I am disappointed that I overlooked this problem. I have used this in 1 low grade 400 laptop, 2 high quality PCs, a USB sound mixer and a USB effects pedal for music equipment and I have had mixed results. There have been a couple of times the sound has dropped out during recordings that were longer than 30 minutes which defeats the purpose of my purchasing this. I wanted to use it to record with, but Im not sure its an option if there isnt a solution to sound dropouts. I will try using fans or in an air conditioned area to see if there are any differences in performance. Overall, HUGE capacity, but maybe the infrastructure of the design is not actually ready yet in 2017 to handle 128GB of storage. The USB runs at MAX every time you use it so it is basically running like its about to receive 128GB of data every time you use it, which I highly doubt the average person will do that. If it wrote data in a way that anticipated many small files 20GB then I dont think the overheating issues would occur. Unfortunately, this was a waste of money for me, but I learned my lesson about skipping research before shopping online.
Leah –
This flash drive was on sale and I have great experience with SanDisk. Running out of memory on my 8GB flash drive that I had for 10 years Having extra memory storage is always good to save more photos, videos, files and other things we need to save and easy to carry. Sandisk is a trusted name brand for all your media storage needs. Highly recommended .Thank U SanDisk and BestBuy
Stuart –
To tell you the truth, it was the large hole in the tail that sold me.I ship out thumb drives with a printed paper tag attached by nylon strings included with the printable tags that have a plastic tip on one end and a socket for the tip on the other end. Fishing that plastic tip through other brand flash drives can be very difficult or impossible. I have had to resort to using a drill to enlarge the holes in some other brands so I can loop the string through it. My compliments to SanDisks Industrial Designer.
Anonymous –
Comes formatted FAT32 so if you use large file sizes it will need reformat to NTFS for Windows. Transfer rate for large 8Gb file was consistent 40mBs. Static current consumption was 150mA rising to around 200mA during file transfer. Comes with security vault software if you intend to store sensitive info on the unit. USB connector was noticeably hot after removal. Given the risks of poor quality on no name memory sticks, getting a good brand from a reliable source is important if you store important info on your USB flash drives.
IowaBob –
Over the past 20 years, I have bought and used many SanDisk flash drives and cards. All of them are still working This makes me confident that SanDiskUltra 256GB USB 3.0 Type A Flash Drive will serve my purposes longer than I will be around. This drive was purchased to store dozens of short video clips that I made for a nonprofit organization that I work for as a volunteer. The copies were gathered from many different folders, so I now have them in one convenient compact drive from which I can distribute them individually in an efficient manner, as well as having a reliable backup. I am very happy with this compact drive and the reasonable price that I paid for it at Best Buy. It lacks a LED that some drives have to indicate activity, but I did not need it for my purposes, and I was happy not to paid extra for a model with the LED. Thus, I give it 5 stars despite the lack of a LED.
lambda100 –
I really like that the Sandisk USB 3.0 256gb flash drive has plenty of space for all of my music files, videos, and documents. Even though it is stated as 256gb drive, actual available storage space is 233gb. Build quality on the drive is poor. The all plastic enclosure is loose and wobbly and it gives the impression that it can break off if inserted or removed with force. Youll need to handle this drive with care.I performed a nonscientific test of write speed. I transferred 27 gb of music files to the flash drive and it took 27 minutes, so 1gbmin. The drive does become warm during file transfer, but the amount of heat generated appears normal.The flash drive comes with two useful software to enable file security and access. The first is Sandisks Secure Access Vault which is a file encryption software. You simply create a password and encrypt your files by dropping them into the Sandisk Vault. They are then electronically locked or encrypted. Nobody will be able to access your files without the decryption password. The only way to access the files is to enter your password in the Vault.Another handy tool is Sandisk Flashback. Flashback automates the backup process by transferring the entire contents in the flash drive to Sandisks Cloud. Youll be able to view and download the contents in the flash drive online without having the flash drive physically present. This becomes handy if you either left your flash drive at home or, worse, lost your flash drive entirely. You can recover all of your backed up content online. You can also share files with anyone by simply sending them a link to access the files in your Sandisk Cloud without having to attach large files onto an email.In order for all of this to function, Flashback software needs to be installed locally on your desktop or laptop computer to upload files to Sandisks Cloud server. Youll also need to create an account on the Sandisk Flashback website to access your files in Sandisks Cloud server. Flashback is free for the 1st year, after that youll need to pay an annual subscription fee to continue access to your backed up files in the Sandisk Cloud. Ive attached a picture showing the subscription pricing at the time of my review.One limitation of the cloud backup feature is that backing up to the Sandisk cloud only works if you have the flash drive connected to a computer that has the Flashback software installed. In practice, there are numerous instances where youll be using the drive at a workstation, say at work computer or a friends computer, where the Flashback software isnt installed. The flash drive becomes a regular, run of the mill storage drive. Theres nothing wrong with this, you just simply need to be aware that no Cloud back up is being performed until you plug the flash drive back into your computer that has the Flashback software installed.Another limitation is that if you have files encrypted in the Sandisk Vault, those encrypted files will naturally remain encrypted, as they should, when backed up to the Sandisk Cloud. However, there is no way for you to access the encrypted files online in the Sandisk Cloud website since you wont be able to decrypt the files without the Sandisk Vault. The encrypted files can only be decrypted locally from within the flashdrive.All in all, this is a decent high capacity flash drive with some extra bonus features for securing your files and automatically backing up your flash drive to the cloud. I would recommend the flash drive.
ModernGummer –
Good, solid thumb drive. I am constantly amazed at the small differences in performance in thumb drives. This is solid, reasonably fast, although not night and day different from other USB 3.0 drives I own. Truthfully, I usually by from a reputable manufacturer based on price there is just not a meaningful difference for their application.No complaints.
sabrook10 –
This Sandisk 256Gb USB3 disk is very fast at copying some files but only average with others. Folders containing mixed file types seem to be the slowest but no worse than with a conventional HDD. The downsides are 1. Actual disk space is only 233Gb not 256Gb and the files cannot be compressed to save disk space as they can on a conventional hard disk drive. The total loss of space is significant, around 40 or 50Gb. 2. If you intend using this as a backup disk, note that not all files can be copied. Many of those that can e,g, .pdf and .jpg have part of their properties missing, in particular the security tab in the properties box. 3, It is expensive in comparison with a conventional HDD but it is also lighter and smaller and has the potential of a longer service life as there are no mechanical parts to wear out.
David –
For some reason this device plays havoc with my new laptop. It causes my wireless mouse to have problems and has even made my display go blank. One time the computer couldnt read it and another time it was as though it was in write protect mode. The one thing I could do was create new folders but even then I couldnt rename them. I makes me leery of even connecting it to my computer. Fortunately I was able to limp it through to get my files transferred from my old computer. It worked fine on my old Windows 7 machine.
PetouFamily –
I bought this flash drive to backup important scanned documents. Im not concerned about the drives USB 3.0 speed as much as I am with its longterm reliability. Time will tell me if this drive is reliable, but Ive have great luck with other flash drives from SanDisk. Im pretty confident about the reliability of this flash drive. Im also pleased with SanDisks customer service who replaced after another flash drive that failed after years of reliable service. A bonus feature of this flash drive is the retractable USB connector, which makes the flash drive even more compact, and offers more protection of the connector.